Remew of Reviews, IjlOjOS. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



399 



THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 



The Kiitehciith Cinfury opens with a symposium on 

 the Report on Ecclesiastical Discipline, which is 

 noticed elsewhere. It closes with -a veteran's view 

 of the educataoii eontioversy, in which Dr. Guinness 

 Eogers discusses more suo the debate on the Educa- 

 tion Bill. 



THE NATIONAL WORKSHOPS OF FRANCE. 



Mr. Karl Blind writes a very interesting .irticle, in 

 wlucb he currects a vei-y common misconception about 

 the national workshops which were established in 

 1848 in Paris. Mr. Morley had referred to them, and 

 Jie objected to them on the ground that they were a 

 JSocialistio experiment which worked disastrously. 

 Nothing of the kind, says Mr. Blind; — 



So tar from tile AiHiera Nationaux having been established 

 as a Socialist measure, they actually owed their special 

 organisation to the antagonists of Socialism. They were 

 positively inteuded to be used against the very leader of 

 that party— namely, against Louis Blanc. This action of 

 the State w.is simply squandering the public funds; its 

 anoney, a premium upon idleness; its wages, alms in dis- 

 guise. The object of the men who set up this scheme under 

 the lugh-souuunig title of National Workshops was simply 

 to gather together, pell-mell, a ' rabble of paupers." as 

 Louis Blanc calls them in the English edition of hie "Re- 

 collections' "" ra/'^finblement tumuUueux de ProlHaires, in 

 his fuller French work. They were men "whom it was 

 «nongh to teed, from the want of knowing how to employ 

 them, and who had to live together without any other ties 

 than a military organisation, ,ind under chiefs who bore 

 the name, at olice so strange, and yet so characteristic, of 

 sergeant-majors, brigadiers.' In case of need, secret ser- 

 vice funds were to lie supplied; and on the day coming 

 for action against the more advanced Republican^.' this 

 tumultuous crowd of proletarians was to be launched 

 into the streets. 



THE SAORED FIEE OF ISRAEL. 



Mark Twain, in one of his books, describes how he 

 •came upon an enthusiast who was quite convinced 

 that Elijah peiiorined his miracle on Mount Carmel 

 by the aid of petroleum. Mr. F. H. Balkwill sets 

 forth with considerable detail his reason for thinking 

 that the fiery-clouded pillar which went before the 

 Children of Israel in the Wilderness was a contrivance 

 fur bearing naphtha, and that it was an explosion of 

 this naphtha that occurred when fire came out and 

 destroyed Xadah and Abihu, sons of Aaron. He also 

 ■credits Elijah with its use in the famous ti-ial on 

 Mottnt Carmel. He says: — 



The evidence is circumstantial, cumulative, positive, and. 

 one would think, sufficient to prove that the prophets and 

 priests of Israel used a highly inflammable fluid, probably 

 a preparation of ichned petroleum, to bring down fire from 

 iieaven. at least occasionally; and although not acceptable 

 to conservative tiieologians, to others, 1 am sure, must be 

 .a great relief. 



THE LAB'JUR MEMBERS AND THEIR READING. 

 Mr. W. H. Mallock, in an essay on the Political 

 Powers of Labour, exhorts the Labour members not to 

 think more highly of themselves than they ought to 

 think, and incideiitallv he refers to the article pub- 

 lished in " The Review of Reviews " on the books 

 ■H hich influenced them. He says : — 



In this very iUrmiuating document they mention the 

 more important of the books which have appealed to them 

 and influenced their lives, guiding their thoughts and 

 .energies into the channels most congenial to their charac- 

 ters. 



Now. we may pause here to note briefly in passing that 

 .none of these writers, to whom the " direct " representa- 

 tives of labour tell as that they owe so much, no one. 

 -with the exception of Bunyan, was in any sense a repre- 

 sentative of m:inual lal)our himself. 



The moral of all this is— and it is here pointed bv the 

 i.atMjnr members themselves — that the special kind of activity 

 represented by the labouring classes rec^iires for their own 

 t;;ike to be supplemented by the activities of other classes, 

 numerically small and exerting themselves in a different 

 way. 



But the fact to which I mainly desire to call the reader's 



Attention is one far more precise than this. It is not the 

 f:ut that the books by which the Labour members have 

 been chiefly influenced are not the books of men who were 

 themselves'labourers. It is the fact that of all these books. 

 no aingle one has any bearing whatsoever on the practical pro- 

 cesses of production. 



A (iOOD WORD FOR THE AUSTR.tUAN BLACKFELLOWS. 

 Mr. E. Vance Palmer, writing on the Australian 

 Corroboree, says that when a boy in West Australia 

 ho read in the school books — 



That the natives of New Holland are the lowest race on 

 earth." It was hard for us as children to reconcile the 

 statement with the intelligence sliown by our black play- 

 mates. We found them merry companions, full of fun and 

 good humour. Our games of purra-purra." a sport some- 

 what akin to Rugby football, and swinging the " bujaram," 

 were learnt from them. In keenness of perception and 

 general alacrity we were their inferiors, and in a certain 

 iiuality of cheery sportsmanship they were models to all. 



He then goes on to describe their corroboree, and 



says: — 



It has been the custom to treat the corroboree as merely 

 a wild native dance, but its significance is greater than 

 this. As an art-form it is akin to the modern musical 

 comedy, but it is generally infused with a crude spirit of 

 poetry, which the latter lacks. 



It would also seem that tlie Dramatic Revival 

 Society might take a hint from the blackfellows of 

 Australia as to the cai-eful way they preserve their 

 folk-lore and perform their simple dramas. Some- 

 times the corroboree will last for five or six nights. 



JIR. CARNEGIE ON BRITISH SCAREMONGERS. 



It would be interesting to know what Mr. Morley 

 thinks of Mr. Carnegie's well-moant effort to instruct 

 hint as to tlie way in which he should govern India. 

 In an article entitled "The Cry of 'Wolf'!" Mr. 

 Carnegie tells Mr. Morley that, as far as the British 

 authorities in India are concerned, their policy as to 

 India is worse than worthless. Lord Kitchener's ac- 

 tivity as to the strengthening of Britain's position in 

 India so ostentatiously is m the wrong direction. 

 But Mr. Morley is not the only Minister to whom Mr. 

 Carnegie has offered advice. Lord Tweedinouth will 

 also find matter for reflection in Mr. Carnegie's paper. 

 He says tliat the real culprit in the way of arma- 

 ments is Great Britain, who has started to build the 

 " Dreadnought," when what she ought to do is to call 

 the attention of France and Germany to the declared 

 policy of America, who has iwstponed her "Dread- 

 noughts" for a year, and should express a willingness 

 to follow the American example. Mr. Carnegie con- 

 cludes his paper by telling .John Biiil that no danger 

 is to be apprehended from either the Russian "wolf" 

 or the German "wolf,'' even if his navy were much 

 Ie,ss powerful or his army were considerably reduced. 



Mr. A. S. Hurd, in a paper entitled "Tlie Kaiser's 

 Drieams of Sea Power," reminds us that the origin of 

 the German Navy can be traced to the time when 

 Prince William ran about as a boy in Port.smouth 

 Dockyard. The German fleet, as it will exist ten 

 years hence, will be recognised as the most amazing 

 achievement in statecraft ever accomplished by a 

 single man, for the fleet will be literally the E:n- 

 peror's personal creation. 



THE FORUM. 



The Forum is more of a quarterly newspaper than 

 an ordinary review. Its surveys of American politics 

 and of foreign affairs are a comprehensive and stimu- 

 lating account of current piogres.s. Finance, applieil 

 science, drama, literature and education are similarly 

 treatetl. Tlie one personal paper is that on Christian 

 IX. of Denmark, by Julius Moritzen. The interest i.s 

 priKlominantly, though not oxclusivelv. American. 

 The article on the %vomen of .Japan asks for separate 

 notice. 



