200 THE PRESIDENT SPARED.

The attempt on President McKinley’s life a t Buffalo on Frlday last touched, as it could not fail t o do, the national feeling, instantly axd deeply. Nor could any mord and humane person hesitate to denounce without reservation the In- famy of‘a crime not t o be excused were the victim the meanest, Instead of the most exalted, citizen. The usual con- fusion of thought has a m e n among par- tisans who grudged a simple expres- slon of sorrow as incompatible with aversion t o the President’s policy. And, finally, reJoicing In the failure of the assassm’s aim has been helghtened, among sober friends as well as oppo- rents of the Admlnlsiration, by the dread of t,he Government’s passlng un- der a new and untrled control in the person of the actual Vlce-President

The season of year, the exact Interval of two decades, the foreign extractlon @f the crlminal. have conspired eorcibly t o revlve tlle memory of Garfield’s fate. But there n a s wanting, In Mr McKln- ley’s case, that preparation for hlgh ten- sion in the public mind which grew out oT Conkling’s quarrel with the Adminis- tration over spoils, and the subsequent Senatorial.deadlock which Guiteau, with method m his madness, sought to d m solve. Hence, the excltement of the past week has fallen short of that vislble In this city, a t least, in Lhe summer of 1981. But, also, it must be confessed, we have had, in the unhappy past three years, a satiety of carnage and horror untll we almost cease to feel. If Agui- naldo had been shot whlle extendlng a friendly hand t o Gen. Funston, as the President t o Czolgosz, would our Jaded pulse have been senslbly quickened above the normal beat wlth which we heard of thl? bloodless success of that stratagem? It could not be sald in Gar- field’s time as now that we sip lynch- ings and ne?;ro burnings unmoved with our coffee a t breakfast; and this fact done speaks volumes regarding the pre- vailing callnusness as to the taking of human hfe.

Another difference In the comparison is that Guiteau’s purpose was political, while Czolgosz’s motive might almost be called academic, a mere manifesto of a sect. A moral could be and was drawn by the friends of clvil-servlce reform in the former ease, in whlch the Vice-Presl- dent himself was involved with the Sen- ators from New York in an intrigue agamst the assassin's victlm. A moral of some sort might have lam open t o panegyrists and to a gravely reflecting public had the homicidal fanatic at Buffalo been a Filipino. a Cuban, a Steel-Trust strlker, or a gloater over the dally cartoons of the yellow journals im- pllcating the Presldent wlth the Money Power. For this no room was left by the anarchist who simply proved that the most powerful ruler on earth, though styled a republican and chosen by uni-

The Nat ion, versa1 suffrage, was no more exempt than any crJwned head from the peril of sudden, malevolent extmctlon. The ruler, not the indivldual, was shot at, and vigllancq alone, not reason, can avail agalnst mlnds ,whlch learn nothing by seeing the succession of ,rplers keep even pace wilh the file of assassins.

While all wlll freely admt that Pres- ident McKmley’s hard experlence has no lesson for h m , unless it be not to expose hlmself so freely in public hereafter, some foolish journals and politicians teach that ordinary critlcism of the nxec- ntlve has tended to breed the maggot in Czolgosz’s brain, and IS, therefore, mea- surably responsible for the result T h ~ s IS of a piece wlth the contention that antl-Imperialists in thls country were guilty of the Amerlcan lives lost in the Philippine campalgns The extreme ap. plication of such n,onsense would reduce ns to a condition worse than that of the land of leze-maJesty. All the safe- guards of free speech would be gone in an instant, and we should wltness the recluctzo ad trbsurdzrm of a Porn? of free government whlch gave us chief magls- trates dictated by the machine, stralght- way t o become exempt from all adverse comment or the semblance of “dlsre- spect.” Mr. McKinley’s phllosomphy not more than his temperament is our war- rant for bellevlng that he would laugh at such a pretenslon on the part of his flatterers Any realizing sense, too, of the prayers offered up for his recovery by partisans and non-partisans who stand aghast at Mr. Roosevelt’s replacing him, would make him see the value of mde- pendent judgment of those mho occupy, as well as of those mho may Dasslbly occupy, the Prlesldentlal chair.

The President’s good luck has once more, humanly speaking, been exhlblted. He has dlsappointed hls would-be mur- derer, he has every grospect of finishing out his term, constancy may even be put to the test by a more or less genuine demand from his party that he levoke h s resolutlon not to serve for a thlrd term In all this there is again a contrast t o Garfield, who had given rea- son t o doubt that his Admmistrat1o~n would have lncreased his fame, and who was, by the best-informed, counted for- tunate iu bemg cut short O n the other h,and, Garfield’s character and talents were unquestmnably exaggerated by the circumstance of his death, and some monuments were reared whlch would otherwise probably never have been thought of. Praise in excess of what h,e has recelved, Mr. McKinley is not hke- ly to have, and there is still tlme for him to furnish grounds for a solid reputatlorn which will outlast monuments.

BRlI ’ ISH IiKPERIALISN In consldering the mterestmg paper

of our Oxford correspondent, “Observ. er,” on the causes Imperialism

[Vol. 73, Xo. 1889

In England, the first thing that oc- curs to us is that Imperialism, Mega.10- mania, or Jlngoism, though there is a sudden access of i t a t present, is by no means so new a thlng as “Observer” seems to assume Was it not Pisplayed in the highest degree by the Assyrim, the Babylonian, the Median, the Persian. the Macedonia, the Roman, the Saracen, the Turk, the Mogul, the Tartar, Philip I1 , Louis XIV., and Napoleon? Did it not, in the lierson of Napoleon, fill Eu- rope with blood, havoc, and evil passions In pursult of the objects of a chimerical ambition? Has it not strewn history wlth the wreck of emplres which had no life, but only forcible conglomeration, rhi le nations which had life hal-e sur- vlved? If “bigness” is the aim of Brit- Ish policy, does British policy differ mnch from that of Timur or Genghis Khan?

Spanish ilistorians open the reign of Phillp 11. wlth the Imposing list of hls possessions

“He possessed m Europe the kingdoms of Castille. Aragon, and Navarre, those of Naples and Slclly, Mllan, Sardmla, Rous-

trles, and Franche-Cornt6, on the western sillon, the Balearlc Islands, the Low Coun-

coast of Africa he held the Canaries, Cape Verd, Oran, Boupah, and Tunls, in Asia he held the Phlhpplnes and a part of the Mo- luccas, in the New World the immense lringdoms of Mexico, Peru, and Chill, and the provinces conquered in the last Years and other islands and possessions h1s of Charles V I Hispaniola,

marriage wlth the Queen of England placed I n his hands the power and resourcesof that Blngdom. 80 that I t mlght well be Bald that the sun never set in the dominions o l the

of Spain, and that at the least move- m e n t of that nation the whole world t rem- bled ”

Was not this Greater S p a q as truly as the “Observer’s” dream 1s Greater Brltain? Austria, being an empire and “blg,” IS ranked by “Observer” among the great Powers whlch are destined to devour small nationalltles, such as those of Willlam the Silent and Gastavus Adolphus The Austrian Empire was held together by fear of the Turk, and is now in the throes of dlssolutlon.

We have no means of determining the exact number of the free population of Athens; but we may be pretty sure that i t dld not equal a fiftieth part of the present popalation of London. The pop- 1.lation of Florence, when her influence on human progress was greatest, is be lxved to have been under a hundred thousand. Athens and Florence were not examples oi” "bigness," but they were examples of greatness, and of the differ- ence becween the two. However, both Athens and Florence dld lapse into Im- penalism, and deservedly became warn- ings of its effects Beside the great har-

of Syracuse, we look upon the wa- ters on wh:ch Athenian Imperialism met its doom, In the quarries of Syra- cuse we see its dungeon and its grave To her cruel extinction of the indepen- dence of Pisa, Florence owed in some measure the extinction of her own.

The novelty lles chiefly in the modern

Sept. 12, r g o ~ ]

professions of motive. There was no nonsense about Timur or Genghis Khan. They did not talk about the brown man’s burden, or pretend, as the Jingoes do, to bc enlarging the realm of clvlllzation by whoie‘sale slaughter and arson. Nor did they affect any compunctlon at hav- ing - t o use the exterminating ;word. They made trlumphal pyramids of heads. Their successors do not make triumphal pyramids of heads, though they recelve with tolerable serenity daily returns of Filipinos or Boers shot down, and accounts of wounded Dervmhes agonlzing by thousands wlth u?slalred thirst under the burning sun on the plam of Omdurman.

“The weekly report from the seat o€ war,” says the London Tmes, “as given in Lord Kitchener’s telegram of August 19, though not containing any strilung success- es. renders an account of much good work done. In the course of week ended

idled, twenty wounded, and two hundred last Yonday, slxty-four Boers had been and forty-elght taken prisoners.” Whatever difference may exist is due t o the penumbra of Christianity and inter- national morality in whlch the Jingo still lingers, though there are signs of hls approaching emancipatlon. The commercial element in our present Im- perlalism may perhaps be regarded another novelty, though gold was the Spaniard’s lure. Capitallst greed has played a cons~derable part in all these recent wars.

What is a “Little Englander”? Appar, ently an Nngllshman. mean-spiritec enough to think that his country is meal in herself, instead of holding that she 1: great only m the precarious possessio1 of a number of scattered dependencies and in her dommlon over three hundrec millions of helpless and spiritless Him dus. Flve-sixths of the Greater Bmtair are Hindu or of other totally alier races, far less capable of incorporatlor than were the dependencies of S p a n which were bound t o the imperial coun try by the tie, especlally strong ~n thosc days, of a common reliDon. Is ths eve1 strength, to say nothing of greatness England being overstrained m the at tempt to retain the domnion of t h l

seas which was hers at the close of thl wars with Napoleon. These may be ths days of Capt. Mahan and of exaltec notions of sea-power; but they are no the days of Jervls, Duncan, Nelson, ant Collingwood. when all sea-power but tha of Great Britam had been anmhilated a St. Vmcent, Campwdo’wn, Abouklr, am Trafalgar.

“Observer” says that the English peo ple would not hear of withdrawal fron Egypt. The conduct of England m tak ing possession of Egypt after her solemi disclaimers belongs, no doubt, to the ad vanced school ol political morality Bul supposing the Medlterranean Poww should some day combme for de liverance of their waters €rom Brltis! dominatlon, would the s0vereig.n will a the British people suffice to malntai:

The Nation. :heir possession of Egypt and Cyprus’ Are not anxious whlspers of apprehen- ;ion on that subject already heard? IS I t certaln even that natlve army of Egypt, thongli formed by England, will :or eve? remain faithfully subservient to

foreign Power7 “Observer” says, and says most truly.

that the Eritish statesmen of the last Keneratlon, including even the most con- servative of them, looked forward to the political separation of the colonies from the mother country, and believe$ that England would thus become the mother of free nations. He assumes that then opinion 1s exploded. That there 1s

sudden gust of sentiment from the op- rosite quartsr, no one doubts. But can it be shown, on the grounds of solid rea- son, that tho statesmen of the last gen- eration were wrong? Is it certain that the great forces are not still acting in the same direction, though thelr action may be for a time suspended, as the ac- tlon of great forces often 1s. by that of secondary forcea, or by reactionary sen- timent arising from sume transLen1 cause? There has -been, for the lasl thirty years, mcessant talk of Imperia: Federatlon. What practical step towardr It of much lmportance has yet been taken? A uniformity of postage hal been generally adopted. Canacla, undel the influence of a courtly Minister, ha:: made a sllght move m the direction oi an Imperial Zollverein But nothine more has come of it, and the measure may be regarded as skll-born. dustra lasian confederation is rather centrifuga than centripetal, Its tendency being t c build up a Eeparate nationality. Can. ada and Australia have sent contingentr to the South African war. We shal presently know better whether there much more in thls than momentary ex. citement and love of adventure, anC whether the colonles are really prepare( to contribute to tlte devouring expenst of Imperlal armaments, and go with thc Imperial country into ubiquitous wars Canada contrlbuted to the contingent: only the cost of transportation, Englant paid the men; so that, in point of fact the “sacriEce” amounted to llttle mort than the concession of freedom of en listment. Canadians enlist freely in thl American army and navy. Their Gov ernment reckoned that there were 40,001 Canadian enlistments in our army dur mg the war of secesslon. There 1s stron; reason to. beheve that, of the French Canadians, nine-tenths are opposed tc military union and participabon In Brit ish wars. Calonlal politlclans are fond o Imperlal applause and titles They ar not altogether to be trusted as repre sentatives of Colonial opmon. Giving th King new and fantastic titles, not with out disparagement t o a glorious crown may flatter Jlngo fancy, but will no alter solid facts.

It is at the same time true that a sin ister and threatenlng splrit is abroad

201 rhere is a growing disregard for interna- :ional morality; there is a tendency not mly to act upon the bellef that Might s Right, but almost openly t o profess it. rhat doctrine of devils[ and of’ fools; ‘Our Country, Right oa; Wrong,” is tgain comlng into vogue: the ,worship

God having largely lost its hold, there is al’tendency to substitute for it the worship of rhe Flag. Little nations are oeing marked out as a prey for the great predatory Powers The first practical at- tempt of that kind, however, seems to have shown by its result that moral €orce still goes for something, and is sble, when highly aroused, to combat physical force with a success for which the masters of the legions were not pre- pared. Two pigmy commonwealths, with a populatlon reckoned at the ut- most at two hundred thousand, fighting for thelr national existence, have held at bay for tvo years an empire of three hundred and sixty millions, which put an army of two hundred and twenty thousand me11 into the Eeld against them a n d had as absolute command of the sea as Capt. Mahan could possibly desire. They have gamed a number of successes over it, and compelled it. at last to have recourse to methods of subjugation which have serlously compromised its honor. Philosophic and sanctimonious rapine has not yet entirely won the mastery of the world.

THE TR&LI’:URY AND THE YONEY HARKET.

The letter addressed by Tappen, as Chairman of the Clearinghouse Com- mittee, t o Secretary Gage, on Monday, in reference t o the drafts made by the Trea- sury on the money market, brings up a subject of perennial interest in the na- tional finances. The operations of re- cent date which justlfied Mr. Tappen’s communlcation, may be summarized as follows: In two weeks ending Septem- her 7, 1903, the Treasury pald out $4,- 200,000 to the New York banks. In the corresponding two weeks of 1901 the Treasury withdrew $8,500,000. In gust, 1900, che Treasury paid out for current expenses $820,000 more than it recelved as revenue. In August, 1901, it recelved as revenue $6,042,000 more than jts expenses. Its receipts were the larg- est for the month of August in seven years. In Scptember, 1900, the Treasury surplus of receipts was $6,134,000. If the same conditlons prevail during the present month the surplus receipts will 1)e $12,000,000 05 more. On the 7th of September, 1900, the surplus reserve of the New York banks was $26,056,000, and on the 7th of the present month it was $G,91;,000 According to this showing, the reserve will be down to the mini- mum (25 per cent. of the deposits) be- fore the end of the month, and the banks which are In that condltion must then stop the amount of comm2rcial paper.

~. - In other words, the pinch will come not so much on the banks as on the mer- cantile community, and it will come at the season when the demand for accom- nlodation ,IS strongest and most impera- tire.

There are but two sources of relief. One is through the importation of gold from abroacl. the other by the release of funds locked in the Treasury. The former is slow, roundabout, and costly. The latter IS not precisely easy, but is preferable to the former, since the with- drawal of money from the channels of business by the collections of the Gov- ernment 1s 2n artificial, unnatural pro- cess which ought never t o occur. The frequency of its occurrence demands a change of system-one which cannot be long delayed; but such a change re- quires time for discussion, and mean- while the present pinch calls for an im- mediate remedy.

The customary methods of getting money which has been needlessly taken by the Treasury from business clrcles back Into commercial uses, are by the purchase United States bonds in the open market, and by the deposlt of money in national banks on the security of United States bonds. Both of these processes are limited by the amount of bonds available. The whole amount out- standing is less than $1,000,000,000, of which about $420,000,000 is already held in the Treasury as security for national banknotes, and for other purposes of the banks; tied up and unavailable. Of the remaindbr (say $580,000,000) the largest share is held by savings banks and trust companies, and by class of investors who demand the highest form of security that can be obta.ined, and are not l~kely t o part with them under any circumstances short of compulsion. There is a certain amount of “floating bonds,” held by speculators, who belleve that the t ine will come when the Gov- ernment will be forced to bid a high price for them in order to disgorge its eurplus and avoid a commercial crisis. Such a tlme seems to be not far dis- tant, How many such bonds are within the Secretary’s reach, and at what price, can be learned only by experiment.

At present it would seem preferable for the Secretary to continue the pro- cws of depositing his surplus in the bdnks. Thcre need be no limit to this ogeration except the power of the banks i o furnish honds required as security. The banks which have not a sufficiency of bonds can usually borrow them from their customers. At all events, i c would seem wise t o give them the opportunity t o do so, treating all alike and avoiding the charge of partiality in the distribu- non of the deposits.

When Congress assembles, it will be possible to take further steps t o reduce the surplus by the abatement of taxes, but that is- a tedious process. It could hardly be made effective before midsum-

mer, 1902, and in the meantims much harm might have been done t o the busi- ness community. There is danger, too, that Congress may take a shorter cut t o the depletion of the Treasury by ex- travagant a.ppropriat1ons. It is always Bosslble to meet the difficulty by in- creased pensions, river and harbor bllls, public-buildmg jobs, battle-ships, etc. Of all the methods of dealing with a sur- plus, thls is the most facile and tlie most dangerous. Eventually the ques- tlon of meeting this chronic trouble must be taken up seriously and dealt with scientifically, so that the surplus receipts of the Treasury, when there are any, shall be automatically placed at the service o€ the money market, as is done in all civilized countries except our own.

THE THE

The strongest testimony against the army canteen which has yet appeared is borne by Brig.-Gen. Daggett, who won his promotion to that rank after a ser- vice of forty years from second lieuten- ant up During the civil war he took part in every important battle of the Army of the Potomac, and since that time he has seen service on the Plains, before Santiago, in the Philippines. and in China, where he commanded the Fourteenth Infantry. When a captain, he had twenty years’ experience in the handling of enlisted men. As a result of this long service, Gen. Daggett un- equivocally pronounces against the can- teen, on purely practical grounds, de- claring thaE “it will be ruinous to the army in the end.”

The strongest argument hitherto ad- vanced by those in favor of the canteen relates to its counteractlng the attrac- tions of the vile resorts which so rapid- ly spring up in the vicinity of an army post. To thtr, Gen. Daggett replies that the viler the dens outside of the Govern- ment reservations, “the better for the morals of ”he garrison, because they keep respectable men away, and the maJority are respectable,” Equally strik- ing is his assertion that the canteen is a constant temptation to the abstainer to indulge and to the moderate drinker to drink more, and that it is a conve- nlence to the drunkard “to load on h e r wqen he has not the means to obtain anything stronger.” He for‘tiEes this with the statement‘that it has been no unusual thing t o find a majority of a company, when undergoing inspection, more or less under the influence of li- quor, but not sufficiently so t o subject. them t o punishment. Simlar allega- tions were made by intelligent enlisted men of the Second Artillery at Fort Warren, Mass., in 1896. They said that the canteen beer stimulated their appe- tite stronger drink, and drove them out of the fort in search of They

pon. 73, Ho. I&&

cited the violent death of comrade, and pointed to various prlsoners as proof that the canr.een did not produce idyllic conditions within this island-fortress. A new consideration brought out‘by Gen. Daggett 1s his reference to the canteen credit system, which keeps men’ Eon- stantly in debt About this side of the question both public and press have heard too 1it:le:

Admitting that Gen. Daggett’s opin: ians entitled to great respect, and that his views have given strength and encouragement to the opponents of the canteen, the and Journal rightly asks the General what his substl- tute for the canteen would be, and how he would “satisfy the craving” of the enlisted men for sociability and good-€el- lowshlp. It is to be hoped that Gen. Daggett, and others who feel like him- among whom, it is understood, was the late Gen. William Ludlow-will take the Journal a t it3 word, and tell the public how they would counteract the admitted evils which come from crowding single men in barracks in an utterly unnaturak mode of life. The only genuine cure would be the abolition of the army it- self; but, this being impossible, the evil should receive careful attention, partlc- ularly in view of the great increase In the garrlsons of the seacoast fortifica- tions, some extremely dreary snd isolat- ed, others close to the temptahons of great cities. It is well understood th-i the War Department is thoroughly com- mitted to the canteen, and, in its efforts t o have the law replaced upon the statute book, has called for reports from post commanders and officers in charge of troops in the field. There can be no doubt that the great majority of these reports wlll favor the restoration of the post bar, not only because of its chief commodity, beer, but also because of the advantages in the way of extra food, bil- liard tables, dividends, etc., obtained by the various companies through the sur- plus proEts. The canteen, however, was not abolished until last march Since that time the army has been in the throes of a radical reorganization, durlng whlch rhousands of extremely youthful and raw recruits have been injected info the service1 and are not yet dlgested. Moreover, the morale of the officers and the esgrzt of the regiments are admitted- ly a t a lower ebb, because of two wars, vltal changes, and the presence of many hundreds of green or political officers, than for decades past. Under these cir- cumstances, comparisons of 1901 with previous years must be to a certain ex- tent misleading.

The army, then, should be given long- er time in which to show the effective- ness of the substltutes for the canteen introduced at several posts. Before final decision is given, it should be clearly shown whether all the good features of the canteen lose t h e r with the withdrawal of the beer, and whether ad-

Sept. 12, I ~ O I ~

ditional attractions not yet thought of cannot be found to keep the enlisted man sober and contented. In this respect the War Department has for years been open to criticism. Such attractions, beydnd the sale of beer, as have been held out to enlisted men of garrison have been, largely due to the imtlative of company or post commanders, under general au- thority of the Department. It, so far as we know, has made no earnest efforts to accept loyally the judgment of Con- gress and to lay far-reaching plans for doing without the canteen. We have yet to hear whether the evlls following upon pay-day, now so prominently reported in the anti-canteen newspapers. could not be mitigatad by some other system of payment than that which a whole garrison its wages on the same day. Nor have we heard of the punishment or rep- rimand of single post commander whoseiroops, granted wholesale leaves of absence on pay-day night, dlsgrace them- selves and the army by putilic debauch- ery. One such action might alter the situation materially, and at least lead to n salutary decrease in the sensation- al reports of pay-day riots which are now so frequent and so injurious to the good name of the army and to the char- acter of its personnel. If the large rail- road companies can exercise control over their men when off as well as when

-on, many citizens will ask why the mili- “ tary authorities, with their less limited powers, cannot do likewise.

THE CAUSES O F IMPERIALISM I N ENG- LAND.

August 22. 1901. “Be the !Cory or Whig, They must all the men t o England b1g

These are the words which the present w i t e r saw the other day printed in a bonk of nonsense verges for children under a carwature of Mlnlsters The doggerel IS TTorthless enough in itself. I t is, however. exactly one of those straws which show hov the wind blows, and tells more of the present COnd1tiOn of oplnion than may be gathered from many Blue books It is the out-

~ ward sign of prcdommant Imperlahsm-a term which is here used by way neither o! pralse nor of blame, but simply as an pression for the convlctlon of modern Eng- llshmen that a main, i f not the mam, ob- ject of their Government should be, as the rhyme has it, “to keep England big,” or, in other words, t o maintain the power and the authority and the greatness of Eng- land

That this is the dominant falth of mod- ern Englishmen cannot be doubted It ?E shared not only by the supporters of Lord Sallsbury’g Mlnlstry (among whom the present mrlter must be numbered), but also by a great part. probably In one form or another by themaJorlty, of its opponents The very term “Liberal Imperlahsts” ie intended to , signlfy that an Imperial policy abroad is Compatible wlth liberalism the klnd advocated by the men mho fol- lowed ,MJ Gladstone at home pol?- tlcians who would repudiate the term Im-

I

perial~st, however auallfied, shun for the most part the designation of “Little Eng- landers.” Nor is this a mere matter pi words: among members of Parliament who represent British constltuencies, it IJ& hard to~find any leadmg man of weight who openly advocates the withdrawal of Engllsh troops from Egypt. To speak the plam truth, the vast majority of English- men are determined.to keep England big.

Thls is the fact. The aim of ths letter 1s neither to eulogize nor to attack the ex- isting condltlon of public opinion Its purpose is simply to set down, far as may be impartially. the apparent causes of a state of feellng whlch is certain t o in- fluence, for some time to come, the policy of Great Britain, and whhlch differs extra- ordinarily from the sentiment that me- vailed throughout the country some forty or fifty years ago. One consideration glye us the measure of this dinerence From 1840 t o say 1870, the almost universal belief of thoughtful Englishmen was that

t o the strength of England. We were the colonies contributed nothing or little

bound, it was thought, in honor, t o Protect them; the mother country should see that her ch~ldren were on the road to’ beCOmQ fit for ~ndependence; the day for separa- tion would lnevltably come; the parting, when it took place, should be on friendly terms, but the separation would be bene- ficial. for both parent and children. Even a Conservative minister spoke, o r wrote. it IS sad. about our “wretched colonlesz” To-day the whole tone of feeling is chaw-

serted, both the glory and the strength of ed; her colonies are, it is constantly as-

Great Brltaln. Not the extremest Rad]- cal ventures t o hlnt a separation; no man who cared to play a part in public life would be foolish enough to speak of the colonies with disrespect. Conservatives ana_ Lib- erals ahke are more tempted t o flatter co- lonial self-esteem than t o utter a whlch might imply an underestimate of Greater Brltam

What, then, are the causes of the sin- gular change in public opinion? They may be broadly summed up under three heads.

First, there exists an Indubitable fact whlch, during the last quarter of the nine- teenth century, has deeply impressed the speculations of thinkers, and, in England at least, the imaglnatlon of the people. This fact 1s the growth of great empires and the declme of small states. Germany, Rus- sla, the Austrian Empire, the United States, and England are the great and predominant Powers of the modern world. France still plays a great part and may again play a leadlng part in European politics; but it ‘is vain t o deny that the relative power of France is nothing Illre what i t was even at the mlddle of the nineteenth century. Then the petty states of the~world. the dukedoms and kingdoms of the Italian peninsula, the priuclpallties of Germany, and the like, either have vanished or retain little more than a nominal existence. Smaller coun- tries, respectable on account of their his- torical traditions, of their freedo-m, and of their good government-such, for example, as Holland o r Sweden, Denmark or Switz- erland-have ceased to count for much in European politics. We may deplore thls change. We may doubt, not without rea- son, whether the happiness of mankind is promoted by the gradual decllne In In- fluence of small countries, but the fact that

he smaller states of the world count for than they used to do 1s a fact which

re must all take into account, and which ias assuredly stimulated the desire for mperial greatness To this, as far as and 1s concerned, must be added the oon- :ideration that the consolidation of growth )f Imperlal states has coincided mth, the levelopment of large armaments. It is liffkult to realize, even in imagination, ,he immense numbers of men who are now. ,hroughout the whole of Europe, trained to mms. Some thlrty-five years ago Mr. Selps, if my memory does not deceive me, mblished the statement that the armed orces of the so-called civilized world 2qualled the population of London The lumber of Londoners has since then great- ly increased, but I feel considerable con- idence that the number of soldiers has In- :reased at least as rapidly. However thiS

be, it 1s certain that the growth of military power has aroused in England a latural feeling that her armed forces must, m some way or other-mainly. of course, b y the increase of her navy-be put 111 a position to resist the armaments of other countries; and th1s belief dlrectly stimu- lates Imperialism.

Secondly, thls tendency of the modern world towards the consolidation of empires has naturally been reflected, as all patent :acts are, In the speculations of contem- !orary thinkers. Take three writers as dif- ferent from one another as J o h n See- Ley, Froude, and Capt. Mahan. They have very little m common, yet any thoughtful reader may see at a glance that they have each and all contributed to the !loribcation-the word is here used in no mvldlous sense-of the British Empire. No ,ne of the three has, it may be added, pro- iuced so immediate an effect upon English opin~on as Mahan. He has revlved the memories and the glories of Nelson He has made it part of modern Englishman’s :reed that t o Nelson, and the sea-captams sf whom he was the greatest, England oded her salvation during the contest wlth Na- poleon, and that the naval supremacy of England 1s an absolute necessity for the maintenance of the British Empire, and even for the safety of England herself. . Future hmtorians w11l probably record that - Mahan’s writings, both from their great power and from their slngular opportune- ness, have exerted an influence over Eng- lish politics as Important as the authority, of any one among our leading statesmen. To all this we may add that writers of all aescriptions are absolutely compelled to tnsist upon the fact that scientific inven- tions, by facilitating communication among manklnd, have practically made the world smaller. The Channel which divides Irom France seems little more than a river. A modern Engllsbman is nearer t o Paris than his grandfather was to Eldmburgb. In splte of all the hopes of benevolent OP-

timism, near neighborhood does not O f itself Increase nelghborlmess. The sense that the world IS small, and that we are all getting Jammed close together. increases the desire of every natlon to acquire or retain the power whlch may enable it to make sure of its fair or its unfair share of the good things the earth has to offer.

Thirdly, ne~ther patent facts nor the in- genious speculations of writers and think- ers are 1n themselves sufficlent t o turn the current of popular opinion. The es-