Page images
PDF
EPUB

was intended; hence the war, though determined formally by the ultimatum issued by the Transvaal Government, was, in an important sense, the result of British action, and this action will reawaken the old but latterly almost extinct race antagonism between the Boers and the British. The signers petition the British Government to make known that it is willing to offer such terms of peace as a people brave as well as jealous of its independence may be expected to accept. There are many influential men among the signers of this declaration.

The calamity which has The Ottawa Fire fallen upon Ottawa and the neighboring town of Hull, which is largely populated by those engaged in the lumber trade, is the greatest disaster of its kind on this continent within the last quarter of a century; it approaches closely in its magnitude to the great fires of Boston and Chicago. Estimates of the loss involved are, as we write, indefinite, but it will probably reach the sum of $15,000,000. Much more significant of the horror of such a conflagration are the varying statements that from twelve to fifteen thousand people are rendered homeless. The fire started on Thursday night of last week, and for nearly twentyfour hours it was impossible to control it by ordinary means; in fact, it stopped, not because of the efforts of the firemen and the citizens, but because it had burned itself out into the country, and there was no longer fuel for it in the direction in which it was taken by the wind. A wide strip, nearly five miles in length, was devastated. Fortunately, the beautiful Government buildings were spared; but the manufacturing industries suffered severely. Relief funds have already been started for the aid of the destitute, and to these funds other Canadian cities and the Canadian Government have contributed liberally, while large sums have also been subscribed by telegram from London, New York, and several cities of the United States. There seems to be no authentic information as to the cause of the fire, although one report states that it came from a defective flue. The very large number of wooden buildings in the portion of the city burned

made it impossible to stop the progress of the flames. No doubt this part of Ottawa will be rebuilt in a more substantial way. The rumor repeated by the press despatches that the conflagration was the work of Fenians, or Boer sympathizers, seems to have nothing behind it; and the Canadian High Commissioner, Baron Strathcoma, says that many facts directly contradict the idea. The supposition seems to have grown out of public sentiment and prejudice, and not to rest upon any tangible evidence whatever. Several lives were lost, as is always the case in a conflagration of this extent; but the number is small in comparison with the tremendous extent and rapidity of the fire.

The Famine in India

Last week the delegates from India to the Ecumenical Conference made an appeal to the American public in behalf of the famine sufferers. They recalled the relief which American generosity brought to thousands in India in the famine of 1897, and hoped that in the present more terrible visitation they may turn to the United States for renewed bounty. The British Government in India, declare the missionaries, is doing all that any government could do, and, with a skill derived from the carefully garnered experience of other famine campaigns, has relieved five and a half million persons by direct government aid—a greater work of rescue than any other government has ever undertaken. But there is a vast area in which private aid can effect what governmental interference cannot usefully attempt. A nation whose ears are open to the world's voices, and whose heart confesses the brotherhood of man, can at such a moment have no thought but that of instant and effectual rescue. The missionaries call attention to the fact that the people of Britain are burdened just now with heavy cares and engrossing tasks elsewhere. They might have added that, while a comparatively small population exists in South Africa, directly or indirectly involved in the Boer war, in India there are eighty million suffering people, and for them the English people have so far subscribed six hundred and twentyfive thousand dollars, against as many millions spent in war. This, however, is but a

small part of the Relief Fund in the Indian Treasury. The lavish expenditure of money and of men in the effort to check the famine is highly creditable to the present Indian Government. On Sunday night of this week a mass-meeting was held under the auspices of the Ecumenical Conference, and $1,600 was raised, a sum which, according to the missionaries, will save 1,600 lives. Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, has shown himself, as always, a hard worker in a good cause. He has just dismissed summarily twelve British officers and soldiers from the military service in Burma on account of their shameful connection with a criminal assault upon a Burmese woman. The missionaries from India in New York declare that this is the most creditable and heroic action yet taken by Lord Curzon, and one that will endear him to right-thinking people all over the world. They add that this action also shows the determination of the British Government to protect the natives of Burma and of India in every civil, religious, and social right.

The Revolution in Colombia

The

Varying reports have been coming from the revolutionary struggle in Colombia, and it is difficult at this time to get a clear view of the situation. latest report (and one so definite that its truth seems probable) is that the insurgents hold Colon, Barranquilla, and Cartagena. If this be so, the success of the revolution seems assured. Cartagena, it is said, was captured on April 25. Barranquilla is much the most important of the ports of Colombia. The fall of Bogota, the capital, will probably soon follow. President Zelaya of Nicaragua is believed to be in sympathy with the Colombian rebels. The United States has a genuine interest in these little wars, not merely because of the American merchants in Colombia and Nicaragua, but because these two countries own the territory we must control if we are to build the Nicaragua Canal.

Almost all the revolutions in the Spanish-American republics are fundamentally personal in their origin, and merely work out by trial of battle the jealousies and ambitions of rival politicians and generals. It is but fair to say, however, that the leaders of the present

insurrection have sent letters to the United States which lay great stress, with apparent sincerity, on their eager desire to form a truly constitutional government. The insurgents have established a provisional government under General Gabriel Santos, their military leader. General Santos is over seventy years old, but is the most active soldier in Colombia. The United States has sent two ships, the Machias and the Philadelphia, to the neighborhood of the Colombian ports.

The death of the Duke The Duke of Argyll of Argyll marks the disappearance of another of the remarkable group of men who have given dignity and interest to English public life during the last half-century. The descendant of a house whose traditions run back into prehistoric times, holding a position of the highest rank in the peerage of Scotland, the Duke of Argyll added to the best associations of a name long held in honor in the North Country. His ancestors were men of distinction and position; before the Wars of the Roses they were prominent at nearly every striking period of Scotch history; more than one of them is invested with the interest of a tragic fate. But among them all none reveal greater constancy of purpose, steadfastness of character, or fidelity to convictions than the late Duke. Born in 1823, the eighth duke of his line, while still Marquis of Lorne, at the age of nineteen, he threw himself into the ecclesiastical controversy then going on in Scotland, as an advocate of the freedom of the Presbyterian Church of that country. He became interested in politics at an early period, and soon became prominent in the councils of the Liberal party. He was a member of several Cabinets, but withdrew from his party in 1881, in consequence of a difference of opinion with his colleagues in the Cabinet touching the Irish Land Bill; and he remained until his death an earnest and constant opponent of the Liberal policy in Ireland. As a public speaker he was notable for grasp of his subject, for elevation of style, and for lucidity of statement; but he never secured the highest influence of the great orator, owing to a lack of flexibility, he was an impressive rather than a persuasive speaker. His intense

energy of nature found an outlet in many interests. He was a student of science, philosophy, literature, and theology; a controversialist by temper and by practice, he did not hesitate to encounter scientists of the standing of Professor Huxley. He was the author of many books, the best known being "The Reign of Law," which was published in 1866, and which has passed through many editions. He was a fine type of nobleman; a strong party man, and yet capable of taking broad and independent views; fearless, honorable, high-minded, with distinct capacity for leadership.

The Paris Underground Railway

The new underground railway of Paris, whose construction was authorized two years ago, is to be completed in time to serve the visitors to the Exposition. One important line running across the city a distance of eleven miles is to be completed in June. The fare during the middle of the day is to be five cents for those traveling first-class, and only three cents for those traveling secondclass. During the hours in which working people of all classes, from manual laborers to professional men, go to their work—that is, until nine o'clock in the morning-second-class return tickets are to be sold for four cents, making the single trip but two cents. As most European street railways, like our steam railways, charge so much a mile instead of so much a trip, it has hitherto been difficult to compare street-car fares here and abroad, and certain street railway journals in this country have contended that the American fares are the lower, because the rate per mile here would be very low if the average passenger rode the entire length of the route, i.e., several miles further than he wished to go. The new Paris rate of two cents a trip for the great body of the people is even lower than the rates in Detroit and Toronto. It should be said, however, that while the fares proposed in Paris may justly be compared with those on our own surface railway systems, the new underground system in New York ought not to be expected to make rates as low, for the company which has taken the New York contract has to construct the tunnel, while in Paris this work has been performed by

the city, which will own the subway by the same right that it owns the streets. The operating company in Paris receives a thirty-five-year franchise. By the terms of this franchise it is required to provide medicines and medical attendance for its employees, to insure them against accident, and to pay two-thirds of the sum necessary to insure them a pension when, through accident or old age, they can no longer work. The provision for accident insurance is especially interesting to Americans, because some of our railroads are adopting a similar system. The stipulation that the insurance payments shall be made by the company undoubtedly. operates to reduce the wages of the employees; but the fact that the company can take out accident insurance for all its employees at a very low rate makes the resulting reduction of wages insignificant. The system has the immense advantage of throwing the loss caused by accident upon the shoulders of men who are at work, instead of upon the shoulders of the families of those suffering from the accidents. What is perhaps equally significant to the American is the fact that in granting the franchise provision is made for the interests of the employees as well as those of the public-an example worthy of imitation by America.

A New International Association

The International Association for the Advancement of Science, Arts, and Education, which meets for the first time in Paris this summer, was organized last year by general committees of the British and French Associations for the Advancement of Science, and elected for its President M. Léon Bourgeois, widely known as French Minister of Education and as a representative at the Peace Congress at The Hague. The Rt. Hon. James Bryce and Sir Archibald Geikie are VicePresidents, and Professor Patrick Geddes is Secretary. National groups or sections are now forming in the various European countries, and a temporary organization of an American group has been effected, having on its General Committee such representative men as Presidents Hall, of Clark University, Harper, of Chicago, Carter, of Williams, and Jordan, of Leland Stanford; Professors Shaler, of Harvard,

says Mr. Smith, is better than an ecclesiastical despotism, or a Bourbon tyrant. with a confessor at his ear. "I have seen the statue of Giordano Bruno standing on the spot where bigotry murdered him, and Savonarola, in the city of his martyrdom, worshiped as a political saint. Garibaldi, once a hunted fugitive, fills all places with tributes to him as hero and deliverer " Mr. Smith reads intelligence in the faces of the Italians of to-day; it appears that when they are well treated they work well. He notes the absence of drunkenness in Italy; but, on the other hand, gambling is rife, though it cannot be more so than is gambling on horse-racing in England.

Jastrow, of Pennsylvania, Seligman and Woodberry, of Columbia, and Tyler, of Cornell; Messrs. Albert Shaw, E. D. Mead, and Paul Carus. "The object of the Paris Assembly," says the announcement, "is to enhance the educational value of the Exposition. It offers its privileges to men of science and the general public, who will find its headquarters a common meeting-place for men of kindred interests, from widely separated localities and of many nationalities." The Assembly will co-operate with the various Congresses which are to meet during the Exposition, will furnish full information concerning them and will record their proceedings, and will supplement them by additional lectures and excursions. It hopes to assist members and others visiting the Exposition in economizing strength, time, and money, enabling them "to gain a comprehensive and definite impression of the Exposition, such as it would otherwise be difficult to gain. Lecturers will point out and interpret its general features and special features, and expert guides will conduct members through the depart- Archbishop Ireland's St. Paul, has written an Archbishop Ireland, of ments." Further information may be obtained from Mr. Robert C. Ogden, Treasurer, 105 East Twenty-second Street, New York City.

Mr. Goldwin Smith has a The New Italy somewhat undeserved reputation as a pessimist. We are glad, therefore, to emphasize any optimistic statements coming from him which we find in the columns of his paper, the Toronto "Sun." Mr. Smith takes a hopeful view of politics in Italy, where he has spent the past four months. He calls attention to the fact that, after ages of misgovernment, a country does not recover itself at a bound. Thus the Mafia in

Sicily and the Camorra in Naples still defy the law; but, with these exceptions, brigandage has been put down. In the city of Naples there is still squalor, penury, and misery, but " Italian patriotism no longer lies chained in the dungeons of those two grim castles, as it did when Gladstone came to its rescue." The Italian Parliament is still factious, turbulent, unpractical, and, it is to be feared, not incorrupt. A fresh constitutional crisis appears to be at hand; but any Parliament,

It is true, I fear, that sexual and conjugal morality is weak. Catholics, looking over the Catholic countries, must own that on this point the confessional has failed. The reputation of the priests for chastity here is by no means so good as it is in Ireland and in French Canada. The moral condition of French

Canada is probably about the best thing that the Catholic system has to show.

Propaganda

important letter to the Duke of Norfolk, President of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, urging a united Roman Catholic propaganda on the part of all the Anglo-Saxon faithful. As the Archbishop says, the facts that the English language is encircling the globe and that English-speaking countries are constantly growing, with a speed which nothing seems able to arrest, show that regions are to be reached only through the minds of peoples spread over immense the English language. Hence, much of the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church must be done under the ægis of English speaking countries. Institutions and influences that are strong and potent where the English language holds sway will be strong and potent in shaping

the destinies of the world. Thus there is a special mission imposed upon Englishspeaking Roman Catholics:

That mission is to attune anew the English language to the harmony of Catholic truth, which was its charm before the days of the schism of the sixteenth century-the most woeful disaster which ever befell Christendom; to make the English language the millions who speak and read it; to build up for the Catholic Church public and social

bearer of Catholic verities to the hundreds of

influences in English-speaking lands, so that there their power, instead of being against her, be for her; so to establish her in those lands that she be seen to be, as in fact she is, thoroughly in unison with the political institutions and the social aspirations that dominate these lands, so that the argument for such institutions be an argument, too, for the Church herself-in fine, so to place the Church as to enable her to win over to herself the great English-speaking world and turn to her own profit and to the profit of Christian civilization the wondrous potencies of that world. However sharply Protestants may differ from Archbishop Ireland's opinion as to the schism of the sixteenth century, it is interesting to observe that missionary activity is at this time rife not alone among Protestants, as shown by the great Ecumenical Conference; a Roman Catholic leader, than whom no one is more magnetic and perhaps no one more influential, has sounded a call to arms. He reminds his co-religionists in English-speaking countries that their paucity of numbers and their weakness of resources in comparison with the legions of non-Roman Catholics form no reasons for faint-heartedness. If they believe that truth and divine power are with them in such association, they are neither few nor weak. It will not be the least of the benefits conferred on the universal Church of Christ by the Ecumenical Conference if it stirs the Roman Catholic Church to a renewed activity in missions by modern methods and with a larger use of modern languages.

The Liberal Congress of Religion

While the Missionary Conference was in session in New York, another significant Conference was hold ing crowded meetings in Boston. The Liberal Congress of Religion (henceforth the word Liberal is to be dropped), though it met in the First Unitarian Church, included men and women of many denominations and beliefs. The Rev. R. Heber Newton, of New York, in the opening sermon struck the keynote of the Congress: "Our age makes certain the unity of the human race; this carries with it the unity of the spiritual nature of man, which again holds in it the unity of religion." The Hon. Samuel M. Jones, the Mayor of Toledo, expressed the prevailing thought in a different way in saying: "Up to a few years ago it had been my

an

habit to think of life as something that could be separated into fragments, such as religion, business, and politics. I have now come to believe that all life is one." Another pregnant sentence occurred in the address of welcome by Dr. Lewis G. Janes, of Cambridge: "We are beginning to see that the chief object of life is not so much the intellectual as the practical solution of its problems. solution of its problems. Religion is life itself." In his interesting sociological discourse on "The Curve of Progress" Professor Edward Cummings, of Harvard University, described progress as ascending line that branched out slowly from materialistic to spiritual things, and incidentally asserted that "progress never comes from sacrificing the weak for the benefit of the strong, but always from the sacrifice of the strong for the sake of the weak." Mr. Charles B. Spahr spoke on "The Church and Social Unity," the central thought of his address being that, while religion was the greatest factor making for social unity, a majority of the clergy, by reason of their social identification with the ruling classes, had always supported these classes in resisting the advances of democracy. The East was represented in the Congress by the Swami Abhedananda, of India, and the Rev. Bipin Chandra Pal, an adherent of the well-known Brahmo Somaj movement. Among the women speakers were Mrs. Frederick Nathan, of New York City, who spoke with earnestness and enthusiasm of the necessity of bringing religion into industry, and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer, of Providence, R. I., who discussed the problems that beset "The Church in the Country."

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »