natural and necessary complement of our all round character and position in the scale of being. Charged and energized with this threefold health we can fight steadily, strongly, calmly, and enduringly. The battle in these times is usually both long and strong, and victory frequently delays her approach. Thousands go down and disappear for want of the power of physical endurance. Quite as many thousands fail for lack of steadily improving brain capacity. But, perhaps, most of all are smitten, crushed, and routed because of their poverty of clear and steadfast moral purpose. The real strength of man, we repeat, is his health-his threefold health; and without this no start, however good, no advantages on the way, however great, no stroke of luck, however wonderful, can save him from defeat. Like all other creatures, his means of defence must be commensurate with every possible occasion, or final victory can never crown his brow.-Hospital.

OUR FOREIGN CRITICS.-We are not accustomed, as a rule, to pay much attention to foreign critics. Usually they fall into too many errors-generally of a comic nature-to deserve very serious attention. Even our cousins across the Atlantic have some strange notions of us. They are quite convinced that we all drop-or, as they call it, clip-our H's, from members of the peerage down to the gentlemen busied in carrying fish at Billingsgate. It is one of their traditions, and, perhaps, we cannot expect them to discard it from love of accuracy. In a comedy-we mean a comedy, not a burlesque-running the other day in New York, two English lords, arrayed in check coats, over widely open waistcoats, displaying linen of that startling brilliancy of color and pattern dear to the music hall artiste, appear on the stage. Qaoth the first lord, who is carrying a fox terrier under his arm, to the second member of our aristocracy, "'Ullo, 'Enery, 'ow are yer?" whereupon the whole house is convulsed with laughter at so delicious a joke. The Americans are just now incensed with the British aristocracy because some of the wealthiest of their daughters have married an equal number of our noblemen. Their vengeance has been pitiless. They have robbed even the peerage of their aspirates. "I would rather," exclaims the trans-Atlantic stage father-for such a majestic parent is, of course, not found anywhere else but on the boards of melodrama

American citizen than to the richest English lord!" At which splendid sentiment the audience thrills with patriotic fervor. If, therefore, our own kinsmen, speaking the same mother tongue, will not see ns as we are, but rather as they would have us be for their own glorification, how are we to expect foreigners to understand us? We are disliked everywhere throughout Europe just now, except in Portugal, where we are execrated. Our sin cannot be expiated. We would not permit that enterprising power to dance on our flag, so with one voice our neighbors all cried out at once, "Go along! why don't you hit one of your own size?" We have often heard them say this before, so we are not very much ashamed, and, perhaps, not quite convinced that our foreign critics in the newspapers believe themselves all they write about us in journals frequently at a loss for startling copy. Preston Chronicle.

"A VOYAGE WITH GENERAL GORDON."-Gordon's reasons for so suddenly throwing up the enviable appointment of private secretary to Lord Ripon, as Governor-General of India, have hitherto been a mystery. They will be a mystery no longer after the entertaining article, "A Voyage with General Gordon," in the February number of the Contemporary Review. The writer of the article has had access to the diary of a skipper who, in 1882, conveyed Gordon in a small trading schooner from Mauritius to the Cape. Gordon was very communicative on the voyage, when he was not prostrate with sea-sickness—which, by the way, he bore no better than Marius-and one evening he told his nautical host why he had resigned. He simply could not endure the manners and customs" of the high social circle in which he was expected to move. 'Dress for dinner, dress for evening parties, dress for balls, dress and decoration, decoration and dress! day after day. I could not,' said Gordon, 'stand the worry of it, and, rather than do so, I gave up the appointment.' In his talks with the skipper, he did not fail to touch on those curious practical questions connected with the Fall which so frequently engage his attention in the published correspondence with his sister. He was firmly persuaded that the site of the Garden of Eden is one of the islands of the Seychelles, and that the cocode-mer of that region is the true Forbidden Tree. He carried amid his otherwise scanty luggage a box full of chips of the wood, and offered them to persons who had won his par

ticular regard as the most precious gifts it was in his power to bestow. His reason for not marrying, as stated on the same occasion, was only less original than his reason for throwing up his appointment in India. "I never yet have met the woman who for my sake, and perhaps at a moment's notice, would be prepared to sacrifice the comforts of home and the sweet society of loved ones, and accompany me whithersoever the demand of duty might lead."

FLOGGING AND SUICIDE OF FEMALE POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SIBERIA.-Brief and, as yet, incomplete information has just reached some of the Russian refugees in Paris concerning another and horrible tragedy which has occurred in the far east of Siberia, Some time ago Madame Nadyda Sihida, a lady teacher in the High Schools, was condemned to penal servitude. It was found that some copies of the Narodnaia Volia, the Russian revolutionary organ, had been published in her house. This lady, a refined and highly-educated woman, was detained in the Kara prison, where of late many political prisoners sentenced to hard labor have been sent. It ap. pears that last November Madame Sihida was provoked by the Director of the Kara prison. There is no information given as to the nature of this provocation, but it was evidently very serious, since, and in spite of the grave consequences likely to ensue, Madame Sihida retorted by slapping the director on the face. Infuriated by this affront, the director ordered the unfortunate woman to be stripped and flogged. Such infamies were not perpetrated on ladies of rank and position even in the time of the Emperor Nicholas. The humiliation of this barbarous form of punishment so afflicted Madame Sihida that, in her distress and her fear of other tortures the future might hold in store, she poisoned herself. What can have happened is as yet a mystery; but evidently the women political prisoners, particularly those who by their position and edu. cation are especially susceptible to anything that could compromise their honor and sense of self-respect, thought they were no longer safe from the insults of the authorities. No sooner had Madame Sihida killed herself than her friend and fellow-prisoner, Madame Maria Kovalevskaïa, wife of Professor Kovalevskaïa, also poisoned herself. Persistent rumors add that other women destroyed them. selves after the flogging of their companion, but of this there is as yet no certain evidence.

A few miles from the women's prison at Kara there is the men's political prison, and the inmates of these two prisons have contrived to establish secret but constant communications. It is supposed that when the men heard of the flogging of Madame Sihida and her subsequent suicide some sort of commotion took place, and this, of course, was likely to be followed by violent and brutal repression. In any case, the procurator, whose functions are somewhat similar to that of an English sheriff, the colonel of the gen. darmes, and the surgeon of Chita were summoned in hot haste to Kara. At first the governor of the province, residing at Chita, did not seem to realize the full importance of what had happened and refused to disturb himself. Two days later, however, he suddenly left Chita and proceeded in great haste to Kara. From all this it is inferred that something very serious must have happened. Full details are anxiously expected; and if the secret means of communication with the outer world established by the exiles are not discovered these will reach us shortly. The following is a translation from the Russian of one of the letters that has just come to hand, and it briefly substantiates the above information. The letter is dated December 28th, 1889, and seems hastily written, as if it had to be suddenly and promptly despatched. It states: "Every day the situation of the exiles in Siberia becomes more and more difficult. To-day the position has simply become so critical that we do not know if to-morrow we shall not be involved in some affair which will result in our dying at the point of the bayonets. In the month of November a horrible event occurred at Kara. I do not yet know all the details; but the commencement is sufficient to enable us to guess the end. Madame Sihida, a political prisoner, boxed the ears of the Kara commandant. She was punished by flogging. Madame Sihida poisoned herself, and after her Madame Kovalevskafa killed herself. These facts are known officially; but rumors circulate that several other women among the political prisoners have also poisoned themselves. The colonel of the gendarmes, the procurator, and the doctor started for Kara. The governor at first said he would not go, but two days later, after the departure of the above-mentioned authorities, he also suddenly started for Kara. We surmise, after all this, that something terrible must have occurred."-Times.

SINCE the great awakening of the Renaissance and the Reformation, each century has been entrusted with a special task, and with a special science to accomplish it. In the sixteenth century that science was theology, and the task it enjoined, religious reform. In the seventeenth the science was moral philosophy, and the task the Cartesian renovation of moral philosophy. The eighteenth century was given over to the study of politics, and found its correlative task in proclaiming throughout Europe those natural rights already inaugurated by the Puritans of New England. While the nineteenth century has devoted itself to political economy, and has set before itself the amelioration of the lot of the greater number.

The sixteenth century says to man: "Thou shalt no longer submit to the decisions of Popes, but thyself search the Scriptures for Truth." The seventeenth NEW SERIES.-VOL. LI., No. 5.

century says: "Thou shalt no longer bow. before traditional authority, but seek out truth by the light of reason." The eighteenth century says: "Thou shalt cease to be the slave of nobles and despots who oppress thee; thou art free and sovereign.' While the nineteenth century argues : "It is a grand thing to be free and sovereign, but how is it that the sovereign often starves? how is it that those who are held to be the source of power often cannot, even by hard work, provide themselves with the necessaries of life?" This is the problem which now lies before us-a problem which men have endeavored to solve by books, by lectures, by rude violence, and have hitherto endeavored in vain. Yet for any fresh endeavor, for any new light upon the problem-Justice among men-we must turn to that recent science, by some called political economy, by others social science, whose object is to

analyze the production and distribution of wealth. When Voltaire was studying his tory, with Madame de Châtelet, and attempting to discover the laws which rule the rise and fall of empires, he fully realized that for his object a knowledge of political economy was necessary, a science, at that period, barely outlined. In the In the present day it is sufficiently advanced to materially aid our researches with lessons from the past. All social problems are certainly not by any means new. In all ages the unequal distribution of the good things of the earth has excited the astonishment of the wise and the complaints of the poor :-to some leisure, luxury, and power; to others labor, misery, and servitude. In the introduction to his excellent Histoire de l'Economie Politique, Blanqui writes: In all revolutions there are never more than two parties: those who wish to live on the produce of their own labor, and those who would live on the labor of others." This very true remark is expressed in another way by Aristotle, who says: The weak are ever clamoring for equality and justice, the strong do not trouble themselves about the matter. It is obvious, then, that though no verdict has yet been reached, the case has been in court a long time. Inequalities date from the earliest stages of society, though the most cursory glance over history shows that it has been the constant effort of humanity to combat these inequalities, and that the effort has been increasingly successful. In our own time, however, new circumstances have arisen, which have totally changed the conditions of the fight, and of these circumstances I will mention three.

In the first place, those who live by manual labor, who were in the beginning slaves, then serfs, and are now but the ""lower orders," are, theoretically at least, recognized as the equals of the nonworker, and in many countries have already legislative rights. Secondly, political economy has discovered to us the causes of inequality by explaining how wealth is distributed. Lastly, thanks to the press, and the spread of education, the workers are themselves mastering the mysteries of political economy, a weapon which will be formidable enough. These circumstances, and many others which I cannot enumerate here, endow the old problem of inequality with a gravity which

it never previously possessed, and which is now appreciated by all. The problem therefore calls for most persevering study, for so long as the old conservative forces exhibit blind terror at all change, and the new radical spirit frets foolishly at all that is, we shall be swayed continuously between despotism and anarchy. Careful study is the more requisite, too, because no remedy has yet been found for that evil inequality, the source of which we have discovered. It is true that remedies have been invented, and each patentee, so to speak, has been convinced that his alone was the universal panacea, just as not infrequently the confidence of a raw physician is in proportion to his ignorance. Some of these remedies are worthless, but others certainly repay examination, as there is often a soul of truth in things erroneous, and one may possibly pluck out a jewel, and set it in conspicuous daylight. When the improvement of the condition of our fellow-men is at stake, attentive and patient examination becomes the strict duty of humanity. Let us, then, examine Communism, the remedy which is offered in an engaging and seemingly scientific form well calculated to seduce the public.

The

The importance of Communism lies in the fact, that it is specially attractive to two classes of men of mutual sympathies, reformers and workers. The former are drawn to it by a sentiment of justice; the latter by their own necessities. two broad facts at the base of Communism which account for its persistence are, a resentment of the inequality of conditions, and a faith in the principle of universal brotherhood, a principle which is just in itself, but has unhappily been misapplied. Not in vain were the watchwords, Equality and Fraternity, sounded in the ears of enthusiasts of the new ideas; once graven in their hearts, they could not be effaced. But how are these principles to be applied? How is society to be reformed in accordance with justice? Communism is offered as the solution of this difficulty; Communism, that dream of so many great men, the indefinite organization of the earliest human societies. Its simplicity seems to make it feasible; its apparent regularity takes the imagination; its color of benevolence wins the pitiful. It is adopted without reflection, and without knowledge; and naturally,

for it necessitates neither. It is goldenmouthed, and draws delightful pictures; its descriptions are no less fascinating than its contrasts are striking; but it reasons little; it does not appeal to the intellect. Of the difficulties in the way of all economic reform it has nothing to say; it simply ignores them.

a

As for the workers, is it likely they would refuse to follow this path strewn with the flowers of Utopia? Their lot is often very hard, always uncertain, and appears all the harder in contrast with the Juxury in their midst. The eighteenth century tells them of a time when land was unappropriated, when man was proud free agent, virtuous and upright, earning his substance by the strength of his arms, not as a serf, or a paid servant, but as a warrior, the darling son of nature, whose exhaustless benefits he enjoyed. They are told now of a happy future, when evil shall be banished from the earth, and injustice from society, when there shall be no laws nor restraints save those of love, no limits to enjoyment but desire, no labor but such as they have taste for; when life, in a word, shall become the long and pleasant feast that poets sing of. Is it strange that they rise up and rush forward with outstretched arms, and hearts full of hope, to embrace these visions of happiness presented to their excited imaginations? They would have these dreams realities; they would make these phantom fancies texts for legislation; this happiness, of which they have caught a glimpse, they want actually to enjoy; and if society, in its present conditions, resists them, and rejects their ideal, they stand up and attack it. You may tell those who have not the wherewithal to live, that their lot is inevitable, that the majority must ever suffer so that the minority may enjoy; they will not believe you. In the heart of suffering man hope dies hard; and it is well so, for when hope is dead, what is there left but revolt? Should you bind youth down to the present by bonds of interest or ambition, it will yet escape you, for it believes it has a mission to fulfil, a certain progress to realize. It were vain to attempt to detain it, yet you may perhaps guide its flight. So it is useless to tell these enthusiasts of brotherhood, that humanity falls again and again into the same errors all ending in ruin. The reply will be an

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affirmation of indefinite perfectibility, an article of faith bequeathed to us by the eighteenth century, and an enumeration of the startling evidences of progress writ large on the page of modern history: the printing-press, and steam, religious liberty and equality before the law, the wonders of industry, and the wonders of thought. It is vain, too, to add that while we think we are advancing, we are but moving in a circle, blindly turning the tread-mill of our centuries as of our lives. Their answer is "It is true we are moving in circles, but they are the circles of a vast spiral ascent starting from the mire of the diluvian period, and reaching to that invisible sun, which Plato called Truth. Coarse clay, at the outset, we are ever perfecting ourselves, as our reason grows, and grasps new principles. It were wiser did you say to these impatient enthusiasts : The evil is indeed great, and it becomes all lovers of justice to fight against it. yze it, discover its cause, that you may find also its remedy. Do not listen to the voice of instinct, about which so much is talked; it is the voice, not of mind, but of matter. Do not trust the imagination; its impressions are all embellished by the senses. Feeling will not suffice; you must have knowledge. Cease to dream, and learn to know. Your Communistic plans are merely the delusions of your heart; see if they can satisfy your reason. You desire liberty, equality and fraternity; they would crush liberty, violate equality and impose fraternity." This is the attitude and the argument that I have adopted in the following pages. Before, however, putting a system to the test, it is necessary clearly to determine its nature and its object.

Anal

Communism, as generally understood, includes any and every idea of reform or social progress. Infatuated with the prevailing order of things, in this view every novelty and every pioneer of reform are tainted with this heretical Communism. It is the spirit of evil, disguised and metamorphosed in numberless ways. Like the recluses of the Middle Ages, these fanatical Conservatives, disturbed by the phantoms of their imaginations, see the Black Monster everywhere. Communism is the Satan of political economy. Any intervention of the State to assist the needy classes, and to lessen social inequality, is condemned as imbued with this detestable