ways. This is undoubtedly a wise and fitting provision, and would aid national defence.

We have now considered the Government proposals for reorganising the Army and improving the national defence, for enabling our military forces to meet the altered conditions of the art of war, and for giving us that security and that protection which the enormous sum we annually pay entitles us to expect. And we find that they amount to nothing-absolutely nothing. We are to spend this year 2,800,000l. extra in order to put us in nearly the same position in which we were eighteen months ago; but as for any system-any measures for dealing with this all-important subject other than in a superficial way-any sign of a broad and comprehensive review of national defence' -any attempt to lay the deep foundations of a system which may render danger and the apprehension of danger in the future altogether unknown'-they are not to be found in the Government proposals. It is with feelings of the deepest regret, the most profound sorrow, that we are forced to come to this conclusion. Leave the abolition of purchase out of the question, what does the proposed scheme contain for good or evil? Absolutely nothing. Some years ago we saw a magnificent ocean-going steamer on a rock within sight of her port, crowded with passengers, loaded with freight and specie. She was uninjured. Could she be floated off she might be saved. Those employed to rescue her sought to do so by attaching large indiarubber cylinders to her sides, but in vain. Each time the tide rose and the strain of the great chains was thrown on the flimsy material, it tore to bits and the air escaped. Day after day of favourable weather was afforded, to the astonishment and wonder of all who knew that stormy coast. It seemed as if every chance that Providence could give, was given; but neglecting the experience of those who understood such matters, nothing was tried but bags of indiarubber filled with air. Suddenly a gale arose; the workmen had to fly for their lives; and the splendid ship rapidly became an utter wreck. England may be fitly compared to that ship: she is now unhurt, uninjured on a rock. It requires but skill and courage to float her off-to place her, as of old, on the crest of the waves. Providence has given her warnings, has afforded her space and time, to apply those remedies

which a just induction from recent events clearly demonstrates to be the true ones. Mr. Cardwell is attempting to float her off by the aid of empty promises-the abolition of purchase, the use of the ballot on emergencies, placing the Volunteers under the Mutiny Act on Easter Monday, and such likebags filled with air, that will undoubtedly rend to ribbons when the strain of war comes on them. May that Providence which has guided England so far save her too from becoming a wreck!

What hope is there for the future? We confess we see but little. Mr. Gladstone's Government promised us two years ago a happy, peaceful, and contented Ireland, through the medium of a Land Bill and a Church Abolition Bill. Few thoughtful men believed them. They have recently asked for a Secret Committee to investigate the state of that unhappy country. They now promise to 'render the apprehension of danger unknown for the future by the Army Regulation Bill. Does any one believe them? Who will say that two years hence a Secret Committee may not be sitting to investigate the causes of some terrible national disaster, produced by inefficient military organisation? We may well exclaim with General Trochu, Comment l'esprit militaire demeurait-il dans le pays avec de tels enseignements longtemps continués?'

Marshal Niel implored the Emperor to alter the French military arrangements, to shorten the length of service, to localise the corps, to form a large reserve, and retain the regular army only as a training school. All the ablest and best French officers (and despite recent events there are many such) urged this course; but the Emperor feared the powerful party who opposed any attempt at the introduction of universal military ser vice. We see the result. It is written with the bayonet on the heart of France. Painful to think that such things may happen to us. Have we any just, any well-founded reason, to believe that we alone are to be secure?

NOTE TO THE ARTICLE ON "The Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland,' in No. 259. p. 107.-In mentioning the eminent men who have held the Great Seal at Ireland since Lord to name one of the most eminent of all, SIR Plunket's retirement, we accidentally omitted JOSEPH NAPIER, to whose legal knowledge, high character, and political integrity we gladly pay our tribute of respect.

ABOUT (M. Edmond) on Labour and Wages, 122;
on co-operation amongst workmen, 134
Abraban and the Fire-worshipper, apologue of,
illustrative of the widest possible tolerance, 71
Ants, their complex political organisation, 41
Army reorganisation, 275; long catalogue of
shortcomings, negligences, and ignorances,
278; doubt whether the English soldier is
equal to his victorious predecessors, 279; Lord
Sandhurst's warning to the Government that
they were organising defeat,' ib.; General
Adye's acknowledgment that our forces are
a disjointed structure of armed men without
cohesion or efficiency, 280; rapid changes of
the art of destruction, 282; invasion of Eng-
land, 282, 283; opinion of the Defence Com-
mittee of 1859, 283; German view of the fa-
cility of a descent on England, ib.; deficiency
of our resources, 283, 284; accurate knowledge
by foreign statesmen of our minutest re-
sources, 284; tremendous consequences of an
enemy's landing, ib.; effect of our foreign
policy the dislike and contempt of foreign
nations, 285; our military helplessness, ib.;
chasm between the England of to-day and of
former times, ib.; melancholy history of the
so-called Army Bill, 286; change in the war-
like character of the English race, 287; effect
of abolishing the purchase system, ib. ; ghastly
story of the earlier part of the Crimean war,

289

Ascidian ancestry of the vertebrate sub-kingdom,
36

Austria, regeneration of, 48; political transfor-
mation, ib. ; its wretched condition in the win-
ter of 1866, 49; the Austrian empire converted
into the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, ib. ; ad-
ditions made to the political machinery, ib.;
growth of political freedom, 50; three most
important ineasures, 51; liberation of the in-
ferior priests, 52; laws affecting marriage and
education, ib.; fundamental State-laws to con-
stitute the Magna Charta of the Austrian citi-
zen, ib.; twenty-one parliaments, 53, 54; Aus-
tria composed of a number of small nations,
54; abrogation of the Concordat, 56; statistics
of the Austrian provinces, ib.; policy of the
Poles in Austria, ib. ; the Czechs, ib. ; question
of a central administration for each nationality,
58; dissensions of the contending nationalities,
59; Vienna and Berlin contrasted, 59, 60

of malting, 209, 210; the method of brewing,
211; hops, English and foreign, 212; distilling
and rectifying, 213; unjust effect of a licence
duty varying with the value of the premises,
214; evils attending the division of public-
houses into two classes, 215; demoralising ef
fect of beer-houses, 215, 216; Mr. Bruce's In-
toxicating Liquor Bill, 216; offensiveness of
its title, 217; violent opposition to the Bill,
218; its injustice and cruelty, 219; proof that
the paucity of public-houses does not imply
sobriety, ib.; the black-white name of Permis-
sive Prohibition the English form of the Maine
Liquor Law, 220

Belgium, agricultural regimen of, 135; Belgian
farming, 136
Berlin contrasted with Vienna, 59, 60
Bernard's (Charles de) fascinating novel 'Ger-
fault,' 115

Braid's inducing artificial somnambulism, 162
Browning's (Mr.) obscurity of style, 194
Brutes, no evidence of advance in their mental
power, 40

Burbage's company at the Globe theatre in
Shakspeare's time, 12

Business man (the), as described by Mr. Fawcett,
125

Byron (Lord), Continental opinion of him as the
greatest English poetical genius since Shak-
speare and Milton, 189; the morning after the
publication of the 1st and 2nd Cantos of Don
Juan' awakes and finds himself famous, 191;
rapt interest excited by his poetical tales, 192;
the Giaour,' 193; the Corsair,' 194; irra-
tional and indefensible reaction against him,
196; his stanzas on the Ocean, 197;
Juan' the copestone of his fame, 198; his
mode of composition contrasted with Tenny-
son's, 199; his sudden inspiration eagerly
worked out, ib.; compared himself to the tiger
when the first spring fails, ib.; foreign critics
on the prejudice against him, 207

Don

Cebus Azaræ, diseases of the monkey so-called, 34
Chambord's (Comte de) manifesto on the ills of
the working classes, 138

Channel Islands, prosperity produced by small
culture there, 136; two principal causes of
their prosperity, 137, 138

Childers's (Mr.) defence of his conduct respecting
the loss of the Captain,' 233
Church's (Protestant) ascendency annulled, 276
Church and State, relation of, three stages
through which it has passed, 151