their strength and act upon it; let them tell their rulers that they have had enough of this insane and suicidal policy; that the best way of encouraging their trade and commerce, and of protecting their liberties at home, is by being at peace with their neighbours, with whom they, the people, have no quarrel; and that they will no longer allow themselves to be drawn into wars, or support intolerable armaments merely to gratify the pride and ambition of kings. Let the people once realise this and we shall have heard the last of wars. G.

THE SITUATION IN THE SOUDAN.

THE present situation in the Eastern Soudan is so critical that the friends of Peace of all sorts ought to make some prompt and determined demand that practical and sincere efforts towards permanent negotiations, conciliation, and settlement should at once be entered upon. The trumpery plea put forward on behalf of the Foreign Office, to the effect that there is nothing that can be offered to the Soudanese, must be brushed aside with the contempt that it deserves. There is Peace to be offered, and with it an assurance of perfect freedom for legitimate commerce. This is all that the tribes around Suakin require in order to secure their hearty and effectual co-operation. If there is anything else needed to secure even the Dervishes to a league of pacification, it is a full and frank abandonment of all Egyptian claims over the Soudan. Men of all parties are agreed that the Khedive's claim is utterly dead in fact; and it is perverse in the last degree that the British authorities should delay to acknowledge that fact by open proclamation. This view is emphatically stated, with all the grounds for it, by "A Resident at Cairo," in the Pall Mall Gazette of the 8th. There is no longer any sort There is no longer any sort of tenable plea for this political step being delayed, and it must be insisted upon by all who desire to put an end to the disgraceful anarchy and useless bloodshed in the Soudan. Referring to that communication from Cairo, it is desirable to expose another and peculiarly subtle excuse put forward by the same writer in fear of prompt negotiations. It is sophistically suggested that to make peace and open trade with the Suakin tribes would be an indirect aid to the Dervishes. It is in itself almost a sufficient answer to this absurd objection that the Cairo writer has the audacity to dispute or half apologise for the irritating course too long fostered by Colonel Kitchener in setting the tribes to attack and raid upon one another. For the rest, the forcible letter of Mr. A. B. Wylde, in the Times of the 8th inst., in which he demonstrates the practicability of negotiation and the folly-we should say

criminality-of any longer delaying that, the only feasible method of settling the Eastern Soudan, answers all objections that can be pleaded on behalf of we know not what sinister interests. As we have said, there is an imperative call for all real friends of Peace to enter on definite action in this matter. Though Parliament is not sitting, the responsible authorities are accessible; and the Foreign Office should have no rest until the Executive shall be compelled to remove the disgrace that lies on the British name every day that passes without effective steps being taken to settle the Soudan in the only way that such result can be secured. We trust that our friends in the provinces, as well as here in London, will at once move, by letters to their Members, by memorials to the Foreign Office, and by published resolutions, and insist that negotiations shall be opened, first with the tribes round Suakin, and then with the Dervish leaders, to the end that the insensate struggles in the Soudan shall cease.

THE DEATH OF MANCINI.

W.

OUR Italian brothers have lost a great patriot, a splendid orator, and, above all, one of the foremost advocates in Europe of the principle of International Arbitration. Signor Mancini had the deep satisfaction of seeing the Resolution in favour of this principle, which he moved in the Chamber of Italian Deputies, carried unanimously. All honour to him and to the Italian people, in that their Parliament was the only one in which there was no opposition to the declaration of that great ideal. More than this, with the exception of Great Britain, Italy is the only first-class State in Europe which has had the courage to vote such a resolution. This event took place on the 24th November, 1873, the whole Chamber rising in token of approval. Nor was this the mere vague assertion of a sentiment, for, five years later, again, on the motion of the same distinguished jurist, the Italian Chamber adopted a resolution in favour of an Arbitral Clause being inserted in all the Treaties of Commerce negotiated between Italy and other countries. Nor has this remained without effect, for the vote has been faithfully carried out, and Italy stands at the head of all civilised nations in this respect. She owes this proud position to the indefatigable worker and noble man whose decease we record. We offer to our Italian friends the expression of our profound sympathy; but they have the consolation of knowing that Mancini has done work for the world which will endure for ever.

The following is a notice of his life, taken

from Il Secolo, and translated for us by Miss Monica Mangan:

"MANCINI.-There died, yesterday (26th December), in the Villa Reale di Capodimonte, at Naples, Pasquale Stanislao Mancini, a distinguished jurist, an apostle of international arbitration, and a leading supporter of the movement for abolishing capital punishment. He was born in 1817; and at fifteen years of age he entered the University of Naples to study jurisprudence, in addition to other subjects. At eighteen he became an advocate, and was so successful in that career as to acquire the title of 'l'enfant prodige.' In 1837 he was sanitary inspector, during the cholera, in the province of Avellino. His personal popularity increased yearly; he was not only a lawyer and a teacher, but an artist, a poet, and a passionate lover of the fine arts and of science. He married Beatrice Oliva, a well-known artist and writer. Later on, he urged and encouraged the Bourbons to put themselves at the head of the Italian movement, but his advice was not followed. He was, however, offered office, and this he declined. When, afterwards, the Bourbons insulted the Neapolitan Parliament, it was Mancini who, in the name of the Deputies, drew up the historic protest. The reaction came; and in order to save himself from falling into the hands of his political enemies, and from being imprisoned, he took refuge, with Pisanelli and Conforti, in the house of Count Rayneval, the French ambassador, and escaped on board a French ship. At Turin he taught international law, and from his school were produced Italy's most brilliant jurists; while he continued to work for legislative reform in Piedmont. He took part in the diplomatic conferences instituted by Cavour in 1857, and his decisions may still be consulted with advantage.

"In his position as councillor, under Prince Carignano, at Naples, for the department of justice, he introduced useful reforms, and abolished numerous religious corporations. Afterwards, he returned to Turin, and became tutor in international law to the two sons of Victor Emmanuel; and under his guidance the present King of Italy studied jurisprudence.

"He subsequently entered the Italian Parliament, joining the party of the Left; and gained distinction as an orator of remarkable power. His genius and culture soon placed him in the first rank, and to him are due many important judicial reforms. In November, 1873, he introduced in the Chamber a proposal that, in the case of international disputes, resort should be had to arbitration. It was supported by Visconti Venosta, then Foreign Minister, and adopted by the Chamber.

"A devoted adherent of the Left, Manciui did not change after the Parliamentary Revolution of 1876; and Depretis made him Minister of Justice. In this post, however, he was not successful; and even his warmest admirers became convinced that he was not suited for it. The last years of his political life tended somewhat to obscure the glory of his patriotic services for the redemption of Italy. As Foreign Minister he laid the basis of the Triple Alliance, and by the acquisition of Assab and Massowah inaugurated a bad colonial policy.

"In private life he was all that was most admirable, and his personal qualities attracted to him many friends who entirely disagreed with him in opinion. He kept open house wherever he went, and never refused any appeal for aid, giving, in fact, more than his income warranted. This made it necessary for him to continue to exercise his profession late in life, when strength and energy were becoming exhausted, inasmuch as the modest income of a Minister of State and Court Advocate did not suffice.

"The king, who always retained his friendship for him, offered him Capodimonte as a residence; and when-in 1884-cholera broke out in the neighbouring

city of Naples, he it was who went to the king and urged the measures which resulted in the Chamber's voting funds sufficient for giving health to the most beautiful of Italian cities. He continued to toil unceasingly, in spite of the protests of his friends, and worked far into the night. He had been ailing for some time, when, at length, on the 26th of December, he departed from life."

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS.

FRANCE.

I was at the theatre, the other day, and heard my neighbours behind me talking about the army, war, and patriotism. The speakers were small shopkeepers, almost men of the people." "In the year 1868," they said, "men attached no meaning to the word 'patrie.' People wished to have nothing more to do with permanent armies; no one desired to be a soldier ; and the peasant who possessed only 2,000 francs spent them without hesitation in finding a substitute for his son. The war, however, came, and everyone was filled with hatred of the Germans." Men then remembered that they had a Fatherland, and that it must be defended, and those who just before had called themselves citizens of the world, became the most ardent in battle. The peasants certainly left their fields with regret in order to go and be killed; they did not perhaps care for France when they left their homes, but those who returned to their hearths came back full of hatred for Germany. Eighteen years have now passed by. We have not pardoned Germany yet, and the wound which she has made on our frontier still bleeds.

But a new generation has grown up, which has not seen war; while even those who were in it have during these years lost some of their hatred; and now the old idea of the fraternity of nations and of a good understanding with other peoples has been re-awakened. France has become calmer, but it is the calm felt by those who do not like war, and who have no wish to pick a quarrel with anyone. Nevertheless, men have not ceased to believe in the Fatherland; and the bygone cosmopolitanism of the Boulevards, in the time of the Empire, is no longer the fashion. Jokes are no longer made at the expense of the army, and the religion of the national flag is the one which in France to-day is the most cherished by faithful disciples. A distrust is felt of foreigners; there is no confidence either · in the English or in the Italians; men retreat within themselves, are isolated from the rest of the world, and forget it. Nevertheless, in spite of all this, the ideas. of a former time-those generous ideas of our fathersare reviving. The old prejudices and hatreds begin to grow weaker, but they are still very strong, and we must trust to time to get rid of them. A few weeks ago, our Parliament voted a grant of 12,000 francs for the creation of courses of lectures on international law; and the speech of M. Gaillard, which a few years before would have been received with laughter and hisses, was applauded. In the world of the University, the ideas which we support have gained ground, and I had an opportunity, on the occasion of Mr. Pratt's last visit. to Paris, to put him in communication with several professors. Everywhere he was well received, and the men best known for their ardent patriotism, such as M. Lavisse, cordially consented to work with us for this grand cause of international arbitration. Certainly, some doubts were expressed, and men asked themselves whether, indeed, we should ever see the triumph of the cause for which we strive. No one, however, accused us of working for a dangerous purpose, or one which was bad for France. Even in the army, men begin to doubt whether war is useful or legitimate; indeed, it

is felt necessary to reassure oneself, as well as others, as to the necessity of the profession of arms. I read the other day, in the letter of a young soldier, a long exhortation, from which I should like to send you the following words :-"War is said to be a thing which is inevitable, to which one must resign oneself, forcing oneself to believe that it is salutary for nations, because the only things which one does well are those things which one believes in." "Officers," he continued, 66 are not useless parasites; they have essential duties: do not believe those who affirm the contrary. Since wars are inevitable, one must prepare oneself for victory, inasmuch as we are a people alike humane and just, who would never abuse its victories." When it is found necessary to make such exhortations, and when it is thought a duty to resort to such arguments, the military spirit must, in spite of appearances, be on the decline. Do you think that, under the government of Louis Philippe, it would have been necessary thus to plead the cause of war? At that time, the "glory "of France was the only question to be considered, and the necessity of not allowing the army to lose its "prestige." To-day, however, men scarcely speak of the dignity of France. Foreign politics attract less attention, and the efforts that have been made to increase the extent of our empire have been viewed with disapprobation. Except in cases where the integrity of our territory or the liberty of our nation is directly menaced, we are very cold; and I assure you that the events in Bulgaria, in Greece, or in Egypt excite nobody. We resign ourselves to increasing the army, and to increasing the budget of war, but that is all; the impulse of former days is indeed diminished. If, indeed, war broke out, and if we were victorious, our belligerent and quarrelsome passions would return, but now they are quiescent; and it would be very difficult to re-awaken them. This is well known in France; and political representatives dare no longer to talk of "La Révanche," for fear of repelling their electors. I know well that in spite of his protestations of love for peace, and in spite of his declaration at Bordeaux, Napoleon III. passed all the time of his reign in seeking quarrels with his neighbours. sovereign, however, may have a foreign policy which is capricious and changeable, which it is not possible for the chief of a Democratic Government to entertain. The President of the Council has his hands tied, and he cannot do anything without the explicit consent of the Parliament; and M.'Ferry has found this to be the case. Active foreign policy is only possible in an aristocratic country, and democrats must resign themselves to remaining behind their frontiers, and leave the sovereigns of Europe to be embroiled, or otherwise, without reference to them. I do not say that they cannot exercise a great influence, but they cannot exercise it through the traditionary methods. In a country where power rests with the Parliament, diplomacy cannot exist; for diplomatists would not know which master to listen to. As they could not obtain the confidence of all, they can only save their situation by doing nothing. Besides, in a democratic country, everything is, or may be, done publicly, for Parliament meddles with everything, and there are no secrets of State. If a minister refuses to speak, he is accused at once of having a personal policy of his own, or of being an ambitious self-seeker-or something else. The press also expresses its opinion on all questions, and nothing is hid from it; and it gets more information, if not better information, than the Government. It speaks when it ought to be silent, and in France, at least, the Government is powerless before it. A democracy must find it almost impossible to undertake an offensive war; for men do not wish to be killed unless obliged.

A

It is, then, on the will of the electors that the maintainance of peace depends; and they are resolutely pacific, because they would have to fight in person. In our days, that is a thing which one does not undergo

without absolute necessity. I am also convinced that no country in Europe is in a condition to oppose an aggressive war with such resistance as France. Love of country, and passionate attachment to it, are in fact the most distinct result of the war of 1870. We are no

longer cosmopolitan as we were once. We can no longer believe, as we did twenty years ago, in a federation of all nations, and in the United States of Europe. Nevertheless, these are the ideas of the future, and some people already put them forward, although confusedly; desiring that which they cannot hope for. The idea of liberty was, at the time of the Revolution, confounded with the idea of the Fatherland. Monarchical Europe simultaneously attacked France and the Revolution. Some day, however, we shall return to the great thoughts of those who, when a new France was born, hoped for an entente cordiale of all peoples for Progress and Liberty. LEON MARILLIER.

GERMANY.

The May number of CONCORD contained a report on the Frankfort Peace Association, adding "that recent events at Berlin give the hope of freer and bolder action on the part of our fellow-workers in that Empire." In consequence of this report the Frankfort Association thought the time for successful action had arrived.

Even

The ground on which the German peacemakers founded this hope was the accession to the Throne of Frederick the Noble. His humane principles were well known, and also that he had no sympathy for Chauvinism of any kind. Although one was conscious that the Sovereign alone could not, even in Germany, change completely the course of politics, but that in the first instance the nation must be won over to our ideas, one still took for granted that, under the reign of this man, the "Reptile Press" would not venture to call us traitors, because we work for the peace of the nations-that during this reign those classes which believe implicitly in this press, because they know it to be inspired by Bismarck, would become more accessible to our endeavours. Frederick III. died, and with him vanished the hopefulness of the German Democrats, who with us, fas everywhere, are the best pioneers for the unity of nations. Was this hope justified? I do not believe so. Events have proved that Bismarck's influence is greater than the late Emperor's was. against Frederick, the Reptile Press dared to agitate, and millions of people believed, even under his dominion, that every one who differed from Bismarck's opinion was guilty of treason. It is Bismarck's authority which stands against our cause, and against which it seems useless to struggle. I do not think that Bismarck desires war; no, I feel certain that his diplomacy endeavours to obtain peace, that he himself believes in the principle, "Si vis pacem, para bellum," but I consider his means wrong, and an of the opinion that they must lead to war instead of preventing it. Therefore the authority which he possesses is our greatest enemy. The readers of his press, too, believe that it is necessary to be prepared for war in order to preserve peace, as they believe everything he says, and half of the German people are readers of his press. Liberals were, as is well known, obliged in the winter of 1886 to give way partially to his wishes of increasing the army, or they would have been entirely engulphed during the elections. As it was they lost half of their seats because they did not give way to him entirely. The Reptiles were crying out," Whoever now refuses to help to increase the army, challenges our neighbours to attack us;" and a large contingent of the German nation believed in this irrational talk and did not elect Liberals, as peace was to be maintained! It sounds absurd, but is, nevertheless, true; only out of love for peace was the army increased. The spectre of war,

The

instead of bringing a decrease, led to an increase of the army. There is little prospect that the German peacemakers will be able to succeed in gaining a reduction of the military contingent, as an influence over foreign policy. But a wide scope for action is still left to them. They may encourage to activity those who share their views, but are either too lazy or too indifferent to make propaganda for them; they may in verbal intercourse correct and oppose untrue and ruinous statements concerning our brethren in foreign countries; they can influence the Liberal papers to contradict, more than has been done up to now, the Chauvinistic remarks of the Reptile Press; and they may still correspond with the foreign Associations, and can gather and propagate impartial accounts and reports on episodes which might excite national hatred. January, 1889.

ROME.

HERMANN FUNCKE.

The Italian Peace Movement has happily passed from the region of theories and ideals into that of facts, and is every day assuming wider proportions. The meetings held at Paris and London have been laid to heart as examples, and have had a remarkable influence throughout Italy. It is further to be noted that the much-vexed question whether our Government is consulting the real interests of the country (with regard to the maintenance of peace) serves to stimulate the attention of the public.

In consequence of the initiative taken by the International Arbitration and Peace Association, Italy is to-day permeated by a powerful current of opinion, which protests against any aggression on the part of the nation, and openly avows its desire for the supreme benefits of international harmony and brotherhood.

The appeal issued from the Roman Committee, presided over by the Hon. R. Bonghi, and the meetings held at Milan and throughout Lombardy, are signs of the times, and the proposed Congress at Rome promises to yield important results.

The favourable impression everywhere produced by the numerous Peace Committees is proved by the fact that both individuals and societies of widely different views have supported them. This is especially the case at Milan, where parties and journals of every shade of opinion, laying aside their differences, have combined together in a resolute effort to maintain peace. Thus, Il Secolo and La Perseveranza both have brilliant articles on the same subject, the former speaking with perfect confidence of the course taken by S. Bonghi. Deploring the mad steeple-chase to which the rulers of Europe have devoted themselves, S. Bonghi says:- "Where shall we find a moral force capable of saving human society? Governments have shown themselves to be incapable of doing so." He continues :-"That force can only be found in society itself, which is fully able to ameliorate, purify, and civilise its surroundings. It must come equally from the aristocratic and the plebeian sections. It may seem a tedious, hard, and almost impossible task to evolve this latent energy, but moral forces, once called forth and brought into action, accomplish far more than what was foreseen. enough for the present that men of all classes, and of every shade of opinion, priests and laymen, have rallied beneath the same flag, and will devote themselves to the propagation of those ideas. The sceptics who regard such views as delusive can never have read either ancient or modern history."

It is

It is remarkable that articles of this nature in the Secolo and La Perseveranza were followed up by energetic efforts on the part of the chief writers in these well-known journals; who, indeed, have presided over their respective societies at Milan and at Rome. Political associations of every shade of opinion, but principally of the Democratic party, consisting of men who have taken

part in our national battles (amongst them many of Garibaldi's followers), have joined the committees in order to protest against any tendency towards a warlike policy. There seems no end to the numberless meetings, protests, and speeches on behalf of the League for Arbitration and Peace in the various Italian cities. Space forbids my giving a detailed account of them, but I cannot refrain from quoting a few words from a speech made at Milan by one of the survivors of Mentana, at a meeting at which a hundred Italian Democratic societies were represented.

"The survivors of Mentana, who, led by Garibaldi, fought in great numbers on the fields of Digione, proved in 1870 their friendship for the French nation. In order to manifest the same feeling to-day, they join the Peace movement, in order to avert a war which would be a disgrace to civilisation. They hope that, if only for the sake of national decorum, the influential section of the French Democracy will join the Italian Democrats in placing every obstacle in the way of a war which would be ruinous."

The Peace movement has increased and developed in such a manner as to include even those who were apparently least disposed to adopt its views. It has induced some of the newspapers to be more careful to weigh their words, and less ready to adopt an aggressive attitude. The representatives of the people, too, would find it impossible to resist the popular opinion in favour of peace. An attitude of opposition on the part of the Chamber of Deputies, in reference to proposals to impose on the already suffering people, will bring about a close examination of the military budget. The Prime Minister himself, in answering a question put to him by Senator Corte, relative to the situation at Massowah, not only denied any intention of annexing Abyssinian territory by conquest, but he went on to refer with marked emphasis to the cordial relations of Italy and France.

I do not think I exaggerate when I affirm that in Italy all the popular forces will be thrown into the scale on behalf of peace.

Let us hope that a movement so begun may have enduring results, to the great advantage of the moral and material welfare of humanity,

VITTORE PRESTINI. (Translated by Miss Monica Mangan.)

[To the Editor of CONCORD.]

DEAR SIR,-In almost every number of CONCORD, which you have the kindness to send me regularly, I find articles which directly or indirectly contain unfavourable references to the German Government and policy. The restitution of Alsace-Lorraine is urged as a means of assuring peace; and it is also stated that there is in Berlin a military party always eager for war. No such party exists. No one in Germany wishes for an aggressive war, and the Emperor and his Government are as much disinclined for it as Herr Liebknecht, so highly praised in your columns.

These articles, directed against a peaceful country such as Germany, are calculated to promote not peace, but discord and irritation, appearing constantly as they do. Germany is a most peaceably inclined nation, but she will keep the territory given to her in accordance with the Treaty of Frankfort.

I should consider that I failed in patriotism were I to continue to belong to a society which shows such tendencies, and therefore resign my membership. I shall, however, continue to be a friend of peace, and I