cient state in which they have hitherto been tried, the doctrines of a race which unites a freedom that seemed hopeless to the philosophers of Athens, a commerce that would have seemed a fable to the merchants of Tyre, with an empire unknown to the Roman Caesars, and unconceived by the wildest dreams of Alexander. Yes, no doubt, Time is on your side. But Time is the enemy, and not the friend of genuine patriots and careful statesmen. For it is their task not to hasten, but delay to the longest period permitted to human hope, and to human genius, the ultimate victory of Time in the decline and downfall of their native land." This is a good specimen of Sir Bulwer Lytton's eloquence at its best. But even here it will be seen that there are common expressions which detract a little from its effect. "The doctrines of a race is surely very awkwardly situated. And the last sentence of all is not as well chiselled as it ought to be. After "the victory of Time" one expects the word " over," not "in." Or if we keep the latter, then we require some such word as "struggle " or contest" after it. Lord Palmerston told the Queen that one of Sir Bulwer Lytton's speeches on Reform was one of the finest he had ever heard delivered in the House of Commons. This we suppose was in 1860. The speech certainly is a very good one, and, like most good speeches, was better perhaps to hear than to read. 66 of fantastic. On the subject of our foreign are. Lord Lytton left an interesting frag- The opinions of Lord Lytton were perfectly independent and original. On several important questions he differed from his party entirely and not questions of a kind to which his previous Liberal connexions had in any way committed him. For instance, he was very much opposed to the transfer of India to the Crown. He also disapproved of what was at this time a favourite policy with the Tories, namely, the Anglo-French alliance. And as far as can be gathered from the tone of his letters, he disapproved of that growing inclination towards peace with Russia which began to show itself after the fall of Sebastopol. In some of these letters he refers to the Press newspaper, which was then the acknowledged organ of the Tory leaders, and condemns the pacific policy which it advocated. His son says: "He has every reason to believe that this tone was not inspired by the chief of the Conservative party." We not only know that it was so inspired, but we think it was inspired wisely. If Lord Lytton will turn to the columns of that journal for the autumn months of 1855, he will find several articles pointing out the tendency of wars to outgrow their original design. A war begun for one object is often continued for another. And what was originally a defensive war, too often drifts into an aggressive one. It was feared that the Crimean war might run some such course as this if peace were not made when its primary object had been gained. The Tory party Letters from India and Kashmir. Written fancied they discovered in Lord Palmerston some disposition to prolong the war for the purpose of humiliating Russia, after we had gained our point by securing the integrity of Turkey. Lord Lytton, we think, will find that this was the true state of the case; and though the Tories may have been mistaken, there was nothing inherently improbable in the supposition which they acted on, and certainly nothing which deserves the epithet We look forward to the Life of Lord Lytton, promised us by the present Lord, with extreme interest. It ought to be, we think, among the dozen best biographies in the language. 1870. T. E. KEBBEL, Illustrated and annotated 1873. (London: George Bell & Sons, 1874.) Most modern books of travel, perhaps to an even greater extent than most modern works of history or fiction, illustrate the restlessness of modern thought and action, the changes that have been wrought in the methods and circumstances of daily life, the impatience and tendency to run in a groove 66 that is the bane of modern civilisation. Steamboats and railways have not more surely put galleys and coaches to flight, than statistics, agglomerated facts, and more or less accurate compilations, the personal observation, the proved experiences, the early charming garrulousness of elder times and travellers. Much more general information" is gathered together, but the dramatic and personal element is for the most part missing, and events succeed each other with such rapidity in narratives of world-circling journeys, that they leave no more impress on the mind than the sliding scenes of a magic lantern. The gap is not greater between the writings of Froissart and Macaulay, than between those of modern travellers and their predecessors Columbus, Varthema, Friar Jordanus, Marco Polo, and such like, into whose pages haste and noise enter with as measured a ceremony as the cumbrous pageantry of war upon the stage of their day. Perhaps the slow processes of persistent action are not modern virtues. Young, rich, and leisured Englishmen are not apt to spend their time in patiently exploring antiquity in her remotest citadels, or in founding empires; but to scamper round the world at steam pace, to be fêted in civilised, and shoot in uncivilised regions, to record in print the time-honoured gossip of the colonies visited, to get a general idea of" what's interesting," or to say" they've been there, is what all who have vitality of nature and wit may do, and do nowadays. This being so, it is refreshing to come across such a book as the volume before us, combining as it does much of interest contained in the works of earlier chroniclers, with the aspects of modern travel for a year in India and Kashmir, of which it is so pleasant a record. The writer of the work has compiled it from letters written home at the time of the journey, rightly judging such sketches, done on the spot, to have a charm not always belonging to more finished pictures. The letters, which are written with admirable taste, and contain a good deal of miscellaneous information, have been carefully pruned; and the lengthy tediousness of a narrative of "board ship" life has wisely been omitted. Passing by Perim, "first garrisoned by the British in 1799," down the sea spoken of by Sir John Mandeville, in 1366, as “not more reed than another See," the writer reaches Aden, of which a lively and interesting account is given, not omitting notice of its nine fine reservoirs for rain-water, mentioned by Ibn Batuta in 1324, and restored to use by the British Residents, Sir William Coghlan and Sir William Merewether. Aden was the first conquest of Her Majesty's reign, being taken in 1839 by 700 EuroMajor Baillie, in restitution for treaties pean and native troops, under command of broken and violence offered, by the Arab Sultan, to a crew of British subjects three years before. Of Bombay (the second city, by the way, not the third, in point of population in the British Empire*), of her lovely position, her The population of the three principal cities of india, as per last census, were: Bombay, 644,405; JAN. 9, 1875.] palm-girdled bay backed by the blue hills of Matheran, her crowded bazaar, her shadowy cave-temples and mysterious Towers of Silence, much is to be said, though the writer went too late to India to be aware how completely the aspect of the old unhealthy wall-hemmed-in city had been revolutionised since 1862. Bombay and Tangier came into English possession in 1662 as part of the dowry of the Queen of Charles II. Baldoeus in 1672 mentions both as "places of no considerable traffic," and Bombay being found unproductive to the Crown, was rented of the King by the East India Company from 1668 for a yearly rent of 101. in gold. In the same year the company sent their first order "for 100 lb. weight of the best tea"--the export trade in which has for the last ten years "exceeded eighteen millions." Calicut, the home of the comely Nairs, where Vasco de Gama first landed, and whence calico derived its name and fame, appears to be still celebrated for the beauty of its inhabitants; though the method taken by them to enhance it, and observed by Master Caesar Fredericke, in his Eighteen Yeeres Indian Observations, in 1563, still prevails. "The Nairs," "The Nairs," he says, "and their wives use for a braverie to make great holes in their eares, and so big and wide that it is incredible, holding this opinion, that the greater the holes bee the more noble they esteem themselves. I had leave of one of them to measure the circumference of one of them with a threed, and within that circumference I put my arm up to the shoulder, clothed as it was, so that in effect they are monstrous great." Of the Todas, the aborigines of the Nilgiris, and of the curious life-size terra-cotta idols of the Coimbatoor district, of which "some," says Mr. Ralph Fitch, in 1583, "bee like a Cow, some like Monkies, some like Buffles, some like Peacockes, and some like the Devill," much interesting information is given, on which want of space alone forbids our commenting. "The scenery of the Coonoor Ghaut is," the writer says, "enchanting. . . . Detained at Ootacamund later than was intended, the shades of night had fallen before we reached the plain; but a crescent moon shone through a rift in the clouds, and disclosed the deep shadows of the wooded ravine, from which arose the roar of a mountain torrent. The fascination of the scene was indescribable, when, as the night grew darker, myriads of fireflies lighted up an illumination in the groves. The colour of the leaves they most affected was made distinctly visible by the lights floating round them, and some of the most favoured trees led you to fancy that the whole fairy court, out on its revels, was celebrating with befitting splendour some royal festival." 66 Passing by the cathedral of Cochin, in which Vasco de Gama was buried, and which merits a visit both for its own sake and for that of the tombs it contains; Ceylon, that demi-Paradise," and the rock-hewn city of Mahabalipur, we come with speed, vid Madras, to Calcutta. Of the present increasing facilities of transit in India, the writer observes that they 66 are modifying the character of peoples so divided Calcutta, 447,601; Madras, 397,552. Compare with that of the principal English towns as per latest census: Liverpool, 493,405; Manchester. 351,189; Birmingham, 343,787; Leeds, 259,212; Sheffield, 239,946. by races, languages, and religions, that to amalgamate them would seem a hopeless task, though it is being accomplished by patient counsels. Such too is the spread of education, through the efforts of Government, private benevolence, and missionaries, that it is believed most of the inhabitants of Southern India will within twenty years speak the English language, and thus have a common bond in a national tongue." We fear this view of the progress of civilisation and culture is somewhat over-sanguine. That there is still an ample demand in India for the exertions of the British sportsman, is attested by the fact that "during the last fifteen years, in Bengal alone, 13,400 the last fifteen years, in Bengal alone, 13,400 men, women, and children have fallen victims to tigers, leopards, and other beasts of prey." Of Calcutta, the population of which is, however, to judge by the latest census, greatly overestimated by the writer, an account is given that shows how sorely the just completed water supply and drainage works were needed-the absence of which was the fruitful source of epidemic cholera and fever. The enhanced price of living, consequent on the increasing prosperity of the country and the unequal balance of the imports and exports, presses in Calcutta, as elsewhere in India, more and more heavily every year upon fixed incomes, such as those of our Government servants; a fact that those who deprecate all increase to their salaries, and yet profess a wish to maintain the present tone and efficiency of the public services, ought to bear in mind. rewarded by sitting on the imperial throne for half a day, employed his short tenure of power by providing for his family and friends, and caused his leathern water vessel to be cut up into leathern rupees, and gilt and stamped with his name, and the date of his reign as sovereign prince. of Of Agra and the "peerless cupola her Taj Mahal, and the palace of her greatest monarch Akbar, "who (as his son said), "sounded the great drum of sovereign power for a period of sixty-four years without a rival," we have a picturesque account. This great Mogul is mentioned by Coryat, in 1561, as— "Akbar Shah, a verie fortunate prince, and pious to his mother, his pietie appearing in this particular, that when his mother was carried once in a Palankeen, betwixt Lahor and Agra, he travelling with her, tooke the Palankeen upon his own shoulders, commanding his greatest nobles to do the like, and so carried her over the river from one side to the other, and never denied her anything but this, that shee demanded of him that our Bible might be hanged about an Asse's neck and beaten about the town of Agra, for that the Portigals having taken a ship of theirs at sea, in which was found the Alcoran amongst the Moores, tyed it about the neck of a Dogge, and beat the sanre dog about the town of Ormuz; but he denyed her request, saying That if it were ill in the Portigals to doe so to the Alcoran, it became not a King to requite ill with ill, for that the contempt of any Religion was the contempt of God; and he would not be revenged upon an innocent Booke." Pass we by the journey from Simla to Lahore, and the strange history of the Nurjehan, the consort of the Emperor Jehangir, whose tomb, with that of her husband, is four miles from the city. Of this gifted and beautiful woman the Emperor Jehangir says, in his memoirs : Sheer Afkan, but when that chief was killed" I Bank notes of the Indian Government pass at par in most of the large cities, but in the more remote regions native bankers charge a heavy discount on them. When the native public becomes convinced that the paper currency is a secure convertible medium at the Government banks, not liable to depre- "In the whole empire there is scarcely a city in ciation, "it will," as the writer justly which this Princess has not left some lofty structure, some spacious garden, as a splendid monuobserves, " be the greatest innovation in our Eastern Empire." Apropos of representative ment of her munificence. She was betrothed to money, mention is made of the copper [notoriously by the contrivance of the worthy currency adopted in lieu of gold by Sultan monarch himself] "I sent for the Kanzy and Mahommed Toghluck in the fourteenth contracted a regular marriage with her, assigncentury, who, wanting money to "conquering for her dowry seven crore and twenty lacs seven regions," issued, according to a contemporary account, orders that "just as in China a paper-gold is current, so, too, in Hindostan, they should coin copper-gold in the mint, and make it pass current instead of silver or gold money, and employ it in all buying and selling. In consequence of this Hindu's house became a private mint serious detriment of the empire. . . . When such ruin fell everywhere upon commerce, and the copper tokens became viler than bricks, and were his edict, and issued a new order, though with the of no use whatever, Sultan Mahommed repealed fiercest wrath in his heart, that every one who had the copper coin might bring it to the treasury, and exchange it for the old gold money. .. In such quantities was the copper carried that there were heaps of it in Toghlakabad like mountains, while immense sums passed out from the treasury in exchange for it, and this was one great evil which fell upon the State from this measure. bringing the scheme to pass, and the copper tokens And again, since the Sultan's edict had failed in had only absorbed a large portion of the revenue, the heart of the Sultan became more alienated from his people." measure every .. to the ... The water-carrier, as mentioned by Mr. Cowell in an article he contributed to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, who Savod Humayun's life at Chonsa, and was of rupees (or 7,200,000l.), which sum she requested as indispensable for the purchase of jewels, and I granted it without a murmur. presented her, moreover, with a necklace of forty pearls, which had cost me sixteen lacs of rupees. Of my unreserved confidence this princess is in entire possession, and I may allege, without a fallacy, that the whole fortune of my empire has been consigned to the disposal of this highly endowed family; the father being my dewan, the son my lieutenant-general, and the daughter the inseparable companion of all my cares." Of Kashmir, its shawl makers, its worldfamed Jhelum, its ruined temple of Marttand, its people; its Chaugan or Polo, played at night with lighted fire-balls and goldenheaded sticks; and of the homeward journey thence by Peshawur, the marble rocks of the Narbudda, and the marvellous monolithic temple of Ellora (familiar by sight and name to the readers of Mr. Fergusson), time forbids our speaking. We can but recommend our readers to get the book and judge its merits for themselves. The volume is a beautiful specimen of typography, and the illustrations, engraved by Mr. Palmer from Mr. Robertson's drawings, "principally from the writer's sketches,' are models of their Life of H. R. H. the Prince Consort. Vol. I. By Theodore Martin. (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1875.) MR. MARTIN'S Life of the Prince Consort is the latest (we believe) and perhaps the most satisfactory of the numerous monuments which public gratitude and affection have demanded. The biography is not only interesting to contemporary readers, but it will be of the greatest value to remote posterity, who without this work might possibly remain in some doubt as to which of "the world's heroes," as Mr. Martin says, the other monuments commemorate. It was part of the late Prince's remarkable and singular merit, that he did not write his name on the chronicles of his age in large and brilliant characters. His influence was a silent and scarcely noticed one, and Mr. Martin's volumes are almost necessary to enable the English race of the future to understand the retiring and self-denying nature of its benefactor. It is Mr. Matthew Arnold, we think, who has said that men naturally dislike the born saint, who is in the world, and not of it, nor comprehended by it. The Prince Consort was not a saint, but he was misunderstood, and to a certain extent disliked, in the same way as a saint would have been. His character was so rounded, so complete and perfect, he was so absolutely adapted by nature and education to the place he filled, that slander could lay no hold on him, and goodnature could attach itself to no amiable weakness. In all the sad and curious records of royal marriages, it would hardly be possible to find the story of such a life as his. Without becoming a fainéant or a cynic, he kept his hand from venturing to touch the alluring insignia of power that lay almost within his reach. As a consolation he may be said to have taken all accomplishments to be his province, and thus managed to make dignified and graceful a life which fell short of being august. It is scarcely in human nature not to sneer at such modest and complete success, and it will scarcely be in our generation that the Prince's victory over unheroic difficulties, and ordinary temptations presented in their highest power, will be appreciated. The early pages of this biography, "les enfances Albert," have somewhat the air of the most smoothly prosperous and moral of fairy tales. A princess and a prince are born within a few months of each other: the same accoucheuse, Mr. Martin tells us, assisted on both interesting occasions. They are beautiful, virtuous, and intended by nature and by their excellent relations for each other. A benevolent fairy presides over their nurture, the Baron Stockmar. No one could do anything without Stockmar, who was a native of Coburg, and private physician to Prince Leopold. When the youthful pair arrived at the pleasing age of seventeen, the Prince with his father paid the Princess a visit in England. Then Stockmar saw to his bringing up, "with a view to the possibility of his being called to fulfil the duties of a Prince Consort." Surely never was a Prince so clever or so well taught since Prince Giglio carried off all the prizes at the University of Bosforo. Berlin was shunned as at once priggish and profligate, and Bonn was selected, where Fichte had the honour of opening the princely mind. "He distinguished himself by the "He distinguished himself by the rapid progress he made, especially in the natural sciences, in political economy, and in philosophy." He also gained the fencing prize, and no doubt the good-conduct prize would have fallen to him, if such a reward had been given at the University of Bonn. "Nor was music forgotten, of which the Prince was always passionately fond, and in which he had already shown considerable gifts as a composer." As we are in the chapter of music, it is impossible to resist quoting a beautiful passage from the pen of Lady Lyttelton. And it may save the fashionable reader trouble, if she will always study the places where Lady Lyttelton is referred to, and carefully skip those in which the name Stockmar occurs, the worthy Baron's letters being mainly about Virtue and that kind of thing. Lady Lyttelton writes, on October 9, 1840 : "Yesterday evening, as I was sitting here comfortably after the drive, by candle-light, reading M. Guizot, suddenly there arose from the room It was Prince beneath, oh, such sounds! Albert, dear Prince Albert, playing on the organ; modulating so learnedly, winding through every and with such master-skill, as it appeared to me, kind of bass and chord, till he wound up with the most perfect cadence; and then off again, louder and then softer. No tune; and I was too distant to perceive the execution or small touches, so I only heard the harmony; but I never listened with much more pleasure to any music. I ven tured at dinner to ask him what I had heard. I Oh, my organ! A new possession of mine. am so fond of the organ, it is the first of instruments; the only instrument for expressing one's feelings. (I thought, are they not good feelings that the organ expresses ?) And it teaches to play, for on the organ a mistake! Oh, such misery! And he quite shuddered at the thought of the sostenuto discord." This admirable extract has made us digress from the Prince's education, which included a tour under Stockmar to Italy. Mentor notices in his pupil a weakness common to the young: he did not care for politics. A less frequent failing with princes was an indifference, and almost dislike, to the society of women. And he was inclined to spare himself trouble. Stockmar arrested all this, and throughout the volume kept on writing didactic letters, very much underlined, pointing out the value of earnestness, and the demerits of frivolity. It is the most curious thing in the story, that these epistles were highly valued, and the whole correspondence leaves an impression of simplicity and goodness of an old-fashioned sort. It is Télémaque, it is Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia, it is Imlac, and Mentor, all over again in the nineteenth century. And Imlac never bores Rasselas, in this legend, Télémaque never wishes that Mentor would resume the shape of an old owl, and fly away. The end of the fairy tale, the pretty natural conclusion, was at hand: her Britannic Majesty in 1839 found "Albert's beauty most striking, and he is most amiable and unaffected-in short, delightful." There were no rivals, no wizards, no cruel giants to slay, only a recalcitrant House of Commons, which was stingy about the royal allowance, and perhaps a dragon or so in the Queen's former German governess, the Baroness Lehzen, who did not like to give up her authority. Of course there was some trouble about precedence, but these things will happen in the best regulated Courts. For years the story is not a very interesting one-a great many children, a great deal of happiness, music, hunting the Prince rode well to hounds-planting, the usual amusements of English gentry. Some scoundrelly attempts were made to shoot Her Majesty, and the lash put a stop to the mania. 1843 was a great year: the royal pair visited Louis Philippe, and their voyage was commemorated by Bon Gaultier in a lively ballad. The Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia came to England, and the Emperor and the King of Saxony were entertained with the spectacle of a review. Lady Lyttelton mentions "the really beautiful salute of Prince Albert, who rode by at the head of his regiment, and, of course, lowered his sword in full military form to the Queen, with such a look and smile as he did it! I never saw so many pretty feelings expressed in a minute!" The Emperor told Lord Aberdeen he wished the Prince were his son, and he expressed a hope to the Prince that they might meet in battle, on the same side. The Prince very nearly said he trusted they might never see any interruption to the peaceful state of Europe, but he checked himself, thinking the remark might be taken amiss." All this chapter will be fondly dwelt on by readers who feel how deeply unsatisfying are the usual brief notices that "Her Majesty walked on the slopes." Times continue to be busy. Osborne is bought a pleasant residence, where the Woods and Forests cease to trouble. Louis Philippe returns the royal visit, and behaves with much unction. The Prince relinquishes the notion of being King Consort and Commander in Chief; some time afterwards the loyal University of Cambridge elects him as her Chancellor. The only obvious appearance of the Prince in the parliamentary affairs of 1847 was his coming to the House to hear a debate, which innocent act was twisted to political uses. The Irish Famine and the Corn Laws are part of the history of the nation, but the Spanish marriages had a personal interest for the Queen and her husband. Louis Philippe had declared at the Château d'Eu, during the royal visit to France, that he would not urge the marriage of the Infanta "till the Queen of Spain was married and had childo." He kept his promise in the usual fashion of kings, and the letter of his wife to the Queen of England on the subject really announced the beginning of evils. The correspondence, in which Her Majesty's letters are full of quiet force and dignity, is said to have been in the portfolio which M. Crémieux (teste Mr. Stapleton) snatched from Louis Philippe as he fled down the grand stair of his palace and scrambled into his carriage. It is pleasant to learn that Stockmar quite approved of the conduct of our rulers, and went so far as to say, "the Queen and Prince improve greatly." The Spanish difficulties were only one of the many sources of danger on the Continent on the eve of 1848. The Prince studied foreign politics with industry, and his memoranda for the guidance of our Ministry in the matter of Lord Minto's mission to Rome, and for the guidance of the King of Prussia in the matter of German regeneration, have a curious interest now that Italy is free, and Germany, we suppose, regenerated. Stockmar disapproved of the German memorandum, and it was never sent. The Prince's programme was not very like the course events have taken. Blood and Iron were ingredients he did not love, and when one thinks how changed is England's position, and how little likely Mr. Disraeli is to annoy any foreign power by interference, one cannot doubt that the Prince was taken from the evil to come. We close this notice of a book whose main interest is its revelations of Royal home life, with an extract from a letter to her Majesty, from her sister, the Princess of Hohenlohe :: "I well understand your having been sorry to leave the Highlands. Not only that style of country, but the way of living there was agreeable to you. I know that well from experience, coming home after a time of delightful independence. One feels so shut in on all sides, so tame. By degrees the old habits and occupations overcome that feeling. But there still remains a yearning after what is past, and which seldom comes again just so. That is life! and makes one feel very sad at times. With me it is not the feeling of sadness at the running down of life, year after year, but that everything which gives one pleasure, and is beautiful, should pass away like everything else, leaving only recollection as a mark of having been there. I am becoming very resigned to what gives me pain or pleasure-not that I feel it less, but I am not afraid of things that give me pain; I have become so accustomed to it of late." “That is life," and an entrance into life again, out of the record of courts, and the ecstacies of ladies in waiting. A. LANG. SOCIALISM. Socialism: Founded on the German Work Ultramontane "Catholic-aristocratic party employers gain enormous fortunes, and live Political economists of the orthodox school, by one of their inaccurate generaliSocialism with their principal argument. sations, furnished the champions of modern Labour, they urge-following Ricardo, MacCulloch, and some of their most eminent successors is the cause of value, the only source of wealth, and the sole productive power; every article in the market represents so much labour and nothing more; capital itself is simply the produce of labour, and may be regarded as accumulated labour. But instead of getting the full value of his labour in wages, Karl Marx and Lassalle contend that the working man gets only the bare necessaries of life, the capitalist engrosses the difference, and a few thousand was the unskilfulness of the workmen. The doctrine that labour is the sole source of value and wealth, leads to a curious condemnation of money by Socialists such as Lassalle. Labour, they argue, produces all commodities, and is entitled to receive the full value of its produce; but through the pro cess of exchange, and under the cover of the payment of wages, it is defrauded of its due. Money accordingly, as being the medium of exchange, is denounced as the root of all evil. Dr. Schäffle points out that the sum paid in wages sometimes far exceeds the amount subsequently realised by the capitalist, who might, with equal reason, urge that the intervention of money has defrauded him of his profit. Money, he adds, facilitates the sale of the produce of labour in the best markets, and thus raises its value; and it gives the labourer a power of disposing of his earnings how and when he pleases, which he would not have if paid in his own produce or any other commodities. Another charge brought by Lassalle against the existing industrial economy, and on which he bases an argument for the intervention of the State, relates to the fre quent occurrence of disastrous commercial crises. These, he argues, are ruinous to numbers of working men, and are ascribable entirely to the fatal nexus in which commercial affairs are involved by the present system of competition and speculation. Dr. Dr. Schäffle replies that occasional miscalculations and disasters vibrating throughout the commercial world are certainly inevitable incidents of a great extension of trade, yet modern speculation surpasses all former methods, and any system of State supervision that could be devised, in estimating the chances, and foreseeing the fluctuations of the markets; indeed, far more violent oscillations of prices, attended frequently with dearth or actual famine, were common in those ages of simple and unspeculative trade which Lassalle lauds. that no one Much that Dr. Schäffle says on this subject is instructive, but we cannot go the length with him of contending that modern commerce and speculation tend to prevent, instead of occasioning, the convulsions called crises. Tocqueville, riding his theory of democracy as usual rather hard, attributed them to the democratic institutions and spirit of modern times. In democratic countries, like the United States, he said, all classes are engaged in business, and this becomes more and more the case in other countries with the spread of democracy; hence the ramifications of trade become so numerous, extensive, and complicated, can foresee the casualties and embarrassments that may arise, and commercial interests are so interlocked that a slight miscalculation or accident often causes general disaster. Without dragging democracy into the discussion, we think it must be admitted that the development of credit, and the immense ramifications and complexity of commercial transactions, expose modern trade to shocks and collapses unknown in earlier times; and that the intense greed and the reckless speculation of many capitalists really contribute largely to the occurrence of crises under the competitive system, though Socialistic arrangements might end in much greater disasters. "Capitalism, by its wholesale modes of production, has largely contributed to the total dissolution of family life among the labouring population; it has destroyed all small capital, and has thus rendered the moneyless labourer incompetent to form economical plans, living as he is compelled to do from hand to mouth." Again, after defending private property against communism-especially on the ground that true economy requires the watchful eye of proprietorship, and the higher the rate of increase in the population, the more wary and careful must be the supervision of interested individuals or corporations-he adds: "But our consideration of this subject not only leads to a defence of property where it does exist, but also to a condemnation of the wretched condition of the proletariat where it does not exist. A distribution of property in which large masses of the people have no share points to a rotten and unnatural state of affairs. Property and personal development are correlative qualities. A man without anything to call his own is no longer an independent individuality; he becomes a mere instrument, a tool, a hand.” A perfect economic organisation, according to Dr. Schäffle, can never result from the operation of individual interest alone. The existing economy of society does not rest on that foundation alone, and could not exist for an hour without other bases. The economist of the old school imagined a complete organisation for the production and distribution of wealth in the division of labour and exchange, and a complete economic science in the inferences which he deduced from the hypothesis of an uninterrupted and unimpeded pursuit of wealth by every individual. But, as a matter of fact, production and distribution have never been effected by that process only; the family at one end of the social structure, the State at the other end, and corporate bodies between the two, religious and secular, still play a considerable part. We live in an historical social world, which has developed various organisations, all of which have left traces, and some retain vigorous life. Originally the family was the sole organisation for economic as well as other purposes; and as it was the germ out of which the whole modern social economy has been evolved, so it continues to be at this day an important element in it. The State is not an aggregate of individuals merely, it is an aggregate of families; and the distribution of wealth is largely effected by the family, almost altogether as regards the share of the young. It plays a not unimportant part to this day, even in the production of wealth, in all countries, in the making and mending of clothes and the indis-preparation of food, and in most countries in rural economy and farming. The patriarchal family, again, evolved the village community or township, the fief, the trade brotherhood or guild, the Church and the Dr. Schäffle's work is, however, no criminate defence of the existing industrial economy under the hegemony of capital, which he calls "capitalism," a term which Mr. Kaufmann has necessarily adopted for State, as well as individuality in all its modern forms, and also the nascent principle of co-operative association. Even the feudal and ecclesiastical organisations still contribute something to the structure of the economic world; the State, though its functions are better defined, is more powerful than at any former period, and Dr. Schäffle devotes an important part of his work to discussing the modes by which the State can contribute to the improvement of the economic condition of the workingclasses. Corporations, too, with collective he advocates as essential by the side of property, are among the institutions which private property and competitive capital. As the present social economy was naturally evolved out of earlier forms, so every future form, he urges in opposition to revolutionary Socialistic schemes, must be naturally developed from the present, and he looks with especial hopefulness to a great development of co-operative associations for the means of elevating the condition of the labouring population, and endowing the proletariat with property. But the labourers' question, in his view, is not a question for the economist only, and is not to be solved only by economic principles or arrangements. The solutions must be sought in all the civilising forces of society: science, literature, the press, art, education, and religion must have a share in bringing about a more healthy condition of the poorest classes. Dr. Schäffle's work is, on the whole, one of great importance, and full of instructive matter, and Mr. Kaufmann deserves credit for furnishing English and American readers, who cannot or will not read the original, with the means of possessing themselves of its substance. Mr. Kaufmann's translation is, we believe, the first attempt of the kind to bridge for the English public the gulf between English and German political economy, which is SO seldom crossed by English economists, though German economists rarely fail to make themselves thoroughly conversant with our economic literature. For reasons already given, we think Mr. Kaufmann has acted judiciously in reducing the bulk of the original work in his "condensed translation;" though in two or three cases, especially in relation to the rights of women, it would have been better, in our opinion, to reproduce Dr. Schäffle's views without abridgment. In one or two other cases, on the other handfor instance, in the discussion of value-Mr. Kaufmann's version might well have been more condensed, and have left out distinctions without a difference, such as that between value in exchange and market value. There may be two opinions about the plan Mr. Kaufmann has followed of interweaving occasional references to English authors and other matter with the transla tion of the original, in place of making such additions in separate notes, identified as his own; but his version, as it stands, has Dr. Schäffle's express sanction and approbation, and this fact confirms the assurance given in Mr. Kaufmann's preface, that "the reader of the volume has the sum and substance of Schäffle's views before him." own comparison of a considerable part of the volume with the original leads us to corro Our |