THE CHURCH PRESS. SPECULATIONS ON IMMORTALITY. Under the title, "An Easter Fantasy," The Christian Union (undenominational) advances the idea that immortality may be the lot of some persons, and not of others. It says: of the Baltimore Conference to do this has been considered in this polyglot Congress of Relig- Conference. tion. The Northwestern Christian Advocate (Chicago) says on the same subject: The Baltimore Conference is the first in the history of Methodism to launch a proposition the design of which is to discredit and nullify the official action of the General Conference. In this alone is its offense. It is the using of a There is current the story of a French Chris- sacred and unchallenged right in a way never tian, who, to a long argument of a deistical contemplated by the founders of the Churchfriend against the immortality of the soul, re-used in this case expressly to resist and defeat the general right to send down an overture, plied tersely: "Probably you are right.,, Prob- action on a pending submission by the General ably you are not immortal; but I am." The If the action under reply usually passes for nothing more than a happy repartee; but are we so sure that there question is not rank with the spirit of nullificais not a profound philosophy in it? We have tion, then there is no such thing as nullificabeen, perhaps, accustomed to think of the soul as a generic thing possessing immortality; but may it not be true that there are differences in souls that go deep enough to raise the question whether, in some, anything is left capable of When certain changes in our Church constisurviving death? Nay! may we not go fur-tution are made, concurrent action by the ther, and at least question whether in each one General Conference and by the Annual Conferof us immortality may not be a matter of de-ences must ordain that change. The concurgree; that some are more immortal than others rence may be initiated by either the General because in some there is more and in others Conference or by the Annual Conferences. less which is capable of surviving death? Neither party to the change can govern the action, or compel action, unless it may be that the quadrennial body is inferentially instructed to act by the fact the legal majority in the Annual Conferences is actually realized. The mode of admission which the Baltimore prefer that the inevitable admission of woman Conference deprecates is an indirection. We to the General Conference should be through the direct door. She is entitled to nothing less. Her final admission should go upon conservatism which had done the utter best for historical record as the final conquest of the CHURCH UNION. The subject of a federal union between "the Reformed Churches in this land holding the Presbyterian System," is nearing a decision. The classes take a vote on the question this month, three of them having voted last Fall, all in the affirmative. The Christian Intelligencer, organ of the Reformed Church in America, says: itself. CHRISTIANS AND CIVIL LIFE. " VIRCHOW ON THE MISSING LINK." Professor Virchow, by far the most celebrated of German scientists, has just declared with great emphasis, in the teeth of the ultra men and Darwinians, that there exists a barrier between REVISION OF CREEDS. The Mid-Continent (Presb.), of St. Louis, concludes an editorial on revision of the Westminster Confession, as follows: Is difference of belief within confessional limits an insuperable bar to a Federal Union? On the whole it seems that the heartiness Are opinions of individuals, or a church's acand zeal for revision are not what they were cepted standards to be the touchstone of its The obligation of Christians to interest them-two years ago, and that its prospect of success orthodoxy? In other words, Is Federal Union selves more actively in civic affairs is a subject at the present time is more doubtful than it only possible among churches identical in be- that receives increasing attention from the then appeared. lief and practice? To reject this proposed Federation on the arguments presented, is not Church journals. The Christian Observer only to postpone to another generation the re- (Presb.), of Louisville, refers to the utterances union of churches which ought never to have of Judge McCord, of Texas, to the effect that been separated, but to declare there can be no union of churches until all are ready to aban- more persons were murdered in 1892 in Texas don their own organization and come into ours. than "in the whole of Europe, Great Britain, It would be painful and humiliating for a and the Continent." The Observer says that church which is of the broad and catholic a similar condition is to be observed in Louisspirit of ours, to declare itself narrow and big-ville, 40 out of 800 or 900 deaths of men inity of probation after death, into an attitude of oted, as it would do by such an act. "THE WOMAN QUESTION." The woman question" in the Methodist Episcopal Church-the admission of women as delegates to the General Conference-is again precipitated by the action of the Baltimore Annual Conference. Heretofore the General Conference has framed the propositions to be voted upon, and submitted them to the Annual Conferences. Now the. Baltimore Conference has decided to vote on a proposition of its own and then to submit it to the other Annual Conferences. If adopted it will then come before the next General Conference (1896) for final action. Considerable discussion as to the right that city during the year being the result of bold aggression, declaring that to deny such a a dangerous heres contrary possibility is to the doctrine commonly held in the Christian Church in the past. The Christian Advocate And yet, back of all this is the fact that Christians are not exercising the personal in- (Meth. Episc.) devotes two columns to confluence on the morals and the tone of the com-troverting the position, point by point. The munity that they should, and that they could. following is an extract: The census tells us that one-fifth of the people of this country are professing Christians. . If we would exert ourselves as we ought, the number of homicides in this country would not continue to be as it now is. The plan of the Congress covers a great deal of ground; and, while its results may in nowise affect the relations now existing between doubtless will, be of especial service in laying the different religious systems, it may, as it bare before all the defects of their own religion. In this respect the discussions may render an important service to Christianity. For with all that Christianity claims for itself and which must be conceded, with all that it has done in the past, is doing now, and promises to do for the future, it has many and most serious shortcomings which may be profitably 17 We have read powerful arguments by avowed Scriptures in a manner displaying such inUniversalists, who have wrestled with the tellectual vigor as to elicit admiration; but for unsupported assertions, combined with an ignoring of the real difficulties, and an arrangement of words so as to deceive the unwary, the Christian Union's article surpasses any composition on the subject. It has nothing to say about Gehenna; much about Hades; nothing to say of our Saviour's explicit words: " Ye shall die in your sins, and whither I go ye cannot come." The idea of probation after death virtually implies that God has not done all that He can do in the present life to save His earthly, hunian children. The Christian Union's ideas of sin, regeneration, future punishment and its the resurrection of the body, and of a scheme grounds, the atonement, the nature of Christ, of life in harmony with the teachings of our Lord and His apostles, are disintegrating. They have the effect of an opiate upon the impenitent; they tend to diminish anxiety for the immediate conversion of their children, in the hearts of Christian parents; for according to its teachings, this life is not the only time to insure the great reward. Index to Periodical Literature. Money as an International Question. E. Benj. An- Industrial Problem (The) in Australia. AMERICAN. BIOGRAPHICAL. Anne (The Princess). M. O. W. Oliphant. Century, 19 pp. With Portraits. Historical of the reign of Queen Anne. Brooks (Phillips). Alexander V. G. Allen. Atlantic, April, 12 pp. Caliga (I. H.). In American Studios. Henry Austin. Donahoe's Mag., April, 8 pp. Illus. Clark (James G.). A Poet of the People. B. O. Flower. Arena, April, 13 pp. With Portrait. Life and work of the poet, composer, and singer. Deane (Silas) and the Coming of Lafayette. Georgianna A. Boutwell. N. E. Mag., April, 71⁄2 pp. Historical. Fuller (Margaret). Josephine Lazarus. Century, April, 11 pp. With Portrait. Lowell (James Russell), the Writings of, Homiletic Value of. Prof. J. O. Murray, D.D. Hom. Rev. A pril, 9% PP. Renan. H. Gardiner. Harvard Monthly, March, 16 pp. Seume (Gottfried). A Poet Among the "Hessians." Conrad Bierwirth. Harvard Monthly, March, 10 pp. Spinoza (Baruch). The Rev. Rudolph Grossman. Menorah, April, 11 pp, Vittoria Colonna. Harriet W. Preston and Louisa Dodge. Atlantic, April, 21 pp. EDUCATION, LITERATURE, ART. Architecture Among the Poets. Henry Van Brunt. Atlantic, April, 12 pp. Camera Club (The Boston), Benjamin Kimball. N. Catholic Summer School (The), Its Beginning and Its English. The Study of, in the Public Schools. Supt. English (the King's), Use of. W. M. Thayer. Education, March, 5 pp. Illustrations of incorrect pronunciation, etc. among educated persons. Fiction, Art of Mystery in. George Manville Fenn. N. A. Rev., April, 7 pp. Fiction, The Future of. Hamlin Garland, Arena, April, 12 pp. A presentation of the claims of true realism or veritism. Hazlitt (William), Unpublished Correspondence of. William Carew Hazlitt. Atlantic, April, 9 pp. History (Local), The Study of. Prof. Willis Boughton, Education, March, 8 pp. The value of such study, Arbitration (Compulsory). A Reply to Dr. Abbott. Consular Service (Our), Faults in. The Hon. Robert R. P. Bland, Chairman of the Com. on Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the House of Representatives., N. A. Rev., April, 81⁄2 pp. Democratic policy in relation to the currency. Fenianism. Capt. John M. Tobin. Donahoe's Mag., drews. Atlantic, April, 8 pp. Pension-List (The), How Shall It Be Revised? Representative R. P. C. Wilson, Chairman House-Com. on Pensions; Gen. S. S. Burdett, Past Commander-inChief of the G. A. R.; Col. W. C. Church, Editor "Army and Navy Jour." N. A. Rev., April, 15% PP. Pension-System (The Present). Congressman J. H. O'Neil. Donahoe's Mag., April, 5 pp. Shows the necessity of reform. Switzerland, The Initiative in. W. D. McCrackan, A.M. Areua, April, 6 pp. The Initiative may be defined as the right of a voter or a body of voters to initiate proposals for legislation.' RELIGIOUS. Apologist (the), The Present Task of. Prof. Alexander B. Bruce, D.D. Hom. Rev., April, 5 pp. Points out the work of the Christian apologist." Christianity, Authority in. G. C. Lorimer, D.D. Arena, April, 5 pp. Church (the), The Outlook of. H. K. Carroll, D.D. Hom. Rev., April, 5 pp. Cities of the World.-City or Doctrine. Adolph Roeder. New-Jerusalem Mag., March, 11 pp. The interpreration of "city" according to the "science of correspondences. Death, After-What? The Rev. C. F. Dole. N. A. Rev., April, 5 PP. Presents reasons for belief in the future life. Drummond and Swedenberg. Albert Bjorck. NewJerusalem Mag., April, 6 pp. The writer undertakes to show an agreement in many things between Prof. Drummond and Swedenberg. France, The Religious Outlook in. Theodore Stanton. Monist, April, 6 pp. Peter, The Gospel of. Prof. A. W. Anthony. Hom. Rev., April, 10 pp. Religion and Culture. The Rev. Dr. David Philipson. Menorah, April, 7 pp. Argues that true culture cannot be attained without religion. Religion and Modern Science. Prof. F. Jodl. Monist, April, 23 Pp. This paper presents religion and science as contrary, and a reconciliation between them impossible. Science, The Religion of. Dr. Paul Carus. Monist, April, 10 pp. This paper undertakes to show what religion is according to science. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. Arboretum (The Arnold)., A Tree Museum. M. C. Dimension (The Fourth). Mathematical and Spiritualistic. Prof. Hermann Shubert. Monist, April, 48 pp. Earth (the), The Interior of. G. F. Becker, U. S. Geological Survey. N. A. Rev., April, 91⁄2 pp. Antagonizes the generally received opinion that the interior of the earth is in a molten state, and concludes that the earth is solid nearly to its centre. Engineering, The Past and Future of. Gordon B. Kimbrough. Engineering Mag., April, 61⁄2 pp. Glaciers of Alaska. Prof. G. Frederic Wright. Worthington's Mag., April, 14 pp. Illus. Descriptive. Necessity, The Superstition of. Prof. John Dewey. Monist, April, 18 pp. The writer defines necessity as a clinging to old ideas after these ideas have lost their use, and his contention is that "the doctrine of necessity is a survival." Philosophy (the Oldest), The Modern Expression of. Katharine Coolidge. Arena, April, 14 pp. Treats of what is called Christian Science." Refrigeration from Central Stations. John E. Starr, M.E. Engineering Mag.. April. 9 pp. Description of the process of the distribution of refrigeration by underground pipe-lines from a central plant. Ventilation, The Moral, Mental, and Physical Necessities of. P. C. Remondino, M.D. National Pop. Rev., April, 8 pp. 12 pp. Anarchism: What It Is. and What It Is Not. Victor Diggers (The) of Thirty Years Ago. Helen M. Car- Fittest (The), Do They Survive? W. A. Croffut. N. Immigration, Fallacies and Facts as to. Col. J. B. Edmund Mitchell, Sec'y Pastoralists' Association. Engineering Mag., April, 13 pp. Illus. A statement of the labor troubles in Australia. Middle-Class Life in France. The Marquise De San Carlos. N. A. Rev., April, 7 pp. Descriptive, Mothers (Good and Bad). Mrs. Amelia E. Barr. N. A. Rev., April, 8 pp. Negro (The) As a Mechanic.. The Hon. Robert Lowry, Ex-Gov. of Mississippi. N. A. Rev., April, 6 pp. Shows that the negro can be trained as a mechanic. Negroes, The Burning of, in the South: A Protest and a Warning. Editorial. Arena, April, 11 pp. Progress (Marvelous), A Decade of. Richard H. Edmonds, Late Editor Manufacturers' Record. Engineering Mag., April, 9 pp. The growth of the United States between 1880 and 1890. School Statistics and Morals. Commissioner W. T. Harris. School Rev., April, 8 pp. Social Quagmire (The) and the Way Out. 2. Wage Workers. Alfred Russel Wallace, D.C.L. Arena, April, 18 pp. Tenement-House Problem (The) in New York. Eva McDonald Valesh. Arena, April, 7 pp. Virginny (Ole), In," Fifty Years Ago. Fourth Paper. Mary A. Livermore. Worthington's Mag., April, 8 pp. Descriptive. B. F. Underwood. Woman Question (the), True Solution of. Mary Eliza- Charles Palache. Overland, April, 10 pp. Illus. Forestry, Conditions of, as a Business. W. J. Beal, M.S., Ph.D. Engineering Mag., April, 8 pp. Georgia, The State of. Agricultural Resources, R. T. Nesbitt, Commissioner of Agriculture. Geological Resources, J. W. Spucer, State Geologist. Immigrants Opportunities in Georgia, C. J. Haden. FruitCulture in Georgia, Henry R. Goetchius, Cotton in Georgia, H. H. Hickman. The Schools in Georgia, S. D. Bradwell, Commissioner of Schools. Trade and Transportation, Col. J. W. Avery. Lumber-Industry, Walter Pope. Southern States, March, 34 PP. Hawaii-Our Prospective Territory. Frank H. Palmer. Education, March, 6 pp. Descriptive. London and the Isle of Wight.-Notes of a Short Trip Abroad. Jenny June. Home-Maker, March, 15 pp. Illus. Descriptive. Pampas Plumes. S. E. A. Higgins. Overland, April, 5 pp. Illus. Descriptive of their culture, etc. Pan-American Road (the), Would It Pay? C. P. Yeatman, M. Am. Soc. C. E. Engineering Mag., April, 22 pp. Illus. This paper is largely a description of the countries south of the Isthmus of Panama, through which the proposed railway would go, Presidents (the), Inauguration of. The Rev. M. J. showing that the railway is at least impracticable. Cramer, D.D. Home-Maker, March, 24 pp. Illus. Historical and descriptive. Prophecies (Fulfilled), Cases of. M. Rylda Libby. Psychical Rev., Feb., 3% pp. Statement of cases which came under the writer's personal observation. Psychic, Leaves from the Autobiography of. Mrs. Émma Miner. Psychical Rev., Feb., 10 pp. History of the development of psychical powers, etc. Psychical Phenomena, Implications of. Part II. Prof. A. E. Dolbear. Psychical Rev., Feb., 3 pp. Railways (English and American). A Comparison and a Contrast. I. W. M. Acworth, An English Authority on Railways. Engineering Mag., April, 9% pp. Ship-Building Here and Abroad. Naval-Constructor Philip Hichborn, U. S. N. N. A. Rev., April, 10 pp. Descriptive. Sounds, Voices, and Physical Disturbances in the Presence of a Psychic. Hamlin Garland. Psychical Rev., Feb., 4 pp. Account of various sittings. Spectral Well of Virginia. Prof. A. E. Dolbear and T. E. Allen. Psychical Rev., Feb., 6 pp. Descriptive of mysterious appearances in a mirror held over a well. Spiritual Evolution. Emilia Aylmer Gowing. Belgravia, London, March, 18 pp. On spiritualism. Tapir (a). Hunting. Allen Chamberlain. Outing, Tobacco-Culture in the South. H. S. Fleming. SouthApril, 4 pp. Illus. ern States, March, 5 pp. Trinity Church, Boston. Phillips Brooks. N. E. Mag., April, 18 pp. Illus. From the historical sermon Trinity Church, Description of. preached at the dedication of the new church. H. H. Richardson, Walking. Malcolm W. Ford. Outing, April, 3 pp. Architect. N. E. Mag., April. 7 pp. With Plan. Illus. War-Ships (American) of To-Day. S. G. W. Benjamin. Worthington's Mag., April, 16 pp. Illus. Descriptive. Yachting Outlook (The) for '93. Chas. L. Norton. Outing, April. 5 pp. Imprisonment (Short-Term), Or the Question of the Abuse of. Max Heinemann. Preussische Jahr bücher, Berlin, March, 25 pp. Music Feuilletons. The Master of. Max Kabbeck. Der Stein der Weisen. Stuttgart, March. A Sketch of Eduard Hanslick. Strassburg, The Three Last Meistersängers of. Alfred Klatte. Die Gartenlaube, Leipzig, March, 4 pp. Veltens (J.), An Unpublished Episode from the Lite of. Wladislaus Nehring. Zeitschrift für vergleich ende Litteraturgeschichte. Berlin, March, 4 pp. EDUCATION, LITERATURE, AND ART. Art-Studies. Dr. Wilh. Henke. Preussische Jahrbücher, Berlin, March, 11 pp. Ballads. Phillip Spitta. I-III. Deutsche Rundschau, Berlin, Marcli, 17 pp. Buddha, the Earlier Incarnations of, Stories from. Paul Steinhal. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, Berlin, March, 15 pp. Celtis (Conrad) A Letter from, to the University of Ingolstadt. Christian Rupprecht. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, Berlin. March, 2 pp. Health and Temperance, Manual of. T. Broariff, M.A. With Extracts from Gough's Temperance Orations. Longmans, Green, & So. Cloth, 50c. Home Rule, The Land of. An Essay on the History and Constitution of the Isle of Man. Spencer Walpole. Longmans, Green, & Co. Cloth, $1.75. India and Malaysia. Bishop J. M. Thoburn. Cranston & Curts, Cincinnati. Cloth, Illus., $2. International Law, The Science of. By Thomas Alfred Walker, M.A., I.I.D., of the Middle Temple, Fellow and Lecturer of Peterl.ouse, Cambridge. Macmillan & Co. Cloth, $4.50. The Trades of East London. Literature, Analytics of. A Manual for the Objective Study of English Prose and Poetry. Prof. L. A. Shuman. Ginn & Co., Boston. Cloth, $1.40. Lithology, A Treatise in; Rocks Classified and Described. Bernard Von Cotta. Trans. by Philip Henry Lawrence, F.G.S. Reprinted without Alteration from the Second Edition. Longmans, Green, & Co. Cloth, $4.00. Meteorology (Modern). An Outline of the Growth and Present Condition of Some of Its Phases. Frank Waldo, Ph.D., Late Junior Prof. Signal Service, U. S. A. Charles Scribner's Sons. Cloth, Illus., $1.25. Morality, The Esthetic Element in, and Its Place in Macmillan & Co. Cloth, 75c. a Utilitarian Theory of Morals. Frank C, Sharp, Ph.D. Public Health and Its Applications in Different European Countries (England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Finland). The Treatise Macmillan & Co. Cloth, $5. Albert Palmberg. Edited by Arthur Newsholme. on. Statesman's Year-Book. Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1893, Edited by J. Scott Keltie, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. Thirtieth Annual Pub lication. Revised after Official Returns. Macmillan & Co. Cloth, $3. Cupids, Who Sells? Th. Birt. Deutsche Rundschau, Dragon (the), History of the Combat with. Dr. Arwed Richter. Preussische Jahrbücher, Berlin, March, 12 pp. 4 pp. French Literature, The Mystical Movement in. Eugen von Jagow. Vom Fels zum Meer, Stuttgart, March, German, Original Characters of the Eighteenth Century. Konrad Ekhof. Die Gartenlaube, Leipzig, March. Hungarian Literature, The Influence of Italian Literature Upon. Heinrich von Whislocki. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, Berlin, March, 34 Pp. Metaphorical and Rhetorical. A Polemical Study of the Esthetics of Lyrical Poetry. Alfred Biese. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte Berlin, March, 38 pp. Wine and Water. New Edition of an old Classical Student-Song, Setting Forth the Disputation Between Wine and Water. A. Bömer. Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Litteraturgeschichte, Berlin, March, 11 pp. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. Aluminum. Julius Stinde. Vom Fels zum Meer, Stuttgart, March, 4 pp. Atmospheric Heating in Its Hygienic Aspect. Der Books of the Week. AMERICAN. Alcott (A. Bronson). His Life and Philosophy. F. B. Sanborn and W. T. Harris. Roberts Bros., Boston. 2 Vols., $3.50. American History, Epochs of. Edited by Albert Bushnel Hart, Ph.D. Division and Reunion, 1829 1887. Woodson Wilson, Ph.D., LL.D., Prof. of Jurisprudence in Princeton University. Longmans, Green, & Co. Cloth, $1.25. Art (Decorative), The Evolution of. An Essay upon Its Origin and Development as Illustrated by the Art of Modern Races of Mankind. Henry Balfour, M.A., F.Z S. Macmillan & Co. Cloth, $1.25. Brooks' (Bishop Phillips) Addresses. Brown & Co., Bosion, Cloth, $1. Chas. E. Christ in Modern Theology. A. B. Fairbairn, D.D., Mansfield College, Oxford. Charles Scribner's Sons. Cloth, $2.50. Dogma, the History of, Outlines of. Dr. Adolph Harnack, Prof. Church History in the University of Berlin; Trans. by Prof. Edwin Knox Mitchell, M. A.. of Hartford Theological Seminary. Funk & Wagnalls Co. Cloth, $2.50. Don Quixote. Classes for Children. Edited by Mabel F. Wheaton. Ginn & Co., Boston. Cloth, 70c. Fuller (Thomas), Wise Words and Quaint Counsels of, Selected and arranged with a Short Sketch of the Author's Life by Augustus Jessopp, D.D. Macmillan & Co. Cloth, $1.25. Vobiscum Deus: The Gospel of the Incarnation. W. F. Faber. A. D. F. Randolph & Co. Cloth, $1. Twelve Sermons. Why Not, and Why. Short Studies in Churchmanship. The Rev. W. D. Powers. D. Appleton & Co. New Edition. Paper, 50c. Women of the World, with the Search-Light of Epigram. Compiled by Alethe Lowber Craig. Cushing & Co., Baltimore. $1. Current Events. Wednesday, March 29. In the Senate, the title of the appointed Senators to seats is discussed; Mr. Power demands an investigation of charges against him; the nomination of Hermann Stump for Superintendent of Immigra tion is received......A hearing is given at Albany on the Bill permitting children to appear on the stage. The State Senate by a tie vote refuses to take the Greater New York Bill from the Committee on Cities......On the Chicago Board of Trade wheat declines seven cents per bushel on the May option. ......Commissioner Daly begins his raid on the Croton Watershed in Westchester County......In New York City, new plans are submitted to the Rapid Transit Commission......The Clothing Manufacturer's Association ask for an injunction restraining the locked-out cutters from boycotting their goods. Chance.lor von Caprivi's Berlin organ strongly condemns the action of the French Government in expelling the correspondent Brandes......M. Ribot accepts the offer of M. Andrieux to secure the arrest of Arton, the Panama go-between within a week. ......The House of Commons discusses the Bill for the relief of evicted tenants in Ireland...... Many deaths from cholera are reported in Russia and Austria, Thursday, March 30. In the Senate, the nomination of Thomas F. Bayard to be Ambassador to England and of the following Ministers is received: James D. Porter, Chili; A. McKenzie, Peru; Lewis Baker, Nicaragua: Pierce M. B. Young, Guatemala; Edwin Dun, Japan; also of John M. Reynolds for Assistant-Secretary of the Interior; Lawrence Maxwell, for Solicitor-General; and John L. Hall for Assistant AttorneyGeneral; the cases and counter-cases in the Bering Sea dispute are received....... Secretary Carlisle orders the discontinuance of all condemnation proceedings for the Bowling Green site of the New York Custom House......The New York Senate passes the Saxton Anti-Poolroom Bill......In Nebraska, it is decided to begin impeachment proceedings against the State officials...... President Higinbotham, of the World's Fair, issues an address, correcting certain misstatements......In New York City, the site for the new City Hall is approved. ......Dr. Cyrus Edson is appointed Health Commissioner, to succeed Dr. Bryant......Admiral Gherardi's squadron sails for Hampton Roads. The Ribot Cabinet is defeated on a financial question, by a majority of five, in the French Chamber of Deputies, and the Ministers resign, but will retain The Nebraska Legislature in joint session passes the resolution for the impeachment of the Board of Public Lands and Buildings......Members of the Chicago Police Force are formally charged with levying blackmail to aid the election of Carter Har rison......A Government Board begins a test, at Springfield, Mass., of rifles for the Army......An illicit distillery valued at $75,000 is seized at Baltimore.. Wharton Barker, of Philadelphia, is charged with taking excessive brokerage fees to the amount of $400,000.. Harold M. Sewall and W. S. Brown sail for Hawaii; it is said they are to assist Commissioner Blount......The Danes of New York City decide to erect a statue of Thorwaldsen in Central Park. The general feeling in Paris is said to favor new men for the Ministry..... The Colombian Government grants another month in which to arrange for the resumption of work on the Panama Canal... News is received that a rebellion in Costa Rica has been suppressed by the prompt action of the Govern ment. Saturday, April 1. Governor Flower of New York, commutes the sentence of Michael T. Sliney, the murderer of Lyons, on the ground that he was mentally irresponsible when the crime was committed......The Higgins' Hotel at Bradford, Penn.. is destroyed by fire; five lives are known to be lost, and more than twenty persons were injured...... Ten miners are suffocated in a burning mine at Shamokin, Penn......Joseph Jefferson's house at Buzzard's Bay is burned...... Sixteen persons are seriously injured in a wreck on the Rio Grande road at Leadville... ......The Western New York and Pennsylvania road goes into the hands of a receiver......In New York City, John H. Starin announces to the Rapid Transit Commissioners that trustworthy bankers are ready to bid for the underground franchise. It is said that M. Felix Jules Meline is forming a new French Cabinet......M. Andrieux and M. Henry Moret, editor of the Paris Radical, fight a duel; nobody hurt...... Four thousand houses are burned in the suburbs of Manilla; it is thought that a number of lives are lost...... Prince Bismarck celebrates his seventy-eighth birthday at Freder. icksruh. Sunday, April 2. Forest fires rage in various parts of New Jersey. .Heavy damages by floods are reported from the Northwest......In New York City, Easter Day is as usual celebrated in the churches; florists report an unusually large business; the Prince of Wales furnishes $1,500 worth of flowers for Dr. Rainsford's church......Duke's cigarrette factory is destroyed by fire. In Germany, satisfactory tests are made of a new explosive, which will probably be used in the German Army in place of powder......It is announced, that the Austrian War Office is planning to increase the peace effective of the Army......Belgian Socialists meet in convention at Ghent; a resolution is passed for a general strike in case Parliament should grant plurality of votes to property owners aud holders of university diplomas. Monday, April 3. The Senate receives a batch of minor nominations from the President......The Supreme Court decides that a person extradited from a State for a crime committed in another, may be tried on another charge than that for which he is extradited......In the Ann Arbor railway cases at Toledo one of the Lake Shore engineers is held for contempt, and a temporary injunction is granted against Chief Arthur......The Bill to create a State Agricultural Department is defeated in the New York Assembly. .The trial of the Rochester coal-dealers, indicted for conspiracy, is begun......In New York City, proceedings for the removal of Commissioner Brennan are begun......Ellis H. Roberts retires from the Sub-Treasury......Dr. Charles F. Roberts is appointed Sanitary Superintendent...... Monsignor Sbaretti, Auditor of the Papal Delegate, arrives. Mr. Balfour addresses meetings in Ulster in opposition to Home Rule......It is said that Italy will raise her Legation at Washington to the rank of an Embassy. Tuesday, April 4. The Senate receives the nominations of James O. Broadhead for Minister to Switzerland; Bartlett Tripp, to Australia; and Eben Alexander, to Greece, Roumania, and Servia; eight Consuls are also nominated......A. A. McLeod tenders his resignation as president and receiver of the Reading Railroad Company, to take effect May 1......Carter Harrison is elected Mayor of Chicago......Republicans carry the City elections in Kansas... The Bill creating a new forest commission passes the New York State Senate......Lennon, the Lake Shore Engineer adjudged guilty of contempt of court, refuses to pay his fine, and will take an appeal to the Supreme Court. ......In the election in Kansas City the women have a ticket in the field and make an active canvass, M. Charles Dupuy, the new French Premier, completes a Cabinet and announces his policy to obtain the voting of the Budget at once......Argu ments are made by counsel on both sides before the Bering Sea Court of Arbitration...... Mr. Balfour addresses a great Unionist meeting in Belfast, Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. Published Weekly by the FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, 18 and 20 Astor Place, New York. London: 44 Fleet Street. Toronto: 11 Richmond Street, West. Subscription price, $3.00 per year. Single Copies, 10 cents. Renewals.-Two weeks after the receipt of a remittance, the extension of the subscription will be indicated by the yellow label on the wrapper. Discontinuances.—The publishers must positively receive notice by letter or postal-card, whenever a subscriber wishes his paper discontinued. I' The Reviews. POLITICAL. OBSTRUCTION IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper in T is thirteen years since a new Parliament started on its way with Mr. Gladstone sitting in the seat of the Premier. Since March, 1880, a great deal has happened, not least, the change of circumstances under which the business of the House of Commons is conducted. The majority of the House of Commons may be Liberal or Conservative, but when presumptuous hands are stretched forth to touch the Ark of its procedure, its instincts are all Tory. Mr. Gladstone, driven to desperation in the second session of the Parliament of 1880-5, endeavoured to reform procedure so that obstruction might be met on even terms, but he was met with such determined opposition that he succeeded only in tinkering the pot. Oddly enough, it was left for the Conservatives, when they came into office, to revolutionize the system upon which, through the ages, Parliamentary business had been carried on. There was nothing in the reforms more startling to the old Parliamentarian than the proposal automatically to close debate at midnight. A dozen years ago, a debate carried on through several nights might appear to be approaching a conclusion. The Leader of the Opposition, rising between eleven o'clock and midnight, spoke in a crowded House. The Premier, or his Lieutenant, followed, assuming to wind up the debate. Members, wearied of the long sitting, were prepared to go forth to the Division lobby; when from below the gangway, on the left, there arose a familiar figure, and there was heard a wellknown voice. These usually belonged to Mr. O'Donnell bent upon vindicating the right of a private member to interpose when the constituted authorities of the House had agreed in the opinion that a debate had been continued long enough. A roar of execration from the fagged legislators greeted the intruder. He expected this, and was in no degree perturbed. In earliest practice, he had a way of dropping his eye-glass as if startled by the uproar, and searched for it with puzzled, preoccupied expression, apparently debating with himself what this outburst might portend. He did not love the British House of Commons, but he knew what was due to it in the way of respect, and however angry passions might rise, however turbulent the scene, he would never address it, looking upon it with the naked eye. As his eye-glass was constantly tumbling out, and as search for it was preternaturally deliberate, it played an appreciable part in the prolongation of successive sessions. The member for Dungarvan was, in his day, the most thoroughly disliked man in the House of Commons. The distaste for Mr. Parnell, and for Mr. Biggar in his early prime, was softened by contrast with Mr. O'Donnell's subtle provocation. He is gone now, but Mr. Seymour Keay and Mr. A. C. Morton continue his practices under greatly altered conditions. One of Mr. O'Donnell's famous achievements took place in the infancy of the Parliament of 1880-5, and apart from its dramatic interest is valuable as illustrating the change effected in parliamentary procedure by the New Rules. On that particular June night the paper was loaded with questions. Question No. 23 stood in the name of Mr. O'Donnell, and contained in his best literary style a serious indictment of M. ChallemelLacour, then just nominated by the French Government as their representative at the Court of St. James. Sir Charles Dilke, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, made categorical reply, directly traversing all the points in the indictment. When he resumed his seat, Mr. O'Donnell rose, in his usually deliberate manner, captured his eye-glass, and, having fixed it to his satisfaction, remarked, in his drawling voice, that it was "perfectly impossible to accept the explanation of the Government." Being interrupted with cries of "Order! Order!" he quietly played his trump-card: "If I am not allowed to explain," he said, "I will conclude with a motion." The House howled again, but it was a cry of despair. Mr. O'Donnell, they knew, had the whip-hand. Under the New Rules such obstructionists are easily disposed of, but in June, 1880, all the House could do was to roar with resentment. Mr. O'Donnell was used to this incentive. He produced a pockethandkerchief, took down his eye-glass and carefully polished it while members yelled and tossed about in their seats with impotent fury. There was no closure in those days, and Mr. Gladstone, after a hurried consultation with Sir Erskine May, hastily moved that Mr. O'Donnell be not heard. Then followed a scene of extraordinary tumult, and it was not until one o'clock of the following morning that Mr. O'Donnell, grateful for a pleasant evening, was good enough to state that before he recurred to the question he would give due notice. After an eight hours' wrangle, the Speaker called the next question on the paper, No. 24. The House proved, however, capable of dealing with Mr. O'Donnell, and it must be a consolation to him in his retirement that it was he who directly brought about the appointment of the Parnell Commission with all it effected. It is the same with others of less strongly marked character. Vanity or garrulity may force a new member into a position of notoriety. He may, according to his measure of determination, try a fall again and again with the House, and may sometimes, as in the case of Mr. O'Donnell, seem to win. But in the end the House of Commons proves victorious. It is a sort of whetstone on which blades of various temper operate. In time they either forego the practice or wear themselves away. In either case the whetstone remains. BIENNIAL ELECTIONS AND LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS. RAYMOND L. BRIDGMAN. MAN Condensed for THE LITERARY DIGEST from a Paper in New England Magazine, Boston, April. ANY people would have both State elections and legislative sessions biennial. Others would prefer biennial elections and annual legislative sessions. I believe that both of the proposed changes-in many States they are, of course, effected changes-would be unwise, and would work to the serious injury of the State. Having once thought otherwise, and been compelled, in candor, to change my views because of increased familiarity with facts as they are to be observed at the State House and in State politics; having also had better facilities for observation than most people, it may be pertinent to set forth the reasons for my conclusions. The demand for biennial sessions is based on the belief that the Legislature spends much time foolishly, that the sessions are needlessly long and expensive, that it is unwise to keep up a constant tinkering of the laws, that business suffers by frequent disturbance of the laws, that lawyers protest against constant revision, and the common people cannot keep up with the new legislation, that many "cranky" matters are introduced, and, in short, that the real needs of the State would be amply served by a session once in two years, to the great relief of the apprehension of the people, and the saving of their money. It is beyond dispute that there is need of reform in legislative methods, and that some of the popular criticism is richly deserved. But the reform does not lie in the direction of less frequent sessions. The history of Massachusetts, at least in recent years, proves beyond question that the necessary course is not in less frequent attention to the needs of the State, but rather in more faithful watchfulness over them. It is every year more evident that the growth of the State demands frequent opportunities for adjustment, for adaptation of the laws to the rapidly developing needs of the times. In the face of the alleged popular demand for less frequent sessions, legislation grows in quantity and the future holds no prospect of any diminution. The fact that people bring enough business to the Legislature for a long annual session, shows how they practise their theories. They demand biennials, but they must have annuals. The impression that old questions form the main business of the Legislature year after year, rests on a very narrow basis.. Taking out the questions which require an agitation of two or three years for their settlement, but which mark a real development, there is nothing of consequence left as a basis for the charge that each legislature merely works over the old business of its predecessor. There is now only one "hardy annual" at the State House, except biennials, and that is Woman Suffrage. Many advance movements which have encountered serious obstacles have finally achieved success. Woman Suffrage only stands where it did twenty years ago. This may be contemptuously classed as rubbishi "; but it has the support of Henry L. Dawes, George F. Hoar, and distinguished men and women of the State in numbers sufficient to prove that the success of a petition before the Legislature is not the only indication of the intellectual calibre or general good sense of the petitioners. In the esteem of the great corporations, the demands for an Employers' Liability Law and for weekly payments of wages were at first "rubbish," and they were so treated by successive Legislatures. Years of earnest agitation were necessary to give them a standing in the Great and General Court. Yet those years were a period of growth, of development in the State, and what was at first believed to be "rubbish," was found to be not only good sense, but a positive benefit to a large class of people. It is urged that there is too much special legislation; that general laws ought to be passed that would obviate the necessity of special laws. Certainly; but the criticism fails to perceive that special Acts must often precede general Acts. A study of the business of the courts of the State reveals an immense increase in its volume. As it is with these courts, from the Supreme to the lowest, so it is with the Great and General Court. The pressure which is felt at every county seat, is felt most of all at the State House. Yet in this court, which makes the laws which control the other courts, it is proposed to cut down the number of sessions by one-half, and into that half to crowd the accumulations of two years and to tell the people to make the best of it they can. proposition is ridiculous, and it only needs this comparison with the other court business to show how little real attention can have been given to the matter by the friends of biennial sessions. Their opponents might rest their entire case on this argument alone, if the facts were fully, understood by the people. The A weighty reason for annual sessions, as well as for annual elections, is that the people should keep nearer their representatives than is possible by a biennial session. The quality of legislation is affected by the sense of nearness, and annual accountability. Not only would there be a higher plane of legislative morality in a body elected every year, but the needs of the people would receive more prompt and immediate attention. Members are elected with some reference to local and current issues. The objection on account of the greater expense of annual sessions is not to be considered for a moment in comparison with the good to be obtained by prompt attention to the wants of the people. To sum up: the objections to annual sessions are founded upon mistaken beliefs as to facts and upon a conservatism which fails to recognize the growth of the community. The objections to annual elections are summarized as follows by the Hon. Henry L. Pierce, in his argument before the Legislative Committee on constitutional amendments: The admitted evils of the present system, concisely stated, are, first, incessant political agitation; second, overmuch legislation; third, instability and uncertainty in the laws; fourth, unnecessary and wasteful expenditure of money. The second of these objections has already been considered herein; the third objection has also been answered. The fourth objection and the first may be considered together. It is true that money will be wastefully spent in annual elections; |