form of the iniquitous law by which up to that time the husband had the right to seize all his wife's property and appropriate every penny she earned by her own industry. The Married Woman's Property act, which secured to the wife a legal right to her own property, we owe as much to Mr. Bryce as to any man. He was at that time unmarried. His services deserve the more recognition because Mr. Bryce has never been able to see his way to advocate woman suffrage.

Another cause to which he rendered yeoman service was that of securing the right of the people to the enjoyment of what may be regarded as their national inheritance. With the instinct of a scholar he saw the immense importance of preserving for the people their ancient monuments. With the keen eye of a mountaineer he appreciated the value of permitting free access of the masses to the hills from which they were too often debarred for the sake of the deer. He sought in every way to secure for the common people access to scenes of beauty, opportunities for culture in town, free use of commons and forest and mountain in the country. He was a warm advocate of free libraries, and never lost an opportunity of forwarding every movement that helped to make Englishmen and Scotsmen at home in Britain.

During these years he repeatedly visited the United States, of whose laws and institutions he was making a close study, the fruits of which are now the common possession of the whole English-speaking world in "The American Commonwealth." This, however, did not see the light till 1888, and before that many things had happened.

A POST IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE.

When the Reform bill of 1884 was passed Tower Hamlets was cut up into several single-member constituencies, and Mr. Bryce, being invited to stand for South Aberdeen, went north, and was elected by the constituency which he has represented ever since. It was in 1885 that Mr. Gladstone made his famous plunge in favor of Home Rule. Mr. Bryce was one of the first Liberal members to follow his leader. His close study of American institutions enabled him to approach the problem without the alarm felt by stay-at-home politicians who knew nothing of the working of the federal principle. He was appointed Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Lord Rosebery, and won golden opinions from the ambassadors with whom he had to do business. It was his first and

only experience of the wear and tear of active diplomatic work. An Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, whose chief is in the House of Lords, has a very busy time in representing his department in the House of Commons. The Gladstone government of 1886 was defeated on Home Rule, and Mr. Bryce went out into the wilderness with the rest of his colleagues.

Two years after the fall of the Gladstone government appeared "The American Commonwealth," the magnum opus by which Mr. Bryce is best known by the general public, although it is possible that "The Holy Roman Empire" commands a more continuous sale. His volume of personal character sketches of some of the many distinguished men of our time, which was published the other day, is perhaps the most popular and entertaining of all his writings.

SUPPORTS GLADSTONE AND HOME RULE.

During the whole of the Salisbury government, from 1886 to 1892, Mr. Bryce did yeoman's service to the cause of Ireland, and when in 1892 Mr. Gladstone returned to office, he offered Mr. Bryce the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with a seat in the cabinet. He took part in the incubation of the second Home Rule bill, and mourned with the other authors of its being when it was untimely slaughtered by the House of Lords. He was promoted to the presidency of the Board of Trade, which office he retained until the fall of the Liberal administration in 1895. In the agitation which ensued in the country, Mr. Bryce spoke strongly against the principle of heredi'tary legislation, and insisted that if there must be a second chamber it ought to be frankly democratic and elective.

CHAMPION OF PEACE AND ARBITRATION.

When the general election resulted in the return of a Unionist majority, Mr. Bryce visited South Africa. He was received everywhere with great cordiality. He was the friend of Mr. Rhodes without being the enemy of Mr. Kruger. He left the country, little dreaming that the catastrophe that wrecked the hopes of the pacific development of the sub-continent was so near at hand. Before he landed at Southampton the Jameson Raid had taken place and the furies of racial hatreds were unloosed. He wrote his " Impressions of South Africa" after his return; a good book, impartial, lucid, full of information and foresight.

When the Peace Crusade of 1899 was launched Mr. Bryce, unlike some of his colleagues, did not content himself with writing a letter of sympathy. He went on the platform in support of the movement and pleaded warmly for the Czar's standstill proposition and international arbitration. Mr. Bryce has ever been a warm friend of arbitration. He has advocated it in season and out of season. Ever since his first visit to the Ottoman Empire he has been the fervent and impassioned advocate of the oppressed races of the East. In the '80's it was the Bulgarians, in the '90's it was the Armenians, who commanded his sympathy. No one regretted more than he the paralysis of Europe which followed the desertion by Russia and Prince Lovanov of the Armenian cause.

OPPOSED THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR.

In 1899 came a great testing time of the reality of devotion of English statesmen to the cause of peace and liberty. Mr. Bryce was keenly interested in the welfare of South Africa. He had been the guest and was the friend and admirer of Cecil Rhodes. He shared to the full the desire of the Outlanders on the Rand to obtain some share in the control of the government whose treasury had been filled by their industry. He was a great imperialist in the English Liberal sense of the word. Suddenly, without any adequate cause, the empire was plunged into war with the Dutch republics. More than one of his former colleagues succumbed to the madness of the hour. Mr. Bryce did not. He formed one of the most conspicuous figures of the group of Liberal statesmen who from the first refused to bow the knee to the jingo reunion. He was denounced as a pro-Boer. He bore the reproach with serene indifference. From first to last he was a bold, uncompromising, ruthless opponent of the war.

CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND.

his honesty, they knew the sincerity of his sympathy, and although they gnashed their teeth over his dogged refusal to dismiss commissioners whose administration of the Land act they distrusted, they forgave him everything because of his stanch fidelity to the Nationalist cause. In answering questions in the House, he was almost too painstaking and too encyclopedic in the information with which he supplied his questions; and in mastering the details of Irish administration he wore himself almost to death by his tireless industry. "I have been studying the Irish question for 30 years," he said to me one day, "but I never realized how difficult it was till I had to handle it at the Irish Office." It is understood that one of the chief tasks he had to undertake was the framing of an interim local government scheme for Ireland, with the assistance of Sir Antony McDonnell, which may serve as a half-way house to Home Rule. The details of this measure have not yet seen the light, and the struggle with the Lords may lead to its postponement for some time to come.

A POPULAR CHOICE FOR WASHINGTON.

When Sir Mortimer Durand had to be replaced at Washington, and it was known that his successor was to be chosen outside the ranks of the regular diplomatic corps, the public, with unerring instinct, pointed to Mr. Bryce. "Thou art the man!" The Prime Minister, in tune in this, as in everything else, with the popular sentiment, offered Mr. Bryce the post. After stating the reasons of state which led him to urge Mr. Bryce to go to Washington, he added, " For my own part, so far as I am personally concerned, I heartily wish you would refuse it. I can ill spare you in the cabinet." Sir Henry told me that Mr. Bryce was invaluable in council. He was always well informed, his opinion was always ready, he always looked at every subject from a detached standpoint, which enabled him to see points which others would have overlooked. Above all, he was always straight, and never was tempted to wander into those devious paths which have so much attraction for some politicians.

IN "Hyperion" al

lusion is made to "the great importance, in the nation's history, of the individual fame of scholars and literary men," and the fear is expressed that "it is far greater than the world is willing to acknowledge." Evidently the times have changed. For in these later years have sprung up over the country many local historical societies, zealous and devoted bands of men and women, ready and willing to keep fresh the memory of the great men whose lives have been associated with their respective communities.

A conspicuous service of this kind is to be performed by the Cambridge Historical Society in celebrating, on February 27, 1907, the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The arrangements made for this event are commensurate with its importance. They are in charge of a representative committee, having Prof. Charles Eliot Norton as chairman, and including such other leading citizens as President Eliot of Harvard University, Col. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, the Rev. George Hodges, D.D., dean of the Episcopal Theological School; Miss Agnes Irwin, dean of Radcliffe College, and Mr. Bliss Perry, editor of the Atlantic Monthly. The day will be observed as "Longfellow Day" in all the schools of the city, with brief ad

dresses by local speakers, and with the reading of essays upon the poet written by the pupils. In the afternoon the pupils of the grammar grades will gather in a large hall for a "Children's Hour," to listen to the reading of selections, and to join in the singing of adaptations, from the poet's works. In the evening there will be public exercises in Sanders Theater, consisting of addresses

by Mr. William Dean Howells, Colonel Higginson, President Eliot, and Professor Norton, and of music by a chorus selected from the public schools. For the week of the anniversary or longer there will be exhibited in the Public Library a special collection of portraits, memorials, and other objects connected with the poet, and of early and rare editions of his works, to which various public libraries and several private collectors will contribute.

Moreover, the event is so unusual and noteworthy that at least two suitable memorials of it of a permanent character are planned. A small commemorative volume will be published by Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.,-the firm that has been so long and honorably connected with the publication of Longfellow's works,-consisting of a sketch of the life of the poet, by Prof. Charles Eliot Norton, together with some of the shorter poems of Longfellow, including those which have a distinctly autobiographical character. With a kindly thought for the youthful admirers of the poet, this little volume will be published not only in a large paper edition limited in number, but also in a small, inexpensive form, suitable to the youth of the schools.

lar in form and about 32 inches in diameter. It will be struck from a design. by the distinguished artist, Mr. Bela L. Pratt, who designed the similar medal struck in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Charles William Eliot to the presidency of Harvard University. Only 200 copies of this medal will be issued; and from this number will be reserved a few copies to be awarded hereafter, one each year, under the supervision of the Cambridge Historical Society, as prizes offered to the pupils in the schools of Cambridge, and for essays upon the poet's life and works.

It is quite fitting that this celebration should occur in Cambridge; for no