THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

The

Presidential

Message, which has been given to Congress and the country at a time, we regret to say, of personal bereavement in the home of the head of the nation, is marked by sincerity, simplicity, and no little practical wisdom. Its chief characteristic is its quiet conservatism, and the discreet avoidance of any strained rhetoric or expression of startling and disquieting judgments. With regard to some questions-international arbitration, for instance- though the President has set his face in the right direction, he has not gone very far; while with regard to other matters — bimetallism, to wit- his desire to be courteous has evidently restrained him from speaking his own mind or from giving expression to what we conceive to be sound conviction. To the topic of national finance, as our readers will have seen, the Message addresses itself at some length, and, generally speaking, the views expressed are unimpeachable. Hardly admitting of two opinions is the expediency of protecting the gold reserves. The suggestions, however, with regard to currency reform have this drawback, that they are only to be acted upon, if at all, when the revenue is on a par with the national expenditure. When we shall see that halcyon era under the present Dingley tariff — a measure which all free-traders at least know has practically been framed for the restriction and even for the exclusion of imports we shall not hazard even a conjecture. Nor can the prospect be near, under any high protective tariff, which conserves the interests of trusts and par

ticular trades, rather than those of the community as a whole, and so reduces the revenue from imports and continues to embarrass the finances of the nation. Already, supplementary revenue legislation would seem to be a necessity of the situation, if the finances are not to become wholly demoralized, and unless retrenchment in expenditure—the President speaks only of economy-is rigorously applied. The shortage in the revenue, under the Dingley régime, amounted, for the month of November, to over eight million dollars, and that in spite of a revived and expanding trade. The deficit of the Treasury for the first five months of the fiscal year, ending November 30th, was forty-six millions! The statement of this fact surely carries its own commentary on the impolicy of a high tariff.

Passing to the other important questions dealt with in the Message, it is an unalloyed pleasure to endorse one of them. The change in Spain's policy towards Cuba, consequent upon Sagasta's accession to power, with the recall of the obnoxious Weyler, the President thinks, should have time allowed it to show what it will produce. Intervention, and even recognition of belligerency, is for the present shelved, and with it, of course, all idea of annexation. This is the course of wisdom, and its good effect is at once seen in the improved relations of this country with Spain; while if an adequate measure of self-government is granted to the Island, with guarantees for the faithful administration of its affairs in the future, Cuba cannot but be satisfied with our non-interference. saying this, we are not advocating deference to Spain, or forgetting what is due, by us as a people, to the cause of humanity and progress. The President shows us that he is himself sensitive on this latter point, for, while he properly states that "there is no desire on the part of our people to profit by the misfortunes of Spain," and urges that forcible annexation would be "criminal aggression," he at the same time declares that, should the exigency yet arise for the interference of this country, the step, if consonant with indisputable right and duty, will unhesitatingly be taken. "If," he says, "it shall hereafter appear to be a duty imposed by our obligations to ourselves, to civilization and humanity, to

In

intervene with force, it shall be without fault on our part, and only because the necessity for such action will be so clear as to command the support and approval of the civilized world."

In the matter of Hawaii, though the circumstances are by no means alike, we could have wished that the President had shown the same wise restraint and judgment in dealing advisably with this. vexed question. Nothing he has said in the Message convinces us of the policy of annexing to our already enormous continental area outlying transmarine possessions in the tropics. Nor, in our opinion, is there point in what he says, that incorporation with this Republic "is due a people which, after nearly five years of demonstrated capacity to fulfill the obligations of self-governing statehood, come of their free will to merge destinies in our body politic." With all respect to the President, we cannot convince ourselves that this is a fair way of putting the matter. "Every consideration of dignity and honor," he affirms, "requires that the treaty of annexation be ratified," and with whom the major portion (109,000) of the population of Hawaii; or the mere handful (less than 3,500) of our countrymen in the Island, who constitute or uphold the present Hawaiian government? To this small and interested, though probably influential, class, it is not easy to see what "consideration of dignity and honor" on the part of the United States calls for the extension to them of self-rule, in the face of what it must cost to admit and maintain them in the status of statehood, and in defiance of other considerations of expediency and risk, to say nothing of native protests against annexation.

We

may admit the advantages of the strategical position of the Islands and the increased prestige which our Jingoes profess we should gain as a nation in annexing Hawaii. But are they an adequate set-off to the expense of maintaining a fleet in the Pacific to protect the possession, to the worries we should bring upon ourselves by incorporating and assimilating a heterogeneous mass of alien peoples, and to the violence we should do the Constitution and polity of our nation by creating a precedent of more than doubtful benefit or expediency for annexation? In Presidential Messages it would seem expedient to throw a sop to the Jingoes.

GERMANY'S

SEIZURE OF
KIAO-CHOW

The dominant-willed Em

peror William is determined that Germany

shall add largely to her navy and become a first-class sea-power. We do not say that this accounts for the Kaiser's peremptory demand for redress and an apology from Hayti, in the Lueders matter, or for the swift descent of German gunboats on the coast of China as a means of bringing the moribund "Middle Kingdom" to book for the murder of German missionaries. Nevertheless, both events play opportunely into his hands in urging the Reichstag to vote the necessary sums to increase the strength of the German navy.

The seizure of Kiao

Chow, with its fort and magnificent harbor, and about 400 square miles of territory adjacent to it, must have opened wide the almond-shaped eyes of Chinese officials, since there was no waste of words preliminary to the seizure, or any time given the Chinese Government to play their halting diplomatic game, through exalted mandarins encumbered with the red tape of Peking. In these days of diplomatic flabbiness and shillyshally temporizings, it is refreshing to see one nation, that has right on its side, take action against another that has murdered its subjects, and defied or trifled with its power. It must be a more effective lesson when the action has been taken with courage and prompt decisiveness. Austria, though she is at present politically in a weltering sea of race-upheaval, presented, the other day, another example of administrative decision, in sending two of her warships to the Bosphorus, with a threat of instant bombardment unless a heavy fine and apology were at once paid by Turkey, in atonement for injury to her subjects and insult to herself. These several decisive actions were obviously needed as a warning to nations usually indifferent to the sanctity of human life, and who presume even on their weakness and isolation to do things not tolerated in either the social or the international code.

That Germany has an ulterior object in carving out for herself in China a big slice of territory, with the advantages of strategic position and the practical command of the Yellow Sea, is manifestly her own business. It is doubtful, however, if she would have taken the bold step without an understanding with Russia,

which Power is likely, in the coming scramble for slices of the crumbling Chinese Empire, to annex Manchuria, and so possess a permanent right of way for the transcontinental railroad from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. Japan, France, and even Great Britain, will doubtless look with envious eyes on the action of the Kaiser, particularly if German occupation of the port and province of Shangtung is to be other than temporary. The descent upon Kiao-Chow, whatever German designs may be, can only precipitate-we fear not avert-international ferment in Chinese waters. The KaisThe Kaiser's ambition had better therefore be 'wary, for when the prey is ready to be fallen upon, there will be many wolves to pounce upon Chinese fleece. Nor can he be sure, in committing himself to even incipient national aggression, that some, at least, of the troubles he may encounter will not arise in the Fatherland itself, among those who mistrust the advantages, in explosive times like these, of further extensions of the German navy.

An increase of the German fleet in Chinese waters, under command of Prince Henry of Prussia, the Kaiser's brother, gives an air of gravity to the German descent upon China, coupled, as it has been, with a notification of the action taken to the various governments. This would look like permanent occupation, especially when we consider the extension of German trade in the far East, which has recently been increasing by leaps and bounds. The fleet, therefore, would seem a necessity of the commercial as well as imperial needs of the nation; but, whether this be so or not, the matter is one for Germany alone to say.

breaks in the Vienna legislature were too hideous to be silently borne by any self-respecting nation, and the Emperor, we knew, had the stuff in him, when kingly forbearance ceased to be a virtue, to fall back on an autocratic act in thrusting the rowdy legislators into the street and summarily closing the Chamber. The coup d'état that dissolved the legislature will no doubt have its deterrent effect throughout the Empire, aided by awing demonstrations of the troops, which are known to be loyal to the head of the monarchy. In Prague, the Bohemian capital, they had the other day to be called into requisition to quell a murderous outbreak of the Czechs against the Germans, between whom there is a racial cleavage and commercial rivalry of the bitterest kind, not likely to be soon bridged over now that the Czech language has officially been given coördinate rank with German in the Bohemian local legislature.

Though the acute stage in the conflict between Teuton and Slav has for the time being passed, no one can be assured that the Empire may not yet be shaken to its foundations. Only personal esteem and affection for the old Emperor, to whom all sections of the country are loyal, saves the State from overthrow; and should anything happen to shorten his already far advanced years, Austria would be confronted with a crisis of the gravest character. Even now, unless sectional contention and race-hatred cool down, revolution may overtake the dual Empire and the whole fabric will disappear in a seething and widespread tumult. From the complex character of the people and their inveterate jealousy of each other, nothing hopeful can be predicted in the way of maintaining the slight bond that at present unites them; and were that severed, and the factions to separate into three principalities, disintegration of all would probably ensue, with a sequel in each case fatal to independent existence.

Meanwhile, as the result of the scandalous scenes in the Reichsrath and the insurrectionary state of the Empire, the Badeni ministry has been replaced by a government presided over by the German Baron von Gautsch. How the Ausgleich, or working arrangement with Hungary, which is about to expire, is to be renewed, constitutionally, without Parliamentary

ratification, is a nice political question, though the knot may autocratically be cut by Imperial decree. Whether this

would be valid is a matter for the constitution-mongers to decide. A more serious question is, what is to be the issue of the race rivalries in the Empire, and particularly of the struggle for dominance between the German and the Czech? The matter is complicated in this battlefield of nationalities by the recent estrangement of the Magyars from their natural allies the Germans, neither of whom is willing to brook the numerical predominance of the Slavs, and rather than be coerced by them, might exchange Habsburg rule for Hohenzollern. The loyalty as well as the caste of the army may, however, help Francis Joseph when every other resource fails.

called in the frontier war, owing to the difficulty of conducting a winter campaign in the high elevations of the hill country. The British punitive expedition, though it has inflicted terrible punishment upon the clansmen, and forced some of the tribes to yield submission and pay a good round indemnity, has itself suffered grievous losses, besides drawing heavily on the Indian exchequer, already much depleted by large expenditures on account of the famine. Recent reports from the Indian frontier tell of dire happenings to the disaffected tribes -happenings that harrow humane feeling and bring keenly home to the mind the desolating effects and tragic horrors of war.

Hundreds of villages have been given to the flames and the clansmen and their families rendered homeless for the coming winter, while in many of the mountain hamlets the grain and other stores for the sustenance of man and beast have been destroyed. Owing to the nature of the country, the tribes could rarely be got at in the open, and they have had, almost invariably, the advantage of commanding positions, from which they could be dislodged only by shelling the heights. Often this however failed, when the cliffs would have to be stormed, at fearful disadvantage to the dislodging force, and with calamitous loss of life. In this work of dislodgment, the

native Indian regulars, accustomed as they have often been to military operations in the Afghan defiles and fastnesses, were, next to the mountain batteries, the main reliance; though they were always pluckily supported by the Queen's home troops and bravely led by Anglo-Indian officers. In these height-attacking operations, the Sikhs and Gurkhas, the flower of Britain's East Indian army, have behaved splendidly through all the trying campaign; while many of the European regiments-notably the Derbyshire, Northampton, and Dorsetshire battalions, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, and the Gordon Highlanders - have nobly distinguished themselves. Some of the operations were magnificent, especially the attack upon the Dargai Ridge, the defence of Gulistan and Saragarhi, the forcing of the Sempagha and the Arhanga passes, and the gallant bayonet charges against the fierce tribesmen in Tirah.

The British loss in these operations has been very heavy, especially in the storming of the heights at Dargai, in which the Gordon Highlanders, when the Sikhs and Gurkhas and parts of two English regiments had failed to cross the zone of fire, won fame by the valor and stubbornness of their charge. It was in

When

this affair that the incident occurred, the fame of which has already run round the world and shed glory upon Findlater, the piper of the 75th Foot, or first battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. General Lockhart had directed the colonel of the latter to take the contested position on the Dargai Ridge at all costs, the men received the mandate with a cheer, though thrice the attempt had failed, in consequence of the enemy's hotly sustained fire. In obedience to the command, "the Gordons" at once essayed to take the position, Findlater, the piper, who blew his loudest and best, animating his comrades by the martial music of the Scottish pipes. In crossing the deadly strip of ground, commanded at every point by the Afridi tribesmen, Findlater, it appears, was laid low, shot through both legs. The hero neverthe less managed, it is related, to prop himself up against a boulder and continued with unabated energy to play "The Cock o' the North," and so contributed to the success of the daring feat. The crest of the hill was finally reached by the Highlanders and triumphantly taken

at the point of the bayonet. The piper had the honor to be mentioned in the commanding officer's despatches, and has, we learn, been recommended for the Victoria Cross.

The incident, of which the Gordon Highlanders may well be proud, adds to the traditional triumphs of the regiment, which has seen service in almost all the great campaigns of England, and bears on its colors the legends: Corunna, Waterloo, Delhi, Kandahar, and Tel-el Kebir! But while honors have fallen thick on not a few regiments, and on many heroes in the present expedition, the cost in blood and treasure to England and the Indian administration has been lamentable. The campaign, as we have said, has been suspended for the winter and the troops are recalled to Peshawur. Though great things have been accomplished, there is much and serious work yet to be done, and England may well ponder the question whether it is politic to renew the war with the tribes, or to patch up peace with them, and abandon her" forward policy" on the Northern confines of her Indian Empire.

AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF PARKMAN'S

HISTORIES

A year ago we made the announcement in the pages of this magazine of a projected definitive edition, with illustrations, of the brilliant series of historical narratives from the pen of the late Francis Parkman. The first two volumes of the series, to be known as "the Champlain edition," with an introductory essay by Prof. John Fiske, of Cambridge, Mass., have just reached us from the author's publishers (Little, Brown & Co., of Boston). No American historian, it need hardly be said, is more worthy of the honor of an edition de luxe, if we regard both the transcendent interest of the historical theme with which he deals, and the accuracy, breadth of treatment, and fascination of the narratives.

We

say

historical theme, and not themes, for the author's dozen or more volumes are but mosaics in a magnificent frieze, graphically presenting the story of the long struggle between France and England for mastery in North America, with a connected account of the earlier annals in Acadia and New France, which tell of the coming of the "Pioneers of France

in the New World," their discoveries and other dramatic episodes in the history of the French colony, and of the associate work and tragic careers of the Jesuit missionaries.

The author's industry, for well-nigh fifty years, in preparing himself for his great work, we know, was untiring, and untiring also was his search for material in French archives on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as among the collections gathered in the State and Historical Society libraries of the New England Colonies, and in the ecclesiastical depositories at Paris, Montreal, and Quebec.

Immense was the labor in unearthing and valuing the material in these various sources, and phenomenal Mr. Parkman's power of digesting and arranging it for presentation in his picturesque pages. In the admirable introduction to the present volumes, Prof. Fiske shows us at what sacrifice, yet with great enthusiastic purpose, the author ventured to make his intimate acquaintance with and minute study of Indian life, to fit himself for writing those chapters, always of entrancing interest, in the mighty drama of the French and Indian War, which form the dark, yet often lurid, background of the story. Nor does Prof. Fiske, in his portrait-study of the author, omit to note Mr. Parkman's other qualifications for his great task-the sympathetic interest in and vast knowledge of his subject, the wealth of practical philosophy with which he enriches it, and the high literary and artistic qualities by which he fascinates as well as instructs the reader.

The volumes of the present edition to hand are those on

"The Pioneers of France in the New World," which originally appeared in 1865. These were followed, in 1867, by "The Jesuits in North America," and in 1869 by “La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West." "The Old Régime in Canada" was published in 1874.

"Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV.," in 1877, and, leaping over, for the time being, the intervening history embraced in the two volumes entitled "A Half-Century of Conflict" (1892), there appeared "Montcalm and Wolfe" (2 vols., 1884), which, with "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," and "The Oregon Trail," conclude the series.

The form and dress of this new edition of Parkman, and the added interest given by the excellent portraits and illustrations, should commend it to all booklovers, no less than to students of history and the general reader.