the private shipyards of the kingdom than in Government dockyards, over whose management and waste the nation has no check or control whatever. To do it justice, Parliament is conscious that something is wrong here, and appoints Committee after Committee and Commission after Commission to try and suggest reforms. One of these Service Commissions was the one lately presided over by the present Home Secretary, Sir Matthew White Ridley. We recommend anyone who is dissatisfied with the tone adopted in this Review towards the spending departments, to study the First Report' of that Commission, issued in 1887. It deals with the War Office and the Admiralty, and, moderate as its language is, it discloses a state of things there foul enough to make a true patriot's heart ache. In neither office is there any central authority; in both, every man does what he pleases in his own department. Checks upon checks have been devised and found useless, simply because in a covenanted public service there can be neither authority nor proper discipline. The loafer, the rogue, and the fool have all equal vested rights with their overseers, or with the honest men of capacity. Sub-departments are multiplied, and swarm with clerks who do nothing. Over the ordnance factories and the dockyards the parliamentary figureheads have as little effective control as the obscurest of our readers. They may suggest and counsel, and order even-the permanent officials pay no heed, and do as they please. Where these permanent officials have the uncontrolled spending of millions, it is a certainty that they will often steal freely, but all they could pocket is a mere flea-bite to what they continually waste. No outlay is properly checked. The Treasury, which is the most ably managed and efficient department we have, is as powerless as Parliament to put down abuses. Its Comptroller or Auditor-General may call for vouchers, condemn misappropriations of votes, censure this and that till he is weary, and reap neither thanks nor amendment. Because of 'co-ordinate autho rity,' the Accountant-General' at the War Office has no power whatever to overhaul or even usefully check the Surveyor

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General's votes, and the whole of the store accounts are exempt from his examination. These votes involve an expenditure of £8,177,000.' Wherever his inspection might become really efficient, this functionary is shoved aside, dodged, or ignored; and as the higher officials act, so do the lower, until the honest man who wants to do his duty might as well go cultivate his garden.

"Does the reader begin to comprehend why we speak bitterly now and then about our monstrous naval and military expenditure, or why we regard the fashionable Imperialist' jingoism of the day as little better than evidence of the decadence of England as a genuinely Great Power? We have not a doubt that the permanent spending departments cultivate this Imperialist falsetto cant for their own profit. It makes the voting of money by Parliament more easy, and puts larger douceurs and commissions into their pockets."

FOREIGN LABOUR COMPETITION.

At Newcastle recently, the Right Hon. John Morley said :"I want to view all these labour questions from the largest nationalist point of view, and it is this-that, while the State should do all that it prudently can to protect the health and life not only of women and children, but of the whole assembly of workers, it is absurd, it is perilous, to thrust the action of Parliament, as I have said before, like the steam ram, into the delicate machinery of commercial undertakings. I often wonder how we can sleep at nights when we think of the cruel horrors of the human life and animal life that surround us. But you cannot mend all that, you cannot remedy it, merely by sympathy and by noble aspiration. You must know where you are going; you must look all round; you must try and gauge a measure, and every effect of what is proposed.

"There is one thing of which I am perfectly certain. Every statesman who is capable of taking a comprehensive view of the condition of this country feels that the most urgent question before him is a question of holding our own in the markets of the world. I am surrounded by people who have thought of these. things, and I do not believe that one of them will contradict me when I say that, for a statesman, there is no question that ought to come more closely and anxiously into his mind. That is the view that I should like to see more current in the discussions of the working classes of this country.

"You must remember that you are going to have, very shortly, the competition of the races in the Eastern World, who are accustoming themselves to use steam power, You are to have the competition, with increasing severity, of European communities. I do not say for one instant that that is to be any reason why English working men should not strive to have their conditions ameliorated, should not strive to get the best wages they can, should not strive to get the shortest hours they can; but I say that in a condition of things so serious, so critical, it is worth their while to reflect very carefully whether Acts of Parliamentrude, rough instruments like Acts of Parliament are the things which they may look to to better their condition, with such dangers around them."

A GENERAL ON BOYS' BRIGADES.

At Cincinnati, U.S.A., lately, General R. L. Kimberley, of that city, in an address to a public meeting, said, in reference to these Brigades:-"The churches are taking a prominent part in this revival of the military spirit. The spectacle is saddening and disheartening. If any one smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other,' said the Great Teacher. Yet, to-day in the churches of His disciples the boys are playing soldiers, with strident fifes and noisy drums and bayonetted guns. At the appointed hour for rendezvous, you may see the striplings crowding into the sacred houses, and carrying the implements of war to practise in their use. One not posted night think they are preparing to open stubborn hearts with bayonets that the truth may enter, or imagine that Mohammed's coffin had dropped the prophet to earth again to begin anew his proselytising with fire and scimetar. We cannot believe that God so loved the world that He sent a new race of prophets to teach children the art of butchering their fellows. I am glad to say, however, that the military craze is dying out in the churches. May God speed the day of its extinction, and bring the churches back to the old faith."

ENGLAND'S MESSAGE TO AMERICA.

Brothers, we are one with you-
Trust us that our hearts are true!
You, yourselves, were Britons too,
Ere ye left our land!
Not to threaten, not to fight,
Not with hostile show of might,
E'en to vindicate our right,

Reach we forth the hand!

Though the winds and waters play
"Twixt our countries night and day,
Toss the billows as they may,

Kinship yet we claim :
One with you in race and creed,
One to cheer the hour of need,
You we even bid, "God speed!”
In our Master's name.
Wondrous has your progress been,
Harvests richly garnered in,
Glorious victories may ye win

As the ages roll!

Prospering 'neath the reign of peace, May your strength of soul increase, Never may our friendship cease,

Cherish heart and soul !

MEETINGS TO PROMOTE PEACE WITH AMERICA. Last month, a meeting of those interested in the establishment of a permanent Court of Arbitration for the settlement of disputes between England and the United States was held at Sion College, London. Sir John Lubbock, M.P., presided, and he was supported by Mr. Walter Hazell, M.P., Canon Wilberforce, the Rev. Oswald Dykes, Mr. W. T. Stead, Dr. W. E. Darby, Rev. Wm. Mottram, and others. The CHAIRMAN expressed his sympathy with the objects of the movement, and called upon Mr. W. T. Stead to explain the object of the meeting. The latter said the present meeting was the outcome of a preliminary one which had been held during the previous week, and at which it was determined to take steps to bring into existence another Society for the promotion of the establishment of a permanent Court of Arbitration to deal with all disputes which might arise between this country and the United States.

Mr. WALTER HAZELL, M.P., moved and CANON WILBERFORCE seconded the following resolutions :--"That the occurrence of the present unfortunate dispute between Britain and the United States is a trumpet-call to the English-speaking nations on both sides of the Atlantic summoning them (1) to devise some methods by which these disputes, in the future, should be peacefully adjusted by means of a permanent Court of Arbitration, and to provide some simple but comprehensive organisation by which the peace and justice-loving people of the two countries could cooperate in promoting friendliness, in abating animosity, and in securing joint efforts for common objects; (2) that a declaration be drafted on the following lines-We, the undersigned, desire to express our deep conviction that, whatever may be the differences between the Governments in the present or the future, all Englishspeaking peoples, united by race, language, and religion should regard war as the one absolutely intolerable mode of settling domestic differences between them. We would respect

fully suggest to our Government that the present is a fit occasion for giving effect to the resolution of the House of Commons in favour of Arbitration; (3) that the following persons be nominated as a committee (with power to add to their number) for the purpose of giving effect to the foregoing-the Bishop of Durham, Canon Wilberforce, Cardinal Vaughan, Dean Farrar, the Rev. Hugh Price-Hughes, Dr. W. E. Darby, Mr. J. R. Green, Dr. Clifford, Dr. Bowman Stephenson, Dr. Matthews, the Rev. Oswald Dykes, Dr. Adler, Lady Henry Somerset, Mr. W. R. Cremer, Mr. W. T. Stead, Dr. John Brown, and others."

The next day, a meeting, with a similar object, was held at the Memorial Hall, and addressed by Sir John Lubbock, Mr. W. R. Cremer, Señor Marcoartu, and others.

THE NEW YORK "NATION" AGAINST JINGOISM. That influential American journal, the New York Nation, has the following excellent remarks:-"America is the one happy country in the world whose workable resources far surpass its disposable capital. We have not a quarter enough capital of our own to develop them. We are, therefore, compelled, as a condition of material progress, to get all we can from Europe. In sending her millions of emigrants here, she has also to send the money to employ them. Any one, therefore, who arrests this flow of European capital, or who frightens it away, is as much an enemy of the country as the invader who should block our railroads, trample down our wheat fields, and close our mines. Let him also be anathema.

"There is a class of Jingoes among us who have been, and are to day, the curse of the Old World and a blot on our civilisation, who maintain that the poor man ought to be glad to be out of work and see his children starving, if his wages can be used in slaughtering the natives of some other country in defence of something which a small knot of gentlemen at the national capital choose to consider the national honour.' To hear much of the current talk which precedes a war, one would imagine that 'national honour' was something that we could handle, taste, or cut in slices, whereas, in nine cases out of ten, it is nothing but a notion of the Bill Chandlers or Cabot Lodges, to which no one would listen for a moment if it related to his private affairs. Most wars originate in some. concoction of a not very respectable brain. Hundreds of thousands perish, that some stupid or wicked politician may be glorified.'

THE SECRETARY'S PEACE SUNDAY WORK.

BLACKBURN.

December 22nd. In the morning, Dr. Darby preached on Peace at the Congregational Church, Blackburn, to a large congregation; and in the afternoon he addressed nearly a thousand men at the P.S.A. meeting in the same place.

In connection with this visit to Blackburn, the Rev. F. Hibbert, Pastor of the Church, also writes :-I have been preaching to-night (December 29th) in advocacy of the principles of Peace. I advertised my subject: "Armenia, America, Ashantiand the Prince of Peace." We had a capital congregation, and the service went well. I tried to say a word of warning against the war spirit; and expressed my regret that Nonconformists should have been so eager in clamouring for war.

BIRMINGHAM.-On Peace Sunday preached a special sermon at the Mission Hall, Newhall Street, on Peace and Goodwill between England and America, and then moved a resolution, which was seconded and supported by Messrs. Green, Kirk, and Glover, and adopted by the rising up of the congregation. It was reported in the Post and Gazette next day. A large number of special sermons were preached in town and district, and the Argus had a leader on the power of the Pulpit for Peace.-On the afternoon of the 8th a special Peace prayer meeting was convened by the Peace Society and the Free Church Council. It was held at one o'clock at the Assembly Room of the Temperance Institute. There was a large attendance, and deep feeling was manifested. The Rev. W. Hackney presided. About twelve ministers and others prayed. The lecturer gave a short address on the former troubles in the Transvaal in 1881, and the peaceful settlement before General Roberts and his troops reached the Cape.

LADYWOOD CHAPEL.-On the 5th of January addressed a large P.S.A. meeting on the "Rumours of War." Mr. Proverbs pre sided. The Rev. Mr. Doudney spoke ably.

ASHTON.-On the 6th Guildford Street Chapel was crowded. Mr. Arthur Davis presided. Messrs. Cullis, Nicklin, and Ellis spoke. WEST BROMWICH.-The same evening a large audience. Many took part by short remarks and prayers for Peace. The Rev. A. Oakley ably presided.

LIVERPOOL PEACE SOCIETY LECTURES.

December 29th.-A lecture on "The Demands of Militarism" was delivered by Mr. William Lewis at the Pleasant Saturday Evening meeting, held in the Parochial Rooms, Widnes. A large gathering was presided over by Rev. W. S. Jones.

January 20th. Mr. Richard Eastley read an interesting paper on "The Principles of Peace and Arbitration in relation to the present Crisis" to the members of the Hartington Road Literary Society.

USE OF THE PEACE SOCIETY'S LANTERN SLIDES. In connection with Peace Sunday, lantern slides were applied for by Rev. J. Horne, of Cullompton, and Rev. J. W. Normandale, of Hay (Brecon). The latter writes: "I lectured on What is War' at Moity, on Monday, January 13th, Mr. Joseph Price, chairman, to a chapel three-fourths filled; at Hay, on the same subject, on Tuesday, January 14th, Mr. Evans in the chair, when the chapel was nearly full; and at Llanwhimp last night."

The slides continue to be well used in Glasgow and its neighbourhood, also Kilmarnock, Bessbrook, &c.

:

Perhaps one of the most hopeful signs of the probability of an ultimately peaceful settlement of the Venezuela difficulty is furnished by the peculiarly euphemistic terms in which allusion was made to that dispute, in one of the paragraphs of the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament, which was as follows:"The Government of the United States have expressed a wish to co-operate in terminating differences which have existed for many years between my Government and the Republic of Venezuela, upon the boundary between that country and my Colony of British Guiana. I have expressed my sympathy with the desire to come to an equitable arrangement, and trust that further negotiation will lead to a satisfactory settlement."

ALL FOR ARBITRATION.

The demand for the settlement of the Venezuela dispute by arbitration, or peaceful negotiation, is now so general on both sides of the Atlantic that it may be almost said that there is "a Peace boom." This is very gratifying, and a matter, also, for hearty thanksgiving to the Highest.

BRITISH CHOICE OF U.S.A. GOVERNMENT FOR
MEDIATOR.

A telegram from Washington states that England has accepted the mediation of the United States to settle the Uruan incident as a preliminary to restoring the relations between England and Venezuela. A settlement of the boundary dispute is expected to follow, by a reference to some International Tribunal, of any discrepancies which may appear between the English case, as presented to Parliament, and the findings of the United States Commission.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND ON ARBITRATION.

A great meeting in favour of Peace and Arbitration was held in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, on February 22nd. The following important letter from the President of the United States was read amid much applause :

"Executive Mansion, Washington, February 21st, 1896.

"My dear Sir,-I shall be unable to attend the Conference to be held to-morrow in the interest of

[PRICE 1d.

International Arbitration, at the City of Philadelphia. It should be entirely unnecessary for me to assure those who advocate this cause, of my hearty sympathy with any movement that tends to the establishment of peaceful agencies for the adjustment of international disputes. The subject should be discussed with a clear perception of all the features belonging to it, and in a spirit of patriotism, as well as love for mankind. Hoping the Conference you contemplate may result in stimulating a sentiment in favour of just and fair arbitration among nations,

"I am yours very truly,
"GROVER CLEVELAND.

"Herbert Welsh, Esq., Secretary."

BISHOP DOANE ON WAR FOLLY.

The American Bishop Doane, in the North American Review for February, 1896, writes :-" Is there a PanAmerican hatred of England? I do not believe it. The spirit of 1896 is not the spirit of 1776. Some Irish people who have brought over their old grudges, and a few natives who have been called "pinchbeck patriots," mistake Pat-riot-ism for patriotism, and when they use the fine phrase, "I am an American," mean "I am an anti-Anglican." But the number is comparatively small. Just now, like the Ephesians who cried out "with one voice about the space of two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians!' the greater part not knowing wherefore, our people are crying out' Great is the Monroe Doctrine.' A doctrine, not a principle, not a law; an opinion of a man, borrowed from England! Banquo's ghost is a substantial personality beside it.'"

A NEW YORK MEETING.

Twenty-seven prominent citizens of New York met on February 18th, under the presidency of Mr. Hewitt, Ex-Mayor, to organise a movement in favour of International Arbitration. A resolution was adopted by which those present decided to co-operate with committees formed in other cities to secure action on the part of the Government, for ensuring permanent provision for Arbitration in international differences.

THE SION COLLEGE MEETING.

The meeting at Sion College, reported last month in the Herald, has already resulted in some good work. The Committee then formed, on which the Peace

Society is represented by its Secretary, Dr. Darby, have issued an Address and forms of Petition, in favour of settling the Venezuela dispute by peaceful arbitration. The petitions have been numerously signed, and much interest has been awakened by the Address, on both sides of the Atlantic. In another column we have further referred to the action taken in the United States.

A HOPED-FOR RESULT OF PRESENT DIFFICULTIES.

In the House of Commons, last month, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour concluded a very conciliatory speech on the Venezuela question, by saying that for his own part, he should rejoice if, out of all this evil, there should spring good fruit, and if some general system of Arbitration should be adopted for dealing with disputes which must from time to time arise between two great and kindred nations.

THE BOSTON "PEACE ADVOCATE."

This journal remarks :-" There is no doubt, as the Hon. Carl Schurz said in his speech before the New York Chamber of Commerce, that the critical moment in the controversy between the United States and Great Britain over the Venezuela boundary question will come when the Commission appointed by the President, under authority of Congress, to determine this boundary, shall have made its report."

THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS IN AMERICA. The Indiana branch of the American Friends, numbering nearly 20,000 members, have petitioned President Cleveland in favour of continued peace with Great Britain. Similar memorials have emanated from the Pennsylvania and Maryland branches of the same body.

This useful Society continues its activity, under the guidance of its energetic President, Mr. Alfred H. Love. In the current issue of its journal, it makes the suggestion that the British Government might with advantage avail itself of the services of the Hon. Conrad Stollmeyer (of the Irois Estate, Trinidad, a member of the Legislative body of that island), as a negotiator with the Venezuelan Government, on behalf of a peaceable settlement of the existing dispute with England. Mr. Stollmeyer has long been on friendly terms with the authorities at Caraccas, by whom he has been "decorated;" and he is also a sincere friend of England. His local knowledge of both countries certainly qualifies him for useful service in the direction intimated. He has long been pleasantly known at the London offices of the English Peace Society.

IRELAND AND THE PEACE SOCIETY.

During the past month, Dr. Darby, the Secretary of the Peace Society, has made an extensive visit to Ireland, and has held meetings in the three Provinces of Ulster, Leinster and Munster. He has everywhere found a pleasant reception, and has had welcome opportunities of advocating the principles and objects of the Society.

GERMAN CONSULS COMPARED WITH ENGLISH. At the recent annual meeting of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Mundella, M.P., said :—

"While our Consuls were gentlemen of great urbanity and courtesy, he did not think that the British consular system itself was calculated to serve the trade of the country to the extent expected. Take Italy. The Germans spent £800 a year for a Consul in Milan, which was the centre of Italian industry, and they put their chief Consul in that city and paid him well. We had a Vice Consul there, whose whole emoluments were £50, and he had to provide his own stationery. We put our principal Consul at Florence, where there was no trade. It was true that Florence was the centre of fashion, and, as such, was very convenient to visitors who required assistance, but in the matter of trade it was practically of no importance to us. Our Consuls business men, and, as far as possible, they should be should be appointed because of their qualification as Englishmen, and they ought to be stationed at the headquarters of commerce. To put a Consul at Florence was one of the greatest absurdities in the world, and he intended to keep the question before the headquarters until a change was made. The Germans were practically doing all the trade of Italy, chiefly because of the lack of Englishmen. For one Englishman who went to trade with Italy, there were a hundred Germans. Every German who went to Italy spoke the Italian language, quoted prices in the Italian currency, and did not go for any commission house. That was why the Germans did the trade with Italy, and not because their goods were better-in fact, he greatly doubted whether their goods were cheaper. Do not let us disguise the fact that our foreign competition must and would steadily increase. The two great factors that had assisted foreign competition in the past had been lower wages and higher education, especially technical education, on the part of our rivals. But those wages were gradually getting higher, and approximately nearer to those paid in this country. But education, and especially the application of science to industry, had been the great factor which had placed the foreigners very largely in advance of us in certain branches of our industries."

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL.

The London Daily Chronicle remarks:-We are glad to observe, at last, in the London Liberal Press, something like an agreement on certain aspects of the South African question. The journals which have hitherto been most favourable to the policy of Mr. Rhodes and the Chartered Company admit that the following points must be conceded:-1. A full inquiry into the connection between the Chartered Company, the raid, and the revolutionary movement at Johannesburg, and into the financial origin and history of the Company. 2. A British guarantee to President Kruger that any reforms granted to the Outlanders shall not be used as a cover for upsetting his government, or establishing an Outlanders' Republic at Johannesburg. 3. Some compensation to him for what has occurred. 4. A policy of suasion from Downing Street, rather than one of coercion.

MORE ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE OF JUVENILE

400, and gave a display of drill and gymnastics under their instructors. Most of them were in semi-military costume, with leather waist-belt, shoulder-belt, and pouch, and they carried miniature rifles. The Bishop of Marlborough presided over the evening's proceedings. In an interval the Bishop of Stepney spoke a few words to the lads, pointing out that as soldiers in a sense they were called upon to fight various evil things that would beset them in their walk through life. The Bishop did not fail to remind them that it was their duty to fight for the Church of which they were members. There are 2,000 of these lads attached to various churches in London.

MR. MORLEY, M.P., ON THE TAX OF ARMAMENTS.

The Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., speaking last month at Montrose, said :-"We were now living in days when there was a great and universal call to arms. He should like to point out a very curious fact under that head. Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland had a population of 144 millions, and of the military age these countries had about 28 millions; that was to say, one fifth of the total population. The total force under arms in these European countries was one million and three-quarters, roughly speaking, 1,720,000 accurately. That was to say, one man in 17 was wasting in camps the substance, the skill, the industry which, under a happier state of things, he would be using to adding to the wealth of the world. That was a fact of which Sir Robert Peel and Joseph Hume would have felt the full significance."

A LADY ARBITRATOR.

The Vienna New Free Press announces that the Queen Regent of Spain has been unanimously chosen by the South American Governments of Ecuador, Columbia, and Peru, to act as Arbitrator for the determining of a disputed portion of their respective boundaries. This is believed to be the first instance of the kind.

PROFESSOR WESTLAKE.

Professor Westlake, in a letter published by the Times, argues that "the United States, which are the classical land of International Arbitration, have themselves, by the case of the Geneva Arbitration, indicated its limits. They declined to go into that arbitration unless three rules, which made its result a foregone conclusion, were first admitted; and this proves that, in their own belief, no nation is bound to incur the risk of being defeated in an arbitration on grounds which it deems preposterous. England, in effect, does the same thing now, with regard to Venezuela, as the United States did in the Alabama case, and makes it a condition that certain rules of law relating to title to territory be laid down beforehand-that is to say, she excludes the extreme part of the claim of Venezuela from arbitration."

MR. LABOUCHERE ON ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND Egypt. Mr. Labouchere, M.P., in an interview published by the Gaulois, think the Siamese Convention is excellent. After expressing his personal views in favour of the evacuation of Egypt, Mr. Labouchere goes on to say he thinks that France should insist on the solution of the Egyptian question which would undoubtedly be beneficial to closer Anglo-French relations. He thinks

Lord Salisbury is more inclined towards evacuation than the Rosebery Cabinet. Lord Cromer, he says, favours evacuation, and is of opinon that at the evacuation the Powers should agree to neutralise Egypt.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND AS ARBITRATOR.

It is announced from Rio Janeiro that the Brazilian Government has agreed to submit the pending claims of Italian subjects to the arbitration of President Cleveland.

LORD WOLSELEY ON WAR.

"I should be the last man in the world ever to wish to see our army employed in any serious war," said the Commander-in-Chief, at a meeting of the Ceylon Association. He added: "I hope war may not come in my time. I don't believe there is any body of men in the world who have such a real horror of war as those who have some experience of it."

REV. J. HUDSON TAYLOR'S LETTER TO MISSIONARIES. IN CHINA.

The Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, the veteran founder and leader of the "China Indian Mission," communicates the following interesting letter of advice to Missionaries and others in China, through the columns of the Shanghai Chinese Recorder :—

APPEALS FOR REDRESS, ETC.

To the Editor of The Chinese Recorder.

Dear Sir,-A valued and experienced Missionary correspondent, writing to me on the subject of appeals to Consuls, and Ministers for redress, in cases of violence, in connection with the prosecution of our mission work, says: "Knowing the attitude of yourself and your mission, I have wondered if you would not prepare an article on the subject. It is a serious question, in my mind, whether our work suffers or gains most, by asking the interferenco of our Governments in such cases as Ch'en-tu and Ku-cheng. It is true that pecuniary compensation may be obtained and the missionaries reinstated in their work; but what of the effect of all this on the work, not only in that region, but in all other places which shall hear of it? Shall we have gained, in the long run? And how does God regard it all ?,"

I understand that the questions are not, Are good government and governmental protection in themselves a help to us? but, how far are we wise in claiming redress? and whether, in so doing, we are acting in accordance with God's revealed will? Let us then first consider the lower question of gain or loss. Are such appeals even good policy?

The result of many years' careful observation has brought me to the conclusion that they are not. Often, the result of the appeal is not gained, or is so imperfectly gained, that one comes to the conclusion that one would have been better off had the appeal not been made. But where the object is fully gained, what, as my correspondent asks, is the effect of it? Is it not that the missionary, if more dreaded, is also more disliked and less likely to succeed in winning souls, and that his converts also are more hated?

In a recent sketch of Li Hung-chang, written by a former American Minister to China, which appeared in the May number of The Review of Reviews, the Minister says: "The theory of any body of men and women coming over the seas to a strange land and enduring hardships for the good of the people was something that no Chinese intellect could comprehend, not even the intellect of Li Hung-chang. There must be some ulterior purpose. And he would insist upon associating the Gospel with the sword, and see in the devoted persons who stood on the highways and preached Christ, the men who had battered down the Ta-ku forts and forced opium on China." Must not the effect of appeals necessarily strengthen the belief of the literati that missions are a political agency designed, together with opium, to facilitate the absorption of China by foreign Powers? And if in their efforts