EVENTS OF THE MONTH. Nov. 1. The Earl of Minto unveils a statue of the Queen at Montreal. The result of the elections for the Legislative Assembly of Victoria (Australia) is a defeat for the Ministry. The following changes in the Cabinet are approved by the Queen: Lord Salisbury to be Prime Minister and Privy Seal; Mr. J. T. Ritchie, Home Secretary: Lord Lansdowne, Foreign Minister; Hon. St. John Brodrick, Secretary of War; Lord Selborne, First Lord of the Admiralty. 2. The Chinese Minister at Washington delivers an address on the situation in China to an enormous audience in the Carnegie Institute at Pittsburg. Lord Beauchamp holds a farewell levée at 3. A Carlist rising takes place in Spain. The Belgian packet from Ostend communicates by wireless telegraphy throughout the voyage with the station at La Paune. 4. M. Loubet unveils a statue of President Carnot at Lyons. 6. Polling for the President of the United States takes place. Mr. McKinley is re-elected by a majority of 137 in the electoral college as against 95 four years ago. The French Chambers reassemble. 7. The Canadian Election takes place, resulting in a large Government majority, Sir Charles Tupper being defeated. 8. The French Chamber debates on the general policy of the Government; a vote of confidence in the Cabinet is finally carried by 32) votes to 222; a motion regretting the irregular surrender of Sipido to Belgium is carried by 306 votes to 296. 9. The General Election in Newfoundland ends, The Spanish Prime Minister announces that a The German Colonial Council begins its Mr. Bryan issues a statement of his position and views. Sir Redvers Buller arrives at Southampton. 10. Salson, who attempted the life of the Shah on August 2nd, is tried in Paris, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Sir Charles Tupper announces that he is about to retire from public life. 11. Don Carlos publishes a letter in Spain disapproving of the present Carlist movement. Lord Clarendon, Lord Selborne, Mr. Gerald Balfour, and Mr. Powell-Williams are made Privy Councillors. 12. The Tsar, it is reported, is suffering from a severe attack of typhoid fever. The French Exhibition has 520,000 paying visitors. Three cannon shots at night announce the close of the Exhibition. The Greek Chamber opens. 13. The German Colonial Estimates are laid before the Federal Council. The French Chamber meets; there is a general discussion on the Budget; the afternoon sitting is devoted to the Drink Duties Bill. 14 The Reichstag is opened at Berlin by the German Emperor. 15. A serious railway accident takes place in France near Bayonne. Seventeen passengers killed (among them Señor Canevaro, Peruvian Minister in Paris) and twenty are injured. The German Reichstag meets to elect its 19. The Greek Chamber elects M. Dufides as its President. A new Ministry is formed at Melbourne under the premiership of Sir George Turner. 20. The Reichstag resumes the debate on the Bill relating to the credit for the Chinese Expedition. M. Delcassé makes a statement of the Government's policy in China in the French Chamber. Mr. Horace Plunkett is entertained at a banquet in Dublin. 21. The debate in the Belgium Chamber on the extradition of Sipido concludes in favour of the Government. The trial of the men belonging to the Penrhyn 21. In the Court of Appeal Mr. Justice Farwell's decision in the Taff Vale Railway Case is overruled. The Justices decide that a Trade Union cannot be sued. Large numbers of people wait for hours in the A cyclone bursts over the town of Columbia 22. President Kruger lands at Marseilles from the Gelderland. In the Reichstag the debate on China is continued. Sir Redvers Buller is presented with a sword of honour at Exeter. Master-Gunner W. H. Acheson, accused of giving false witness in the Dover Canteen Case, is honourably acquitted. Further developments in the Penrhyn Quarry dispute; the manager issues a notice that the quarry will close altogether. The French Chamber rejects the motion for the abolition of the Embassy to the Vatican by 299 votes to 193. The steamer Monkshaven leaves the Carnegie works in America for Great Britain with a cargo of iron rails, via Lake Erie, the Welland, and St. Lawrence Canal. The Debate on China is resumed in the German Reichstag. 24. President Kruger arrives in Paris, and receives a most enthusiastic reception. He has a brief interview at the Elysée with President Loubet, who later returns his visit. A debate takes place in the Reichstag in reference to the sum of 12,000 marks Dr. Woedtke received from the Central Union of Industrialists in support of the Penal Servitude Bill. Count von Bülow speaks and condemns the official action. There is a political crisis in Denmark in both Houses of Representatives on the Government's taxation reform. 26. A rising of Somalis takes place in British East Africa. The Tsar's illness takes a decided turn for the better. Mr. Long, American Secretary for the Navy, issues his annual report. 27. President Kruger visits M. Waldeck-Rousseau and M. Delcassé, and is afterwards entertained at the Hotel de Ville. He receives an ovation from the students of the University of Paris. A new commercial arrangement is entered into between Turkey and Bulgaria. 28. The students of the University of Paris ask M. van Hamel for information relative to the organisation of an International Students' petition in favour of arbitration as laid down by The Hague Conference. 29. 30. The Governor of the Fiji Islands, speaking to the natives, strongly condemns federation with New Zealand. The Roumanian Parliament opens. The French Chamber unanimously adopts a Lord Wolseley retires from the office of The School Board Election takes place,in President Kruger leaves Paris. The Tsar is reported convalescent. The War in South Africa. Nov. 1. The Boers capture an outpost of go men on the main line between Bloemfontein and Kroonstad. The funeral of Prince Christian Victor wakes place at Pretoria with full military honours. 2. Lord Kitchener makes a night march and captures a Boer laager near Lydenburg. 3. De Wet is reported to be at Frankfort and to have captured 800 head of cattle in the neighbourhood. 4. Three American-Irish carrying despatches for A military traction engine drawing trucks 5. Lord Roberts sends a telegram to the various Australian Governments praising the Australian troops on their retun home. Colonel Le Gallais surprises the Boers near Bothaville; he is heavily engaged for five hours, and captures eight guns and 100 prisoners. Colonel Le Gallais is killed in the battle. 8. De Wet is reported to be in the neighbourhood of Rensberg Kop. Philippolis is re-occupied by the British. 10. The British troops in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony are very active and defeat the Boers on several occasions. The Boers capture a waggon convoy near 12. Small parties of Boers are hovering in the neighbourhood of Kimberley. 14. The Chamber of Commerce at Port Elizabeth notify that no trucks being available, civil traffic in the Orange River Colony is at present suspended. Lord Methuen's force captures a pom-pom from the Boers. 16. The Boers destroy four miles of railway between Kimberley and Belmont. 18. Lord Roberts's horse falls under him, but he is not seriously hurt. 20. The Boers in the Orange Free Colony surprise an outpost of the Buffs and overpower them. Lord Kitchener returns to the Transvaal, after visiting Harrismith. 23. The British garrison at Dewetsdorp surrenders to the Boers-400 men and 2 guns. 27. General Delarey, with about 1,000 Boers, is opposed by General Clements near Rietfontein and his force dispersed. Lord Roberts reports to the War Office that a plot against his life has been discovered by the police at Johannesburg. 29. A troopship, with the Household Cavalry and Canadian troops, arrives at Southamp ton. Crisis in China. Nov. 1. The Imperial tombs are occupied by the Allies without opposition. 3. Lu Chwang-liu is appointed by Imperial edict President of the Board of Censors and President of the Board of Rites. 4. From Shanghai it is reported that confusion and disorganisation are the chief characteristics of the allied occupation. In consequence of friction among the allied commanders at Shan-hai-kwan, a staff officer of each Power is appointed to arrange a settlement. 7. It is reported that Ting-yung, Acting Viceroy of Chi-li, and the Tartar General Kuie-heng, and Colonel Wang Chau-me are shot at Pao-ting-fu by order of the Court-Martial. 8. The Russian flag is hoisted at Ching-wang-tao station. 9. Russian troops withdraw from Tien-tsin. Russia hands over the railway from Tien-tsin to Shang-hai-kwan to the charge of Count von Waldersee. The American Government decides to pursue the same policy as hitherto in regard to events in China; the Legation guard will remain in Pekin, the rest of the American troops withdrawn to Manila. 11. The Foreign Ministers at Peking draw up a Note as to what terms should be demanded from China. 12. The Chinese are profoundly stirred by the executions, at Pao-ting-fu while peace negotiations are proceeding, and the execution of the acting Viceroy of Chi-li is a cause of intense indignation to the Chinese. 13. The Tartar General Szu-Chaun is nominated Governor-General of Manchuria, in deference to the Russian invitation to China to resume the civil government of that Province. The Chinese Peace Commissioners are censured by the Empress for not preventing the despatch of foreign punitive expeditions. 15. The German Consul-General proceeds on board a man-of-war to Nanking; French, Russian, British, and Japanese warships are already there. Count von Waldersee receives Prince Ching and Li Hung Chang at Peking. 18. The German Government receives a letter from the Chinese Emperor. 20. The interest due on the German Chinese Loan is paid. 26. The American Cabinet discusses Chinese matters at great length, and notify their conclusions to the other Powers. 29. The Russian Minister at Peking intimates that Russia will insist on the amendment of the terms of the Note drawn up by the consent of Ministers at Peking. SPEECHES. Nov. 4. M. Waldeck-Rousseau, at Lyons, on President Carnot and the French Republic. 5. Lord Curzon, at Rajkot, as to how to mingle Western and Eastern ideals in Indian education and life. 6. Mr. Brodrick, at Godalming, on the Army. 8. M. Jounart, at Algiers, on the barbarism of wars of race and religion. Sir Alfred Milner, at Cape Town, on the state of the Colony. 9. The Marquis of Salisbury on the War Office, Colonies and Imperial Defence. 12. Mr. Asquith, at Westbourne Park, on School Board education. 13. Mr. Choate, at Edinburgh, on the career and work of President Lincoln. Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, at Bristol, on the next Budget. 14. The Kaiser, at Berlin, on Chinese affairs. 15. Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, at Dundee, on the Liberal Party and its duties at the present time. 16. Professor Koch, at Berlin, on the means to prevent malarial fever. Lord Rosebery, at St. Andrews, on the Empire. Mr. Reid. Whose contracts enabled him to practically control Newfoundland. In the recent elections Mr. Reid's party was defeated by a large majority. 18. Count von Bülow, in Berlin, on the Chinese Crisis. 21. Sir H. Fowler, at Wolverhampton, on the Liberal Party. 22. Sir Redvers Buller, at Exeter, on the War in South Af ica. 23. President Kruger, at Marseilles, on the War in South Africa. Sir Charles Dilke, at Glasgow, on Labour representation. Herr Bebel, in Berlin, on the German troops in China. Count von Bülow, in the Reichstag, on China and the German Emperor's Speech. 24. President McKinley, at Philadelphia, on the policy of the United States implied in his re-election. 26. Mr. Hanbury, at Preston, on Agriculture in England. 29. Lord Crewe, at Leeds, on the Election campaign. Mr. Bryce, at Leeds, on Liberals and the OBITUARY. Nov. 1. Mrs. Amelia Charles, 70. 2. Mr. William L. Strong (New York). 3. Professor A. W. Hughes, 39. M. Pierre Veron (journalist). Mr. Henry A. Harper, 65. 4. Mr. William Young (architect). Mr. W. H. Griffin, C.M.G., 88. 8. The Maharajah of Patiala, 27. 12. Mr. Thomas Arnold (Dublin), 77. Signor Giuseppe Marchiori (Rome). M. Marcus Daly (New York). M. Hector Leroux (painter), 71. Mr. Henry Villard, 65. 15. Dr. John Cockle. 16. Professor G. F. Armstrong Professor of Engineering, Edinburgh), 57. 17. Herr Heinrich Porges, 63. 18. Herr Ernest Eckstein, 55. 21. Prebendary Whittington, 7322. Sir Arthur Sullivan, 58. 23. Judge Young. Dr. J. Mortimer Granville, M.D., 67. M. Valfrey (of the Paris Figaro). 24. Dr. MacGivern (R. C. Bishop of Dromore, 72 25. Professor Oller (Lyons', 70. 26. Rev. Alfred Peache, 82. 27. Mr. Wilson (American Commissioner of Internal Revenue). 29. Sir George Willis. 30. Osoar Wilde (of Paris). THE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. "Backward look across the ages, to the Beacon moments see, 'HE Nineteenth Century is leaving us-will soon have left us, and joined the procession of vanished centuries which stretch back into the infinite distance of the past. It is therefore possible to form some estimate of its character, to realise the Century as an entity, to speak of what it has brought us, what it has taught us, and what it has taken away. We still stand too near to it to see its effects in true perspective; but, now that it is at an end, we can for the first time speak of it as a whole. In common courtesy to a century which has been with us all our lives, we must pay it the compliment of a formal adieu. THE DIFFICULTY OF THE CHRONICLER. It would be curious and instructive to have a series of nineteen appreciations of the nineteen centuries of the Christian era written at the close of each, and to compare the estimate of the modern historian with the judgment of those who stood at the bier of the century whose character they endeavoured to sum up. It is safe to say that in very few instances would the contemporary chronicler be in accord with those who are in a position of looking back upon the past from the distances of a thousand years. In the thirty-eighth century, the estimate which posterity will form of the nineteenth will probably differ as widely from that which we are forming to-day, as the estimate of the first century formed, let us say by Gibbon, would differ from that of Tacitus. This is the more probable because the men of to-day, like the Century of which they form a part, are materialised and material. The characteristic of the Century, palpable and obvious to all men, is that of enormous, unprecedented material prosperity. The greatest triumphs have been gained in the material sphere. The supreme outcome of the Century's labours is the production of a quick-firing gun capable of pumping tons of explosive shell over four or five miles of country at the rate of twenty shots per minute. It is the Century of the locomotive, of the steamship, of the dynamo. It is a mechanical Century. The hundred years are but as a pedestal for the man with the hammer. We have lived these last hundred years in the smithy of Vulcan rather than on the heights of Olympus. It is the age of Tubal Cain. But it is not in the steamship or the railway, but "in the thoughts that shake mankind,” that centuries are apt to find their best title to posthumous immortality. And it is difficult to say at this moment by what mankind-shaking thought" the Nineteenth Century will be chiefly remembered when it is gone. Certainly it is to the realm of thought that we must go to seek for things that endure. "For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 66 IN EUROPE, THE CENTURY OF NAPOLEON--Hence it is extremely difficult, not to say impossible, to sum up the character of the Nineteenth Century with any degree of accuracy. All that we can do is to note what appear on the surface to the observer close at hand to be its leading characteristics, its foremost men, its more valuable contributions to the world movement, without venturing to dogmatise as to the yet-to-be revealed significance of influences, tendencies, and individualities which are at work below the surface. If mankind gives the highest place to the Religious Teacher, it must e admitted that the aboriginal savage in man asserts nimself by according an almost equally lofty position to the Warrior. It is not quite true, as the poet says, that— So, o'er-shadowing all the past, for the founders of religions are much more conspicuous Alexander, Cæsar, Napoleon-a triple incarnation of Mars are among the demigods of mankind. The Nineteenth Century, which in its opening years saw Napoleon at the zenith of his tremendous fortunes, witnessed at its close an astonishing revival of interest in his memory. This interest manifested itself in opposite directions. In France it revealed itself chiefly in destructive and deprecatory criticism; in England and the United States there was as strong a tendency to hero worship. The Chicago boy, who went to the Invalides because he reckoned Napoleon was the smartest man the whole world produced, summed up the estimate which American periodical literature has somewhat diligently fostered. Lord Rosebery's "Napoleon in St. Helena" may be regarded as the latest illustration of the renewed interest in "The Scavenger of God." The French Revolution torpedoed the Federalism of Europe, but without Napoleon it would have exploded aimlessly. Napoleon was at once the steel case and the driving force which directed the revolutionary explosive to its goal. The old craft was patched up after the torpedo had burst, and kept floating for some years. But Napoleon had dealt it a death blow. It expired in 1848. Its shadow still haunts Austria, and Junkerdom, still unmindful of Jena, resents the triumph of the modern ideal. Nevertheless, it has triumphed. The principles of the French Revolution have made the tour of the world. France wrecked herself in the excess of her propagandist enthusiasm. But her sacrifice enabled her to dominate the century. Even the great turn of the Wheel of Fortune which displaced France from the headship of Europe, was largely due to the influence of the Napoleonic ideal. To the supremacy of Germany the first Napoleon contributed a fact, the third Napoleon an ideal. The overthrow of Prussia on the battlefield of Jena and the restrictions imposed by the conqueror on the number of troops to be maintained under arms, led to the system of short and universal military service, which, in the capable hands of Von Moltke, became so irresistible a weapon for the defeat of Austria, and afterwards for the conquest of France. The force even more potent than the short service system in bringing about the unification of Germany was enthusiasm for the doctrine of nationality. This doctrine the third Napoleon took under his special patronage. He gave it a baptism of blood on the plains of Italy. In the hands of Prince Bismarck it was one of the most effective means that led to the proclamation of the King of Prussia as Emperor of Germany in the Palace of Louis Quatorze. Alike by direct action, and by no less direct reaction, so potent has been their influence upon the history of Europe that the Nineteenth Century may, in the Old World, be regarded as the History of France and Napoleon. -ELSEWHERE, OF THE ENGLISH SPEAKERS So far as Europe is concerned. But Europe is not all the world-it is indeed every year becoming comparatively a less important portion of the world. Outside Europe, the most distinctive and remarkable feature of the Nineteenth Century has been the immense development of the English-speaking race. That race, unhappily torn into two sections by the infatuated "loyalism" of the eighteenth century, has developed with extraordinary rapidity. The British Empire began the century by destroying the Parliament of Ireland. It has closed it by trampling out of existence the Parliaments of the South African Republics. From January 1st, 1801, when the Act of Union came into existence, to the present date, it has expanded its territory far in excess of its capacity for government, until now it is responsible for the protection of from eleven to twelve million square miles of territory, and for the good government of 400,000,000 of the human race. Of these teeming millions, however, 340,000,000 are coloured Helots, who are taxed and policed, but who are sternly denied any right to responsible self-government. The Englishspeaking, self-governing population of the Empire does not exceed 60,000,000, of whom 40,000,000 are in the United Kingdom and Ireland, say 5,000,000 in Canada, and another 5,000,000 in Australia and New Zealand. This represents the white man. The other 340,000,000 represent the white man's burden. That this burden is in excess of his strength is nowhere more frankly admitted than in Michael Faraday. quarters where any suggestion that it should not be increased is denounced as incipient treason. The white population of the Empire at the beginning of the century was not 20,000,000. If it now stands at 60,000,000, it has nearly trebled itself in the course of the century. This rate of increase is, however, thrown into the shade by the immense advance of the United States, whose advent as the greatest of world Powers is the most conspicuous event of the closing years of the Nineteenth Century. In 1801 the population of the United States was 5,308,000. At the last census taken this year the population is 76,265,000. Of these, 8,000,000 probably are blacks. The white man in the United States speaks many languages, but his children all speak English. We may take it that, excluding coloured people in both Empire and Republic, the English-speaking race is now 125,000,000 strong, who reign supreme over native races of various colours, numbering 350,000,000. The English-speaking race, therefore, has outstripped all the races of European stock. If in Europe the century is that of France and Napoleon, outside Europe it is not less conspicuously the century of the English-speaking Empire and Republic. -AND OF THE RUSSIANS. There is only one other great racial phenomenon worthy to be mentioned beside the immense expansion of the English-speaking world as a distinctive characteristic of the Nineteenth Century, and that is the growth of Russia. The last day but one of the eighteenth century, the Tsar Alexander I. is said to have put forth the somewhat fantastic suggestion that, instead of deluging Europe with blood, the contending sovereigns should meet at St. Petersburg and settle their differences by single combat, their ministers acting as seconds. The proposal had no result, but it is curious that the Nineteenth Century should have opened and closed with the consideration of proposals by Russian Tsars devised with the avowed object of diverting war. A century ago, Russia was a comparatively unknown and barbarous region, whose total population was only 38,000,000. To-day, Russia is traversed from end to end by an excellent |