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2,266 British merchantmen were seized by French ships sallying from these stations, and this when Britain's trade with Australia and the East was trivial compared with its present proportions.

The fiscal policy of the federated Empire need not be greatly different from what it is now, although a British Zollverein is regarded by many as the true ideal. Trade follows the flag. The four millions of people in Australia take more British goods than the fifty millions of Germany or the sixty millions of the United States.

As to plans of federation these may largely be left to peaceful evolution when once the principle is adopted. Recently the influence of Canada, long ignored, has been felt in treaty-making both in Washington and in London. Sir Charles Tupper proposes that the members of the colonial cabinet be members of the Privy Council of England. With him agree Earl Gray, the Marquis of Lorne, W. E. Forster and others. Lord Thring suggests that the agents-general of the colonies should have positions akin to those of the ministers of foreign states.

Dr. Parkin suggests that conferences such as have taken place at Ottawa and Melbourne, bringing the statesmen and merchants of the colonies into closer touch and sympathy, should be more frequent. An Imperial penny postage, he urges, will be more to the nation than the strength of many ironclads in the stronger national sentiment, the deeper feeling of national unity which it would evoke. He urges also, discussion of the subject by chambers of commerce, workingmen's clubs, in the press, and especially the study of the history and geographical relations of this world-wide Empire in the schools and colleges.

"The cultivation of national sentiment

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in the minds of the young," he says, the basis of sound knowledge, historical, geographical and industrial, is not only a legitimate work, but a primary duty for the schools of the country. Especially is this true of countries where good government rests on the intelligence of the masses. Above all it is true for a nation which has the great birthright of free popular institutions, which has more than once stood as the bulwark of modern liberty, as it may have to stand again, which has traditions behind and prospects. ahead fitted to fire the noblest and purest enthusiasm.

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'By manifold agencies and influences, then, is the problem of British unity to be worked out. Our freedom, our national traditions, our institutions, our AngloSaxon civilization, are the common heritage of all. It is the business of all to labour for their maintenance and for their security.'

Dr. Parkin will have a splendid opportunity, as the head of the Upper Canada College, to embody this noble ideal of British education. In the various periodicals under our charge we shall endeavour to promote the same broad patriotism-a loyalty not merely to our city, our province, or our Dominion, but to the broad Empire of which Canada forms nearly one-half, and to the Sovereign whom we love with no less ardent affection than any who in any land pray, "God Save the Queen."

In connection with Dr. Parkin's admirable book on this subject, we suggest the study of Professor Seeley's "Expansion of England," issued by the same publishers, and, for our junior readers, Adams' admirable little book on England's colonial dependencies, entitled "Around the World with the Union Jack."

CHRISTMASTIDE.

BY RICHARD BURTON.

CHRISTMASTIDE is a time of cold,

Of weathers bleak and of winds ablow;
Never a flower-fold on fold

Of grace and beauty-tops the snow,
Or breaks the black and bitter mould.

And yet 'tis warm-for the chill and gloom
Glow with love and with childhood's glee;
And yet 'tis sweet-with the rich perfume
Of sacrifice and of charity.

Where are flowers more fair to see?

Christmastide, it is warm and sweet:
A whole world's heart at a Baby's feet!

UNSCIENTIFIC SCIENCE.

THE RIGHT HON. A. J. BALFOUR ON THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY.

MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN & Co. have published one of the most remarkable books this generation has seen. Its author, its theme, and its contents alike explain the prompt and extensive notice which it received in the press. It has been well said that there are only two subjects which enchain the attention of serious men-politics and religion; and here the leader of one great party in the House of Commons, a future Prime Minister of England, writes upon the subject of religion. In the work now before us the Right Honourable A. J. Balfour appears as one of the ablest apologists for the Christian religion since the days of Bishop Butler. This volume is entitled "The Foundations of Belief, being Notes Introductory to the Study of Theology.' It is very modest of Mr. Balfour to speak of this volume as consisting of notes. It is really a profound investigation of those preliminary presuppositions and prejudices which settle the attitude of men's minds in relation to the Bible before the distinctively biblical argument begins.

Sir William Hamilton was fond of asserting that no question came up in theology which had not previously come up in metaphysics. Mr. Balfour states the same truth when he says that "the decisive battles of theology are fought beyond its frontiers. It is not over purely religious controversies that the cause of religion is lost or won. The judgments we shall form upon its special problems are commonly settled for us by our general mode of looking at the universe; and this again, in so far as it is determined by arguments at all, is determined by arguments of so wide a scope that they can seldom be claimed as more nearly concerned with theology than with the philosophy of science or of ethics." His object, therefore, is not to discuss particular doctrines, but "to recommend a certain attitude of mind."

The irrational and unscientific attitude of mind which he attacks has been variously called agnosticism, positivism, and empiricism, but he prefers to describe all these phases of infidel thought by the word naturalism. He arraigns all those persons, educated and uneducated, who assert that "the only world of which we can have any real knowledge is that which is revealed to us through sense perception, and which is the subject-matter of the natural sciences."

In the first place he points out the ultimate inevitable consequence of naturalism as thus defined. It is fatal not only to religion, but to morals, to art, and to reason itself. The frost of this kind of scepticism, falsely called scientific, will kill our ideals both of conduct and of beauty, and will destroy philosophy. will be "embarassing enough to morality, but absolutely ruinous to knowledge.' Everything that is noble and morally good in us will be dwarfed and beggared; everything that distinguishes us intellectually and morally from the lower animals will be destroyed. When naturalism has brought forth its perfect fruit, truth, beauty and goodness will have become impossible absurdities.

În Mr. Balfour's own striking words, "If naturalism be true, or, rather, if it be the whole truth, then is morality but a bare catalogue of utilitarian precepts ; beauty but the chance occasion of a passing pleasure; reason but the dim passage from one set of unthinking habits to another. All that gives dignity to life, all that gives value to effort, shrinks and fades under the pitiless glare of a creed like this." "The consciousness of freedom, the sense of responsibility, the authority of conscience, the beauty of holiness, the admiration for self-devotion, the sympathy with suffering-these, and all the train of beliefs and feelings from which spring noble deeds and generous ambitious," are "a poor jest,' a deliberate fraud," perpetrated by nature upon us in order to trick us into conduct which promotes the survival of the species to which we belong.

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In brief, the attitude of mind which has been pressed upon this generation with such passionate zeal by such men as Mr. Mill, Mr. Matthew Arnold, Professor Huxley, and Mr. Herbert Spencer will, if it ultimately prevails-to quote once more the language of Mr. Balfour-"eat all nobility out of our conception of conduct and all worth out of our conception of life." It will, of course, be said by the illogical that many of those whose doctrine Mr. Balfour attacks are themselves beautiful examples of an intellectual and moral life. But, as Mr. Balfour at once shows, that signifies nothing. In his own striking words: "Their spiritual life is parasitic; it is sheltered by convictions which belong, not to them, but to the society of which they form a part.

It is nourished by processes in which they take no share. And when those convictions decay, and those processes come to an end, the alien life which they have maintained can scarcely be expected to outlast them." Happily, men - even those who profess to be scientific and philosophical are illogical and inconsistent. Many living advocates of naturalism are immeasurably better than their creed, but their successors will not exhibit this noble inconsistency if the views they advocate prevail and the existing Christian environment disappears.

Mr. Balfour does not stop when he has shown the hideous immorality of naturalism. He goes on to prove that it is as unphilosophic, irrational, and unscientific as it is immoral. Nothing could be more impressive or entertaining than the skill, wit, and thoroughness with which Mr. Balfour uses the weapons of modern rationalism against itself. David cut off the head of the boastful and defiant Goliath with his own sword. Mr. Balfour has repeated that happy feat. He shows conclusively that every argument by which the modern infidel tries to prove the unreality or the instability of the Christian religion, may be used with tenfold greater effect against his own boasted science.

This section of the volume reminds us of the crushing dialectic and delicious humour with which Pascal shattered Jesuit morality in the Provincial Letters. Mr. Balfour completely riddles the enemy's

position. He shows that those who argue so loudly about the superior certainty of scientific conclusions founded upon senseperceptions, simply do not know what they are talking about. Scientific presuppositions, foregone conclusions, and postulates, are as numerous as those made by the Christian, and are open to the gravest moral objections, while the Christian presumptions are justified by the practical and highest necessities of life.

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We have probably had no volume since "Butler's Analogy," which has so clearly demonstrated that every objection which is made to Christianity is equally applicable to the dogmas of its enemies. All this, of course, does not prove the truth of the Christian religion, but, as Mr. Balfour properly says, it is "more than sufficient to neutralize the counter-presumption which has uncritically governed so much of the criticism directed in recent times against the historic claims of Christianity. We have no time to dwell upon the exquisite style, happy illustrations, and epigrammatic humour which enrich the work. We can only refer our readers to the book itself, while we devoutly rejoice that one of our most influential public men has the ability and disposition to give so crushing a blow to unscientific science and irrational philosophy. It is a truly significant sign that in England, at any rate, the extreme foolishness of agnosticism is being found out. The Methodist Times.

CHRISTMAS SONG.

BORN at last! the great Messiah
Bringeth in the better day,

Peace on earth, good-will from Heaven,
Lo! the star that leads the way!
So runs on the ancient story

Of the shepherds that strange night, How they heard the quiring angels, And beheld the wondrous light.

But the weary world still waiteth,
And the promise long delays;
Still the hope-star leadeth onward,
Over dark and dreary ways.
Oft the star itself shines dimly
From a sky that clouds obscure;
And the heavens lose their pity
For the crying of the poor.

The oppressor rides in triumph,
And the weak are in the dust.
Shall the evil always prosper?

Is it vain the hope we trust?
Peace comes not, but ever struggle,
Man his brother fighteth still,
In the yet far distant future

Lies the bright land of good-will.

But though long delayed, it cometh,
Heav'n is not born in a night,
Through the travail of the ages
Comes to birth the perfect right.
Never done, but always growing,
God unfolds His mighty plan,
Hark the far-off future shouteth
"Peace on earth, good-will to man!

POLITICAL FEDERATION OF THE EMPIRE.

SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL, K.C.M.G., M.P.

THE tens of thousands who witnessed from within, the hundreds of thousands who witnessed from without, and the millions who have eagerly read of the stately and unique ceremonies by which the Imperial Institute has been inaugur ated, were the genuine representatives of every part of our wonderful Empire.

The Queen and Empress, not less respected than beloved by more than four hundred million subjects, here received, with her son and heir-apparent, the willing homage of by far the largest national "party" of the human race; and these subjects truthfully pride themselves that under her crown they enjoy a freedom more secure, genuine, and well-ordered than the liberty, so often degenerating into license, which is the lot of citizens of the new-fashioned money-ridden republics.

Yet this very Empire, to which the Imperial Institute has become a necessity, was, in its present character, actually nonexistent fifty years ago. It is a fact that the British Empire has appropriated three out of the four areas within the temperate zones not hitherto occupied by civilized man. North America, South Africa, and Australasia have fallen to the British ; only South America remains for other colonizing races. In reclaiming for the uses of civilization these vast and fertile areas, the British race has found new opportunities and channels for the investment and creation of capital, the development of industries and commerce, and the employment of population both at home and abroad.

So gigantic and rapid a development of economic conditions has, not unnaturally, created a proportionate sentiment and pride of far-reaching effect. The national sentiment is now centred on the Imperial ascendency of the race, and throughout all classes the idea of a great united empire has taken such hold that the barest suspicion of treason to that idea suffices to hurl from power the most influential statesman.

The idea of the unity of the race and the integrity of its realms, at one time the ridiculed dream of theorists, at another the impracticable scheme of too-ardent politicans. has become the first article in the avowed creed of every public man. At the last general election there was not a candidate but spoke and wrote of his absolute intention to uphold the unity of the Empire.

Imperial Federation is the catchword that has seized upon popular favour, and its actual, or technical, meaning has been lost in the wider fact that the phrase is merely taken to represent this idea of the unity and integrity of our great Empire. Yet, for all thoughtful statesmen, the phrase is the source of much anxious pondering. The question is constantly propounded: What can be actually done? What real, tangible work can be undertaken that shall secure the substantial realization of this great idea?

The history of the mother country in the past contains the only reliable indications of the history of the future of that mother country and her numerous colonial offspring. That history is the tale of successive developments, of a series of growths and changes, usually of such slight comparative importance as almost to escape notice. British history affords no example of sudden, new reforms, no magnificent paper constitutions, no brand-new codes and institutions-it is only a record of perpetual growth.

So must it be with the consolidation of the various component parts of the Empire with the realization of the idea and spirit of co-operation and unity; with the consummation of what is meant by the popular phrase, Imperial Federation.

Working for this great end is the one overwhelming political farce-the popular will. This may be guided and stimulated by the historian and the statesman; in the press and on the platform; in parliament and in private. But it can only grow to be an overwhelming force by reason of its being broad based upon the true economic necessities of the case.

Statistics clearly show that, while of the total imports into the United Kingdom one-tenth only is manufactures, of the exports no less than four-fifths consists of manufactures. On the other hand, while of the total imports into India and the colonies at least one-half is of manufactured articles, of the total exports nineteen-twentieths is made up of foods and raw materials.

Such leading facts indicate the true economic relations between England and her colonies, and afford very substantial reasons for the faith that the public has in the Empire, and the determination not to fritter away that Empire.-Fortnightly Review.

A NOTABLE SCHOLAR.

SIR HENRY RAWLINSON, who died in England recently, was a striking example of a type of Englishmen in whom are united the highest energy of character, great executive ability, and strong intellectual tastes. He rendered service of very high importance in three distinct departments-politics, the Army, and diplomacy. In all these fields his reputation was of a high order. He was also one of the best-known scholars of his time, dividing with his brother George a distinction which has made the name of Rawlinson illustrious the world over. Born in Oxfordshire, sons of an oldfashioned country squire, the two brothers, George and Henry, were destined, in the old-fashioned way, the older for the State and the younger for the Church. They were both sent to school at Ealing, and the younger, George, continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford, while Henry, the older, was sent off to Bombay to begin service in the Army. He was active, energetic, and faithful. He had the qualities which have made the English soldier a type of a good fighter and a brave man.

He also had the dash which many young Englishmen have, and which bears evidence to the constant strain of heroism and adventure in the English blood. His famous ride of seventy-two miles from Poonah to Panwell sixty-two years ago was made in three hours and seventeen minutes. Not long after this exploit he was sent to Persia, where he spent six years familiarizing himself with many parts of the empire, rendering efficient service in reorganizing the army of the Shah, and, above all, making his name memorable by reason of his imperishable service to scholarship in deciphering the famous cuneiform inscriptions. It was characteristic of him that, four years after his famous ride, he was painfully, and at the peril of his life, spelling out cuneiform characters on the polished face of a rock between three and four hundred feet from the ground. Supported by a ladder resting on a narrow ledge at an elevation which would have made most people helpless by reason of giddiness,

this daring young man slowly copied the inscriptions, unveiled the secret of the cuneiform characters, and gave a new historical science to the world. It was

this feat which won for him the title of the "Father of Assyriology," and it is unnecessary to say that the work which has been done in this department is hardly second in importance to that in any other field of knowledge.

The man who had rendered this service to scholarship was, however, a man of action quite as much as a man of knowledge. At the end of six years he left Persia and became the British political agent at Kandahar, perforining through the first Afghan war services to the English Government notable at once for their delicacy, their difficulty, and their danger. His name was constantly mentioned in the despatches from the field. But his heart was in his work as a scholar, and, putting aside an advance in position and salary, he took a humbler position at Bagdad in order to bring himself into contact with the material which he wished to study. Under the commission of the British Museum he superintended the excavations at Babylon and Nineveh which had been begun by Layard, and he copied and translated a great number of ancient inscriptions and sent them to England. In 1859, with the title of Major-General, he was sent to Teheran as British minister. In 1865, returning home, he entered Parliament. As a writer he was very much overshadowed by his brother, Professor George Rawlinson, but his book on "England and Russia in the East," in which he took the position that Herat, as the key of India, must always be kept safe from Russian occupation, holds a high place among books of its class. His London house was a museum of archæology, and to the end of his life Sir Henry was an enthusiastic student in a department which he had contributed so largely to create. So long as the English race breeds men of such temper and force its influence as a world-power will remain intact. — The Outlook.

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THINE to work as well as pray, Clearing thorny wrong away;

Plucking up the weeds of sin, Letting heaven's warm sunshine in. - Whittier.

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