Crédit Foncier in France-was insolvent, owing to the mismanagement and peculation of its officers. The blame was thrown on certain subordinates, but Senator Luciano Castro was the president of the institution, and, of course, in a country where corruption in public life is rampant and notorious, he and other leading Progressists were at once supposed to have shared in the plunder. For the last month the Ministry has been so discredited that it has been unable to conduct business in the Cortes, and the crisis, suspended for a brief period by King Manoel's visit to London for our late King's funeral, has broken out with added vehemence on his return. Whenever the Cortes meet, the violence of the Opposition groups makes business impossible, and the Budget has still to be passed. Senhor Vega Beirao has, of course, asked the King to dissolve the Cortes, but the King has refused, partly because their term (three years) expires naturally next spring, and partly because elections "conducted" by a discredited Ministry would produce a Cortes which the country would certainly refuse to tolerate. On the other hand, it is difficult for him to dismiss the Ministry, because the conflicting groups in the Cortes are so numerous and so hostile to each other that no new Parliamentary combination is possible. Attempts are in contemplation to reconstruct the Regenerador party as a preliminary to forming a new Ministry from it, or else to revert to the system of non-party Ministers, and form a "business Government," which shall at least carry the Budget, and bring the Session to a close. But in view of the state of the Cortes, such a Ministry could hardly achieve its aim.

The first part of Senhor Franco's design has actually come about. The two dynastic parties, which simply "rotated in office," have been broken up. But in their stead there is a multitude of

small groups, with no expectation of the responsibilities or rewards of office, and too divided by personal feuds to combine to strive for them. A strong King might attempt the remedy recently tried, not very successfully, in the Dual Monarchy; he might get a Ministry which would somehow, by force or persuasion, extend the suffrage, and so bring in new strata of voters, who would care nothing for the petty squabbles of existing parties, and would demand financial and social reform. But King Manoel and his advisers are not strong enough for this, and, if they were, the new electors in Lisbon and Oporto would be violently Republican, and those in the country districts would be amenable to undue influence in the interest of the existing political groups. During the Dictatorship, indeed, the Republicans claimed to have made great progress among the rural voters, but we can hardly suppose that the mass of illiterate peasants would join them, or would be satisfactory or even manageable recruits if they did. Clericalism, happily, is not so far as we know-an organized force in Portugal, and Dom Miguel, the Legitimist Pretender, has recently offered to renounce his claims to the throne. But this leaves the dynasty face to face with one strong body, the Republican party, which contains much of the best intellectual element in the nation, and has not, as in Spain, to fight both the Monarchy and the Legitimists at once. The party has just published a strong manifesto, arguing that the country is actually making great progress towards agricultural and commercial prosperity, and is only kept back by its Monarchical Government. Agriculture, the manifesto declares, is progressing, the state of industry is promising, trade is finding new markets, the colonies are advancing, and there are close commercial relations with Brazil, which would be advanced if Portugal were also a

Republic. But the dynasty (it continues) is decadent and discredited, concerned with its own interests rather than those of the nation; the national resources are squandered on the Royal family, the politicians, and various powerful interests; education is neglected, taxation is oppressive, and the octroi duties are paralyzing; municipal liberties have been hampered throughout the reign, and the constitutional guarantees of personal liberty and free speech are in constant danger. The old régime is discredited and broken up; even a Peer, speaking from his place in the Upper House, has declared the King to be destitute of political capacity; yet the country prospers, and only the Monarchy stands in its way. Thus the manifesto. The Republicans of PorThe Economist.

tugal, we may add, is middle-class, and but little tinged with Socialism; and though there seems no probability of an immediate disturbance, there will be, when it comes, practically a straight fight between Monarchy and Republic. Success, no doubt, depends largely on the army, and we hardly suppose King Manoel has his father's popularity there. But the Parliamentary system has clearly broken down, and there is no chance of the revival of absolute rule. On the other hand, the ills of the country, though effectively summarized in the Republican manifesto, are far too deep-seated to be cured by a mere change in the form of Government, or even, we fear, by a change in its personnel.

Punch.

Owen Seaman.

In "Houseboating on a Colonial Waterway" Frank and Cortelle Hutchins have produced a chronicle which the reader of Virginian history or of fiction about Virginia neglects at his peril. As the two and a beloved companion made their leisurely way up the James River in their picturesque craft, they paused at every spot to which a memory or a tradition is attached, and they give photographs of the more noteworthy places and descriptions much better than any photographs and add so much historical reminiscence as to fully to acquaint the reader with the topic. The descriptions of Westover and Shirley are especially interesting and if the autumn should see a fleet of houseboats on the James River it will hardly surprise those who know that "Houseboating on a Colonial Waterway" has been abroad in the land. L. C. Page & Co.

Mr. Stephen Chalmers is to be congratulated on having originated a novelty in historical fiction by making the hero of his "When Love Calls Men to Arms" a soldier of the Spanish Armada, stranded on the Scottish coast

among Campbells and Macdonalds, to become involved in their feuds, to wed a daughter of the Campbells and to leave a daughter of his own-as perverse and wilful a maid as ever drew snood over raven locks-to be the heroine of a love tale with some grim passages, but upon the whole pretty and picturesque. The supposed narrator, the discoverer of the unhappy waif, is made to tell his story in a really characteristic way, and a Scottish lawyer introduced in the latter half of the book is almost worthy of Scott himself. A still more vivid reminder of the wizard of the North is such an adventurer as he was fond of painting, a bragging, fluent, vaporing creature, a good angel in deep disguise. The pictures are Mr. Howard Chandler Christy's and very accurately reflect the author's descriptions of persons and incidents. Small, Maynard & Co.

All properly reared children know the Black Forest. There live "peasants." men, women and children, happy creatures who see elves, and gnomes, and kobolds, and ogres, and giants, and

dwarfs. There, too, are the "foresters," and "gamekeepers," beneficent beings who disperse all malevolent influences, human and supernatural, and guide little children through ways of wonder and danger and lead them home to safety. From the Black Forest come crowds of dolls and flocks of toys and armies of wooden soldiers, and clouds, birds and fowls, and uncounted beasts wondrous wise or incredibly silly. Again nobody knows the Black Forest for, having learned of its marvels in youth, no one desires to exchange those bright visions for facts, and so, unless one is happily led across the seas to explore it, one remains in ignorance of its realities. But now comes Mr. C. E. Hughes with his "A Book of the Black Forest" full of pleasant descriptions of its villages and its castles, its towns, and cities. and hills and valleys, and shows that it has a real enchantment of its own, and so produces a charming chronicle which fathers and mothers may read, nor envy the small folk their Grimm and Hans Andersen. Twenty-one pictures and two maps are added to the text, and the volume, although large enough to be a sufficient companion for a fairly long vacation, is light as a feather and will be no burden either to the wanderer in American woods, or to him who takes it to the Black Forest itself. E. P. Dutton & Co.

Mr. Dillon Wallace has for a time at least abandoned the subject of the frozen North and has written a most enticing book which he calls "Beyond the Mexican Sierras," and in which he commends the Mexican Pacific Coast region to the attention of his own countrymen. In a general way, Americans are aware that many natives of the United States are living in Eastern Mexico to the advantage of Mexican finance and of their private exchequer, but the West coast is so unfamiliar that Mr.

Dillon's descriptions and comments. and even his history will be entirely novel to many Americans. The country is beautiful with endless natural advantages and resources, but at present anything but a travellers' Paradise, whatsoever it may be when the railways now building and projected shall be completed. Some seventy-five photographs especially made for the book illustrate it very well. It is worth noting that the trade of this region which might have belonged solely to the United States is now shared by English, French and German manufacturers and merchants, solely because Americans insist upon packing and transporting everything in their own way quite irrespective of orders. "Look here," they seem to say, "don't you know that we were successful in the invasion of the east coast sixtyfour years ago? How can your wishes as to the articles for which you pay your money be of any consequence to a citizen of the Great Republic!" And the polite Mexican replies, "The gentleman is undoubtedly right." and the Great Republic receives his orders no A. C. McClurg & Co.

more.

Mr. Charles G. D. Roberts has given Daudet's title of "Kings in Exile," to his collection of stories of wild animals in parks, in zoological gardens, under canvas, anywhere and every where except in freedom, and many readers will find these tales more acceptable than those tales of the wild to which they have given credence on faith. They have seen the sullen captive creatures, have perhaps tried to construct theories as to their feelings and behavior, and they can sympathize with Mr. Roberts's similar efforts. A buffalo at the Zoological Park; a puma among other trained animals in a great performance; a giant moose sometimes part of a travelling show, sometimes in a park; a wonderful wolf called "the gray mas

ter" because of his matchless strength; an eaglet set free by a hunter to whom while in the nest he had played the part of the prophet's ravens; a seal in captivity and ineffably absurd, and in freedom and sadly misunderstood; a wolf born in captivity and gladly returning after a brief taste of liberty; a bear who conquered a man; and the story of a duel between a mink and a fox make up the list of subjects, and it need hardly be said that all are treated supremely well. Mr. Roberts has no rival in his own field, which is not Mr. Kipling's or Mr. Thompson Seton's, and not Dr. Long's, but his own; a field in which there is neither blame nor praise but pure predestination. Some day a minister will make a sermon about the creatures who are without freewill and a convincing discourse it will be. Meanwhile here are Mr. Roberts's clever discourses for present application and for amusement if desired. They are illustrated by Mr. Paul Branson who well understands how to bring terror from a gray mist and an evasive illusive line, and furnishes material for lively nightmares in his striking pictures. The Macmillan Company.

In the thirty-eight years since Mr. Samuel Butler's "Erewhon" was published anonymously, the subjects of popular agitation and of genuine thought have so changed, not only in Great Britain but in Europe and the United States, that the present generation can hardly be expected to understand it, for although nominally attacking eternal principles, its sharpest satire was really aimed at conditions which have since proved transitory. The elaborate allegory of the "musical barks" for instance is hardly intelligible to a reader unacquainted with the attitude of English churchmen forty years ago. On the other hand, some of the ideas presented by Mr. Butler as

Erewhonian have been adopted in some countries. The reader who wishes to enjoy Erewhon will do well to take it as a description of a fancied country, without concerning himself over much about the lessons which it was intended to teach, or about its satire, always excepting that which the supposed narrator aims at himself. In his picture of a rather ignorant, very narrow, perfectly self-satisfied man confronted with a strange race and strange customs Mr. Butler was exceedingly successful and in "Erewhon Revisited," now issued, this unworthy hero once more presents himself in the imagined city and discovers the extraordinary results of his first visit. He had departed in a balloon, carrying away one of the daughters of the land, and he finds that a whole mythology has gathered about his memory, that he is called the Sunchild, that a religion based upon teachings attributed to him governs the land, and that Erewhon differs greatly from the place pictured in his memory. He also discovers that his son, of whose very existence he has been unaware, is a personage in the national capital, and the son's mother, as the Mayor's wife, is of great assistance to him in studying the country and the people, and in escaping after a very brief stay. The interest of the tale lies in the absurdities of the Sunchild myth, and in the clever fibbing by which the actual Sunchild is enabled to escape from the country. by whose laws he would instantly be put to death if discovered. Taken together the two books make a unique literary curiosity, and show Mr. Butler's ingenuity and originality to be greater than could be suspected from his first book alone. Few stories are more suggestive of subjects for discussion than "Erewhon" and "Erewhon Revisited." E. P. Dutton & Co.