more and nothing less. If we are unable | had changed their religion, and that at to conceive memory working at such a the bidding of a teaching which spoke to pitch, it is because our imagination, not them as individuals, who had souls enbeing adequately sustained by knowledge, tirely and distinctly separable from all the is unequal to conceive the degree to which rest of the universe souls that might be this sacred lore had been burnt into the eternally lost or saved. This tremendous soul of a long-suffering people. appeal had in most cases resulted in an actual interior struggle which had commenced for them a new period of existence in which they became peculiarly sensitive to religious teaching. Edgar Quinet, as far back as 1825, asked the questions: "How far do the memories of the species reflect themselves in the individual? How do such memories harmonize with his own impressions? What law do they impose on his personal activity?" And with a kind of inspiration he replied: "He who would understand history must consent first of all to look into himself and become attentive to the movements of his own mind. He who truly does this will discover buried there the whole series of the past ages." This thought, sublime and vague, modern scientists declare to be the simple fact. Professor Ernst Haeckel says: "Without the recognition of an unconscious memory in living matter the most important functions of vital matter remain totally inexplicable." Professor Ewald Hering, of Prague, teaches that memory is a universal function of organized matter from the earliest existence of things to the present time. Memory is continuous. Though individuals die their offspring carry on the memory of all the impressions their ancestors acquired or received. We are, as the author of "Life and Habit" puts it, "one person with our ancestors." So general a truth is necessarily controlled and limited by many considerations, one of which is stated strongly by Mr. Galton in his "Hereditary Genius," where he tells us that the consequence of Darwin's theory of pangenesis is that a man is wholly built up of his own and his ancestral peculiarities, and only in an infinitesimal degree of characteristics handed down in an unchanged form. Applying this to the memory, we see that it is supported by experience, for it is clearly a man's own impressions and those of his immediate ancestors that this faculty most vividly reproduces. Now, in the case of these child prophets, their own individual impressions were few and limited, and consequently those received from their immediate progenitors overpowered all others. What these impressions would be a moment's consideration of their ancestral history shows. Within a century and a half the ancestors of the people affected by this prophetic power had passed through a mental revolution; they RICHARD HEATH. From The National Review. COLONIAL GOVERNORS. SIR HERCULES ROBINSON, speaking at the Diamond Fields (November 14, 1884) during a tour through South Africa, has aptly and figuratively described the duties of a colonial governor. "This functionary was," he said, "like the little figure in a Dutch weather-glass, which only comes out under an umbrella when the barometer points to stormy. On ordinary occasions, as Lord Dufferin well described it, he more resembles the man we see tending some complicated piece of machinery, who goes about clad in fustian, with a little tin can having a long spout to it, and pouring a drop of oil here, and another there, with a view of securing the working of the various parts with as little friction as possible." These resemblances are quite true of an ordinary constitutional governor who reigns in a colony, such as New South Wales or Victoria, possessing responsible government. He is the representative of the crown, and stands between it and the colonists as a just intermediary and a learned interpreter of the rights of both. It is obvious that he must be extremely well versed in law, and especially constitutional law; and it is no less obvious that he must know mankind, and especially colonial mankind. To feel the pulse, as it were, of colonists, to gauge their humors, to distinguish between passing ebullitions of temper, and a real, deepseated sense of grievance in a word, veras cognoscere causas of the random fluctuations of legislation in a new society - are gifts which should belong to colonial governors by nature and training. Crucial questions of policy are always being presented to them upon which they have to make up their minds and report faithfully to the home government. What more important colonial question can there be at present than the federal movement in our Australasian settlements? At the same time, what more puzzling question can there be? At every point local jealousies may be aroused and local rights may be invaded, if precipitancy is displayed and ill-digested measures are allowed to pass into law. To find a suitable modus vivendi between the various interests and peoples of our Australasian settlements, to work towards a great ideal without sacrificing individual and provincial rights, to mould the opinion of "reponsible advisers " by timely and sensible suggestions, and to represent fairly the wishes of the Cabinet at home, are duties and functions which belong in a special sense to her Majesty's supreme representatives in these colonies. If Australasian federation ever becomes an accomplished fact, it may be taken for granted that at every important stage of the proceedings the hands of the constitutional governors have, to use Lord Dufferin's simile, been ready to mollify and lubricate. a small oligarchy? A governor has frequently to decide in his own mind, espe cially in settlements where the natives preponderate, whether he shall depress or elevate a white oligarchy. Unless he is careful he may lose sight of the imperial sentiment, and allow the settlers to do the same, if he is constantly glorifying the especial sphere in which he is placed, and always arguing, tacitly or openly, for local autonomy. The temptation to exaggerate the importance of a particular circle of interests is one to which colonial govern. ors are especially liable. Hence the charge against them, sometimes raised unfairly and unjustly, that they are sacrificing imperial to colonial interests and enriching the settler at the expense of the English taxpayer. It is clear that the position of governors has greatly changed of late years, especially since 1850, the era of a liberal colonial policy, when colonial constitu tions were given to all communities which asked for them, and were capable in any way of receiving them. We have a long roll of able and illustrious men at the head of dependencies which promise to develop infinitely greater wealth and resources than they possess at present. As we have outshone the world in that peculiar and exceptional class of men known as Indian administrators, so we may excel in our colonial governors. Their office, whether they preside over "crown" or "responsible" colonies, is no sinecure. It would probably surprise the circle of our stay-at-home and purely domestic politicians to find out how many real administrative and social difficulties are constantly being thrust upon our colonial governments. There is a constant demand for more constitutional freedom in colonies where the fullest powers of representative government have not yet been conceded. From time to time this demand has been heard from Jamaica and Natal. Now it comes to us from Mauritius. Sir John In the good old times the aspirant to an Pope Hennessy has come to the conclu- island governorship was regarded as an sion that the Creoles are ready for a polit. eccentric individual with an ambition not ical emancipation from the thraldom of a much higher than that of Sancho Panza. crown colony. His influence as a governor Frequently he was the discredited scion has been very great in guiding and giving of an illustrious house and the pest of the force to this movement. How far, in Colonial Office. The parting blessing of granting a constitution, the civitas Bri- Lord Bathurst to a colonial governor was, tannica, and the privileges of a much-Joy be with you, my good fellow; and envied civic freedom are to be given let us hear as little of you as possible." whether they are to be doled out in driblets, or lavished indiscriminately upon all our subjects without distinction - constitutes a formidable legislative problem in several parts of the British Empire. Supposing a constitution and a low franchise are given to Natal, are we to favor the thirty thousand white men at the expense of the ten thousand industrious Bombay coolies and the four hundred thousand Kafirs found in her boundaries? In the Cape Colony the franchise was thrown broadcast over the land for Europeans and natives alike; but would the same prodigality be harmless in Natal, where the white settlers are in reality but The gentleman thus summarily dismissed was entrusted with large powers and a carte blanche to act pretty much as he pleased. Above all things, he was required not to bother the Colonial Office with questions and correspondence of a voluminous character. This office returned the compliment of silence by judiciously veiling their eyes to vexatious complaints from abroad directed against their discreet administrator. And, as long as he did not indulge in heroics in speech or action, the mantle of colonial responsi bility sat lightly upon him, and the joy of Lord Bathurst was with him. No doubt it was desirable in the first instance for the colonial secretary to be wise in his choice. He had a number of candidates to choose from, both naval and military men, all of whom might claim several years' service by sea and land as a suffi cient recommendation for the varied civil duties of a colonial governor. Occasionally it was hinted from the colonies that the selection was not always judicious. In the annals of New South Wales it is recorded "that the English government spoiled an excellent seaman to make a very inefficient governor" when they ap pointed Captain Bligh in 1806; but the old régime was destined to run its course. At the Cape in 1821 Lord Charles Somerset was chiefly known as a sportsman and horse-racer, and as an aristocratic stickler for class privileges and as an enemy of a free press. But these days of random selection are gone by, and a wise discretion has to be employed, whether a gov. ernor-general of the Dominion of Canada has to be sent out, or a humbler functionary known as the commissioner of Sey. chelles, or the presiding magistrate of Anquilla in the Leeward Islands. Political life and civic aspirations ate rife everywhere, even in such small members of the British Empire as St. Kitts and Dominica. It is the day of great ideas; and the idea of political union amongst themselves, and possibly disruption from the British Empire, has entered into the minds of the inhabitants of Grenada, St. Vincent, Tobago, St. Lucia, and others. The gov. ernors of these islands have no easy time of it as in the days of Earl Bathurst. The sugar industry and its financial aspect are the spectres of their office, destined to monopolize their waking and to disturb their sleeping hours. The only place, apparently, where a congenial home could be found for such a governor as Captain Bligh of Australian fame is the island of Ascension, where, literally speaking, the fashion of his authority is as complete and as unquestioned as on the quarter-deck of one of her Majesty's ships. Moreover, whatever asperities there may be to interrupt the course of his dictatorial rule, may be mollified by the aldermanic luxury of turtle soup for the asking. Certainly governors live under altered circumstances, and in the midst of a greater stress of business. The affairs of ten or twelve millions of Britons and British subjects located in various parts of the world, have to be clearly understood and vigorously grappled with by them. Day by day the field of responsibility is widening and the area of their respective administrations becoming more complex. No proconsul of ancient times had more anxious rule than our governors. With a slight paraphrase we may say that "uneasy lie the uncrowned heads" of our dependencies. In Australia, the governors of New South Wales and of Victoria find themselves in hostile camps, and in the dust and din of battles about free trade and protectionist principles. They and their confrères of adjacent settlements have to negotiate in such a vexed matter as the limit and boundaries of our south Pacific empire. The class of questions which have clustered recently round New Guinea, the Samoan and Fiji group, have all required the anxious deliberation of the illustrious men who act as her Majesty's intermediaries in those distant seas, and may find at any moment that they may be involved in the intricacies of an international kind. How wide and varied must be the knowledge and sympathies of our colonial satraps, may be gathered from the following description of their office by a colonial judge. "The peculiar circumstances of a colony-even the peculiarities of soil and climate and of its geographical position may require, on the part of the governor, the exercise of liberal and enlightened views, both as to agriculture and commerce. The laws of a colony, with a view to the mixed nature of its population and their especial manners and habits, may require from the governor the display of qualities of mind obtained only by the study of philosophical jurisprudence and legislation." If we set these qualifications side by side with those more tersely and epigrammatically set forth by Lord Dufferin, and require the master of jurisprudence and the expert in geography and ethnography and anthropology to sink his pretensions and rôle to that of the unobtrusive lubricator of the colonial machinery, or the dummy figure in a Dutch clock, we seem to require a combination of modesty and accomplishments rarely found in mankind. The candidate for satrapic and proconsular honors, may well pause before starting on his administrative errand at the Cape or in the Pacific. Yet it must be confessed that, somehow or other, Englishmen have been found in sufficient numbers to combine the office of mentors and disciples, of political masters and of political pupils. They have advised, yet at the same time have been advised by, their responsible ministers. | their decision. Sir Henry Barkly should Their office is almost incomprehensible to have been, for the imperial government, a foreigner who has not grasped the com- their sole and properly accredited adviser promises and balances of constitutional of the state of colonial opinion. This government as developed by ourselves. function Mr. Froude seemed temporarily The hard and fast rules of bureaucracy, to arrogate to himself in an unconstituwith its official pomposity and exact letter tional manner. of the law, are essentially opposed to the British view of constitutional government. Africa, in this matter as in many others, provides us with exceptional difficulties. In no part of the world has a governor, whether in Natal or the Cape, whether the head of a crown colony or a responsible government, found it more difficult to act or to have his advice taken. Sir Henry Bulwer, the late governor of Natal, was treated as a cipher by the late govern ment on the subject of Zululand. Over and over again Sir Henry represented in a strong and official manner his views of the duties of England in Zululand, but over and over again his words and counsels were disregarded. As time went on, events seemed to prove his wisdom, but Lord Derby would not be enlightened by predicted or actual calamity and bloodshed. The fields of Zululand were left to welter in bloodshed. The Zulus themselves are a prey to Boer rapacity and internal anarchy, and the present position in south-east Africa is not only a reflection upon our statesmanship, but a blot upon our humanity. Yet the governor of Natal proved that he was wise and could estimate evidence and give advice. He spoke thus of Cetywayo's restoration (1880) after Ulundi: — Left alone, free from within and from without, the thought of the king's return or res. toration would not so much as occur to them. Wishes and hopes they have none, unless they foresee that the course of coming events obliges them to express hopes or wishes which may in no way represent their real sentiments. No words could have been wiser and truer than these, yet they were rejected. Most of the troubles, however, of a Cape governor are caused by his high commissionership, an extra office attached, as a rule, to this representative of the crown. Sir Henry Barkly, Sir Bartle Frere, and Sir Hercules Robinson have all been invested with a dual and occasionally discordant imperium. A somewhat parallel situation would arise if the governor of Queensland, Sir Anthony Musgrave, were invested with that roving commission which Sir Peter Scratchley held along the coasts of New Guinea and amongst the islands of the Pacific. The latter had to be a kind of itinerary justice of the peace over wide and unsettled areas, but constitutional duties bind Sir Anthony Musgrave down to Brisbane. Yet in South Africa we have apparently demanded that our constitutional gov ernor at Capetown should go far beyond the range of his colony, and wander forth as an argus-eyed reformer of border abuses twelve hundred miles from his residence. But such a supervision of imperial interests has proved a failure. It was asking too much of any one officer of the crown to do. The combination of the two offices is a relic of the old military regimé at the Cape before the days of constitutional government. This high commissionership is a wide and important office. Its area is broadened and narrowed according to circumstances. It will be recollected that Sir Bartle Frere lost his high commissionership in the Transvaal and Zululand. Originally he possessed a much more authoritative mandate than his predecessor Sir Henry Barkly. By the terms of his commission the latter was empowered "to settle and adjust the affairs of the eastern border of the Cape Colony" but Sir Bartle Frere had the virtual jurisdiction over "the territories in South Africa adjacent to the Cape Colony or those with which it was expedi ent that her Majesty should have relations." At the same time he was required Again, on the subject of South African confederation, the position of Sir Henry Barkly, the governor of the Cape at the time (1874-5), was rendered difficult by the action of imperial officers and emissaries. It was Mr. Froude who, whether intentionally or not, made the position of the Cape governor an awkward one. The idea of a conference, as well as the plan" to invite and obtain the co-operation of of South African confederation as formulated in the South African Permissive Bill, had been virtually negatived by the Molteno Cabinet. Mr. Froude, however, conducted an agitation within and without the borders of the Cape Colony against the Dutch republics, or of any foreign power toward the preservation of peace and safety in South Africa, and the gen eral welfare and advancement of its territories and peoples." As to his functions and duties he was enjoined "to take all measures, and to do all that can be law-| Cape. The task of reconciling the sometimes fully and discreetly done for preventing conflicting policies is often one of peculiar the recurrence of any irruption into her anxiety and difficulty, so much so that it has Majesty's possessions by hostile tribes, at times been suggested that the two offices and for maintaining the said possessions should be separated; but the dual duties dovetail, as it were, into each other to such an exin peace and safety, and for promoting, tent as to render it almost indispensable that as far as may be possible, the good order, they should centre. In my capacity as Her civilization, and moral and religious in- Majesty's High Commissioner I have had, struction of the native tribes in South ever since my arrival in South Africa, to attend Africa; and, with that view, of placing to a constant succession of anxious duties, them under some form of government." amongst which I may specify the Basuto The powers, magisterial and administra- Award, the Pretoria Convention, the resump tive, thus delegated to the high commis- tion of Basutoland by the Imperial Governsioner were indeed great. They were ment, the Convention of London, and the estab necessitated by the circumstances of the lishment of a Protectorate in Bechuanaland. case, and the presence of the natives. In South Africa the Kafir tribes are a problem within a problem. Over and above their range of civil and constitutional duties the governors of the Cape have had always to consider the supreme question of law and order on the frontier. The position of such a governor as Sir Frederick Weld in British Malaya is far different. Although he has to deal with swarms of natives he finds them tractable and obedient, and bound together under their rulers in more cohesive union than the Kafir clans of South Africa could possibly be. He is assisted by a Legisla tive Council who are fairly unanimous upon essential matters of finance and general administration. In South Africa the Dutch republicans and English settlers have not yet agreed upon forms of gov ernment or the general principles of na tive administration. British Malaya is peaceful and prosperous by the side of litigious South Africa, and Sir Frederick Weld can congratulate himself upon a unanimity between the governors and the governed, which for the present Sir Her cules Robinson may despair of obtaining. Sir Hercules Robinson has pointed out the peculiarities of his position, and his own words spoken at Kimberley in No. vember, 1884, are the best commentary on the vexed nature of a dual imperium: The difficulties [he remarked] of a constitu tional Governor are greatly increased by the office being held in conjunction with that of Her Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa. In that capacity there are personal duties to be performed outside the Cape Colony which extend over nearly the whole of South Africa. These duties are of an Imperial as distinguished from a Colonial character; and their peculiarity is that whilst they exist to carry out a policy determined by the Imperial Government, they must be made to harmonize with those which exist to carry out a policy determined by the Parliament of the There has been a good deal of discus. sion lately on this Bechuanaland subject. It has been objected by some that a pol icy in the new protectorate will not suc ceed if it is to be at the mercy of colonial cliques at Capetown. The Cape Colony has enough to tax her administrative energies in the Transkei and Tenbuland; and why should she point an ambitious finger northwards? If she wishes to rule natives, are not the Basutos and the Pondos near at hand far nearer than the Bechuanas? Truly the administrative field of South Africa is a large one. The area of the country gradually falling under civilized control may be calculated as exceeding seven hundred thousand square miles. The native population living in this vast region is roughly computed at two and a half millions. Surely there is room for a separate commissionership! It would be no reflection on the abilities and undoubted eminence of Sir Hercules Robinson if he divided the honors of South African administration with some other representative of her Majesty. WILLIAM GRESWELL. From Blackwood's Magazine. WILD-BOAR SHOOTING NEAR THE HEATHEN WALL OF THE VOSGES. A THREE hours' drive up hill on a dark winter's night through an unknown forest is not a cheerful termination to a tiresome railway journey; and as the train came into the little station of Oberenheim, or Obernai, as it is called in Alsace, I thought with dread of the cold, stuffy carriage and stumbling, weary horses. The anticipa tion of a discomfort is said to be generally worse than its reality, but it was not so in this case. When the train stopped, a woman came up to the only traveller who left it. |