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 believed. It was, as they said, their destiny. And for a while it did seem to be even so. Roman Terminus did advance. Under the eagles of Rome he was carried from his home on the Tiber to the farthest East on the one hand, and to the far West, among the then barbarious tribes of western Europe, on the other.

But at length the time came when retributive justice had become "a destiny." The despised Gaul calls out the contemned Goth, and Attila with his Huns answers back the battle-shout to both. The "blue-eyed nations of the North," in succession or united, pour forth their countless hosts of warriors upon Rome and Rome's always-advancing god Terminus. And now the battle-ax of the barbarian strikes down the conquering eagle of Rome. Terminus at last recedes, slowly at first, but finally he is driven to Rome, and from Rome to Byzantium. Whoever would know the further fate of this Roman deity so recently taken under the patronage of American democracy, may find ample gratification of his curiosity in the luminous pages of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall."

Such will find that Rome thought as you now think, that it was her destiny to conquer provinces and nations, and no doubt she sometimes said, as you say, "I will conquer a peace," and where now is she, the mistress of the world? The spider weaves his web in her palaces; the owl sings his watch-song in her towers. Teutonic power now lords it over the servile


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Rh suzerainty over the petty tyrants whose dominions were merged in the new duchy of Romagna, and incurred no positive loss by the change. In reality there was closer connection with Cæsar than with the vassals he had deposed, and more reliance to be placed in him. His fidelity was secured, for he could not maintain himself in opposition to the Pope. He had no friends in the other Italian States. Supported by the inexhaustible wealth of the Church, he could keep up an army which no power in Italy could resist; and the Papacy, assured of his fidelity, obtained for the first time a real material basis of independence. Before the French invasion of 1494, the Italians had so little habit of serious warfare that the various States enjoyed a sort of inert immunity from attack. The expedition of Charles VIII. showed how little there was of real security in the general proneness to inaction. By the aid of Cæsar Borgia the Papacy became a military power. That aid was purchased at a great price, but it was sure to be efficient.

The danger was not that the provinces would be alienated, but that the Papacy would fall under the sway of its formidable vassal. Alexander not only foresaw this result, but anxiously contrived to make it certain. It meant that his family should not relax their hold on the Church, to which they owed their elevation. He did not wish to weaken the staff on which they were obliged to lean. His purpose was not to dismember the State, but to consolidate part of it in such a way that his descendants should be the servants and yet the masters of his successors, and that a dynasty of Borgias should protect and should control the Papacy. There was ruin in the scheme, but not the obvious ruin commonly supposed. It was not inspired by religion or restrained by morality, but it was full of intelligent policy of a worldly sort. Cæsar's principality fell to pieces, but the materials enabled Julius II. to build up the Roman State, which was destined to last so long. The Borgias had laid so

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, the miserable memento of old and once omnipotent Rome.

Sad, very sad, are the lessons which time has written for us. Through and in them all I see nothing but the inflexible execution of that old law which ordains as eternal that cardinal rule, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods, nor anything which is his." Since I have lately heard so much about the dismemberment of Mexico I have looked back to see how, in the course of events, which some call "providence," it has fared with other nations who engaged in this work of dismemberment I see that in the latter half of the eighteenth century three powerful nations, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, united in the dismemberment of Poland. They said, too, as you say, "It is our destiny." They "wanted room." Doubtless each of these thought, with his share of Poland, his power was too strong ever to fear invasion, or even insult. One had his California, another his New Mexico, and the third his Vera Cruz. Did they remain untouched and incapable of harm? Alas! no—far, very far, from it. Retributive justice must fulfil its destiny, too.

A very few years pass off, and we hear of a new man, a Corsican lieutenant, the self-named "armed soldier of democracy," Napoleon. He ravages Austria, covers her land with blood, drives the Northern Cæsar from his capital, and sleeps in his palace. Austria may now remember how her power trampled upon Poland,


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84 firmly the foundations of their power, that the death of the Pope would not have shaken its stability if Cæsar had not been disabled for action at the moment when he was left to his own resources.

Gregorovius, like Ranke, accepts the story that Alexander perished by poison which had been prepared for others. It was the common rumour. Two other guests at the fatal supper, Cæsar and Cardinal Adrian, were seized with illness at the same time, and the latter assured Giovio that he had been poisoned. This statement, recorded by Giovio, is the only evidence that positively supports the suspicion. The report arose before the Pope was dead, as soon as the sudden illness of the others became known. But it was founded entirely on conjecture. Guicciardini, who did much to spread it, possessed no proof. He says that the story is confirmed by the fact that the Pope died within twenty-four hours. In reality he died on the seventh day after his attack. The witness who has been hitherto the principal authority proves, therefore, to have no evidence. There are almost daily accounts of the Pope's state between the 12th and the 18th August from Giustinian to Constabili. They suggest nothing more unusual than a violent Roman fever.


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Did she not pay dear, very dear, for her California?

But has Prussia no atonement to make? You see this same Napoleon, the blind instrument of providence, at work there. The thunders of his cannon at Jena proclaim the work of retribution for Poland's wrongs; and the success of the Great Frederick, the drill-sergeant of Europe, are seen flying across the sandy plain that surrounds their capital, right glad if they may escape captivity or death. But how fares it with the autocrat of Russia? Is he secure in his share of the spoils of Poland? No. Suddenly we see, sir, six hundred thousand armed men marching to Moscow. Does his Vera Cruz protect him now? Far from it. Blood, slaughter, desolation spread abroad over the land, and finally the conflagration of the old commercial metropolis of Russia closes the retribution she must pay for her share in the dismemberment of her weak and impotent neighbor.

Mr. President, a mind more prone to look for the judgments of heaven in the doings of men than mine, can not fail in this to see the providence of God. When Moscow burned, it seemed as if the earth was lighted up that the nations might behold the scene. As that mighty sea of fire gathered and heaved and rolled upward and yet higher till its flames licked the stars and fired the whole heavens, it did seem as tho the God of the nations was writing


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in characters of flame on the front of his throne that doom shall fall upon the strong nation which tramples in scorn upon the weak. And what fortune awaits him, the appointed executor of this work, when it was all done? He, too, conceived the notion that his destiny pointed onward to universal dominion. France was too small—Europe, he thought, should bow down before him.

But as soon as this idea took possession of his soul, he, too, becomes powerless. His Terminus must recede, too. Right there, while he witnessed the humiliation and doubtless meditated the subjugation of Russia, He who holds the winds in His fist gathered the snows of the north and blew them upon his six hundred thousand men; they fled—they froze—they perished. And now the mighty Napoleon, who has resolved on universal dominion, he, too, is summoned to answer for the violation of that ancient law, "Thou shalt not covet anything which is thy neighbor's." How is the mighty fallen! He, beneath whose proud footstep Europe trembled, he is now an exile at Elba, and now finally a prisoner on the rock of St. Helena, and there, on a barren island, in an unfrequented sea, in the crater of an extinguished volcano, there is the death-bed of the mighty conqueror. All his annexations have come to that! His last hour is now come, and he, the man of destiny, he who had rocked the world as with the throes of an earthquake, is now powerless, still—even


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 * The World's Famous Orations Vol. IX    (Thomas) Corwin on the Mexican War (1847)

title: Author:Thomas Corwin


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 He said it a second and a third time. Then the father replied (angrily): "I shall give thee unto Death." (The father, having once said so, though in haste, had to be true to his word and to sacrifice his son.) 5. The son said: "I go as the first, at the head of many (who have still to die); I go in the midst of many (who are now dying). What will be the work of Yama (the ruler of the departed) which to-day he has to do unto me I translate these verses freely, i.e. independently of the commentator, not that I ever despise the traditional interpretation which the commentators have preserved to us, but because I think that, after having examined it, we have a right to judge for ourselves. Sankara says that the son, having been addressed by his father full of anger, was sad, and said to himself: "Among many pupils I am the first, among many middling pupils I am the middlemost, but nowhere am I the last. Yet though I am such a good pupil, my father has said that he will consign me unto death. What duty has he to fulfil toward Yama which he means to fulfil to-day by giving me to him? There may be no duty, he may only have spoken in haste. Yet a father's word must not be broken." Having considered this, the son comforted his father, and exhorted him to behave like his forefathers, and to keep his word. I do not think this view of Sankara's could have been the view of the old poet. He might have made the son say that he was the best or one of the best of his father's pupils, but hardly that he was also one of his middling pupils, thus implying that he never was among the worst. That would be out of keeping with the character of Nakiketas, as drawn by the poet himself. Nakiketas is full of faith and wishes to die, he would be the last to think of excuses why he should not die. The second half of the verse may be more doubtful. It may mean what Sankara thinks it means, only that we should get thus again an implied complaint of Nakiketas against his father, and this is not in keeping with his character. The mind of Nakiketas is bent on what is to come, on what he will see after death, and on what Yama will do unto him. "What has Yama to do," he asks, "what can he do, what is it that he will to-day do unto me?" This seems to me consistent with the - ancient story, while Sankara's interpretations and interpolations savour too much of the middle ages of India. ?


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512 fine was to be paid to the Crown on every wedding, funeral, or christening; that a tax would be levied on every head of cattle, or the cattle should be forfeited; that no man should eat in his house white meat, pig, goose, nor capon, but that he should pay certain dues to the King's Grace.'

In the desecration of the abbey chapels and altar-plate a design was imagined against all religion. The clergy were to be despoiled; the parish churches pulled down, one only to be left for every seven or eight miles; the church plate to be confiscated, and 'chalices of tin' supplied for the priest to sing with.

Every element necessary for a great revolt was thus in motion—wounded superstition, real suffering, caused by real injustice, with their attendant train of phantoms. The clergy in the north were disaffected to a man; the people were in the angry humour which looks eagerly for an enemy, and flies at the first which seems to offer. If to a spirit of revolt there had been added a unity of purpose, the results would have been far other than they were. Happily, the discontents of the nobility, the gentlemen, the clergy, the commons, were different, and in many respects, opposite; and although, in the first heat of the commotion, a combination threatened to be possible, jealousy and suspicion rapidly accomplished the work of disintegration. The noble lords


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 6. Look back how it was with those who came before, look forward how it will be with those who come hereafter. A mortal ripens like corn, like corn he springs up again ." (Nakiketas enters into the abode of Yama Vaivasvata, and there is no one to receive him. Thereupon one of the attendants of Yama is supposed to say:) 7. "Fire enters into the houses, when a Brâhmana enters as a guest. That fire is quenched by this peace-offering; — bring water, O Vaivasvata ! 8. A Brâhmana that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle ." (Yama, returning to his house after an absence of three nights, during which time Nakiketas had received no hospitality from him, says:) 9. "O Brâhmana, as thou, a venerable guest, hast dwelt in my house three nights without eating,


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1536.] were in the interest of Pole, of European Catholicism, the Empire, and the Papacy; the country gentlemen desired only the quiet enjoyment of a right to do as they would with their own, and the quiet maintenance of a Church which was too corrupt to interfere with them. The working people had a just cause, though disguised by folly; but all honest sufferers soon learnt, that in rising against the Government, they had mistaken their best friends for foes.

It was Michaelmas then, in the year 1536. Towards the fall of the summer, clergy from the southern counties had been flitting northward, and on their return had talked mysteriously to their parishioners of impending insurrections in which honest men would bear their part. In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire the stories of the intended destruction of parish churches had been vociferously circulated; and Lord Hussey, at his castle at Sleford, had been heard to say to one of the gentlemen of the county, that 'the world would never mend until they fought for it.' September passed away; at the end of the month, the nunnery of Legbourne, near Louth, was suppressed by the visitors, and two servants of Cromwell were left in the house, to complete the


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514 . On Monday, the 2nd of October, Heneage, one of the examiners under the clerical commission, was coming, with the chancellor of the Bishop of Lincoln, into Louth itself, and the clergy of the neighbourhood were to appear and submit themselves to inspection.

The evening before being Sunday, a knot of people gathered on the green in the town. They had the great silver cross belonging to the parish with them; and as a crowd collected about them, a voice cried, 'Masters, let us follow the Cross; God knows whether ever we shall follow it hereafter or nay.' They formed in procession, and went round the streets; and after vespers, a party, headed 'by one Nicholas Melton, who, being a shoemaker, was called Captain Cobler,' appeared at the doors of the church, and required the churchwardens to give them the key of the jewel chamber. The chancellor, they said, was coming the next morning, and intended to seize the plate. The churchwardens hesitating, the keys were taken by force. The chests were opened, the crosses, chalices, and candlesticks 'were showed openly in the sight of every man,' and then, lest they should be stolen in the night, an armed watch kept guard till daybreak in the church aisles.

At nine o'clock on Monday morning Heneage entered the town, with a single servant. The chancellor was ill, and could not attend. As he rode in, the alarm-bell pealed out from Louth Tower. The inhabitants swarmed into the streets with bills and staves; 'the stir and the noise arising hideous. The


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 therefore choose now three boons. Hail to thee! and welfare to me!" 10. Nakiketas said: "O Death, as the first of the three boons I choose that Gautama, my father, be pacified, kind, and free from anger towards me; and that he may know me and greet me, when I shall have been dismissed by thee." 11. Yama said: "Through my favour Auddâlaki Âruni, thy father, will know thee, and be again towards thee as he was before. He shall sleep peacefully through the night, and free from anger, after having seen thee freed from the mouth of death." 12. Nakiketas said: "In the heaven-world there is no fear; thou art not there, O Death, and no one is afraid on account of old age. Leaving behind both hunger and thirst, and out of the reach of sorrow, all rejoice in the world of heaven. 13. Thou knowest, O Death, the fire-sacrificef which leads us to heaven; tell it to me, for I am full of faith. Those who live in the heaven-world reach immortality,- this I ask as my second boon." 14. Yama said: "I tell it thee, learn it from me, and when thou understandest that fire-sacrifice which leads to heaven, know, O Nakiketas, that it is the attainment of the endless worlds, and their firm support, hidden in darkness ." 15. Yama then told him that fire-sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds, and what bricks are


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1536.] commissioner, in panic at the disturbance, hurried into the church for sanctuary; but the protection was not allowed to avail him. He was brought out into the market-place, a sword was held to his breast, and he was sworn at an extemporized tribunal to be true to the commons, upon pain of death. 'Let us swear! let us all swear!' was then the cry. A general oath was drawn. The townsmen swore—all strangers resident swore, that they would be faithful to the King, the commonwealth, and to Holy Church.

In the heat of the enthusiasm appeared the registrar of the diocese, who had followed Heneage with his books, in which was enrolled Cromwell's commission. Instantly clutched, he was dragged to the market-cross. A priest was mounted on the stone steps, and commanded him to read the commission aloud. He began; but the 'hideous clamour' drowned his voice. The crowd climbing on his shoulders, to overlook the pages, bore him down. He flung the book among the mob, and it was torn leaf from leaf and burnt upon the spot. The registrar barely escaped with his life: he was rescued by friends, and hurried beyond the gates.

Meanwhile, a party of the rioters had gone out to Legbourne, and returned, bringing Cromwell's servants, who were first set in the stocks, and thrust afterwards into the town gaol.

So passed Monday. The next morning, early, the common-bell was again ringing. Other commissioners were reported to be at Castre, a few miles distant; and Melton the shoemaker, and 'one great James,' a tailor,


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516 with a volunteer army of horse and foot, harnessed and unharnessed, set out to seize them. The alarm had spread; the people from the neighbouring villages joined them as they passed, or had already risen and were in marching order. At Castre they found the commissioners fled; but a thousand horse were waiting for them, and the number was every moment increasing. Whole parishes marched in, headed by their clergy. A rendezvous was fixed at Rotherwell; and at Rotherwell, on that day, or the next, besides the commons, 'there were priests and monks' (the latter fresh ejected from their monasteries—pensioned, but furious) 'to the number of seven or eight hundred.' Some were 'bidding their bedes,' and praying for the Pope and cardinals; some were in full harness, or armed with such weapons as they could find: all were urging on the people. They had, as yet, no plans. What would the gentlemen do? was the question. 'Kill the gentlemen,' the priests answered; 'if they will not join us, they shall all be hanged.' This difficulty was soon


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 required for the altar, and how many, and how they are to be placed. And Nakiketas repeated all as it had been told to him. Then Mrityu, being pleased with him, said again: 16. The generous, being satisfied, said to him: "I give thee now another boon; that fire-sacrifice shall be named after thee, take also this many-coloured chain . 17. He who has three times performed this Nâkiketa-rite and has been united with the three (father, mother, and teacher), and has performed the three duties (study, sacrifice, almsgiving) overcomes birth and death. When he has learnt and understood this fire, which knows (or makes us know) all that is born of Brahman , which is venerable and divine, then he obtains everlasting peace. 18. He who knows the three Nâkiketa fires, and knowing the three, piles up the Nâkiketa sacrifice, he, having first, thrown off the chains of death, rejoices in the world of heaven, beyond the reach of grief. 19. This, O Nakiketa, is thy fire which leads to heaven, and which thou hast chosen as thy second boon. That fire all men will proclaim. Choose now, O Nakiketa, thy third boon." 20. Nakiketa said: "There is that doubt, when a man is dead, — some saying, he is; others, he is not. This I should like to know, taught by thee; this is the third of my boons." 21. Death said: "On this point even the gods


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1536.] settled. They were swept up from their halls, or wherever they could be found. The oath was offered them, with the alternative of instant death; and they swore against their will, as all afterwards pretended, and as some perhaps sincerely felt; but when the oath was once taken, they joined with a hearty unanimity, and brought in with them their own armed retainers, and the stores from their houses. Sir Edward Madyson came in, Sir Thomas Tyrwhit and Sir William Ascue. Lord Borough, who was in Ascue's company when the insurgents caught him, rode for his life, and escaped. One of his servants was overtaken in the pursuit, was wounded mortally, and shriven on the field.

So matters went at Louth and Castre. On Tuesday, October 3rd, the country rose at Horncastle, in the same manner, only on an even larger scale. On a heath in that neighbourhood there was 'a great muster;' the gentlemen of the county coming in, in large numbers, with 'Mr Dymmock,' the sheriff, at their head. Dr Mackarel, the Abbot of Barlings, was present, with his canons, in full armour; from the


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518 abbey came a waggon-load of victuals; oxen and sheep were driven in from the neighbourhood; and a retainer of the house carried a banner, on which was worked a plough, a chalice and a host, a horn, and the five wounds of Christ. The sheriff, with his brother, rode up and down the heath, scattering money among the crowd and the insurrection now gaining point, another gentle man 'wrote on the field upon his saddle bow,' a series of articles, which were to form the ground of the rising.

Six demands were to be made upon the Crown: 1. The religious houses should be restored, 2. The subsidy should be remitted. 3. The clergy should pay no more tenths and first-fruits to the Crown. 4. The Statute of Uses should be repealed. 5. The villein blood should be removed from the privy council. 6. The heretic bishops, Cranmer and Latimer, Hilsey Bishop of Rochester, Brown Archbishop of Dublin, and their own Bishop Longlands the persecuting Erastian, should be deprived and punished.

The deviser and the sheriff sat on their horses side by side, and read these articles, one by one, aloud, to the people. 'Do they please you or not?' they said, when they had done. 'Yea, yea, yea!' the people shouted, waving their staves above their heads; and messengers were chosen instantly, and despatched upon the spot, to carry to Windsor to the King the demands


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 have doubted formerly; it is not easy to understand. That subject is subtle. Choose another boon, O Nakiketas, do not press me, and let me off that boon." 22. Nakiketas said: "On this point even the gods have doubted indeed, and thou, Death, hast declared it to be not easy to understand, and another teacher like thee is not to be found: — surely no other boon is like unto this." 23. Death said: "Choose sons and grandsons who shall live a hundred years, herds of cattle, elephants, gold, and horses. Choose the wide abode of the earth, and live thyself as many harvests as thou desirest. 24. If you can think of any boon equal to that, choose wealth, and long life. Be (king), Nakiketas, on the wide earth. I make thee the enjoyer of all desires. 25. Whatever desires are difficult to attain among mortals, ask for them according to thy wish; — these fair maidens with their chariots and musical instruments, — such are indeed not to be obtained by men, — be waited on by them whom I give to thee, but do not ask me about dying." 26. Nakiketas said: "These things last till tomorrow, O Death, for they wear out this vigour of all the senses. Even the whole of life is short. Keep thou thy horses, keep dance and song for thyself. 27. No man can be made happy by wealth. Shall we possess wealth, when we see thee? Shall we live,


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1536.] of the inhabitants of Lincolnshire. Nothing was required more but that the rebellion should be cemented by a common crime; and this, too, was speedily accomplished.

The rebellion in Ireland had been inaugurated with the murder of Archbishop Allen; the insurgents of Lincolnshire found a lower victim, but they sacrificed him with the same savageness. The chancellor of Lincoln had been the instrument through whom Cromwell had communicated with the diocese, and was a special object of hatred. It does not appear how he fell into the people's hands. We find only that 'he was very sick,' and in this condition he was brought up on horseback into the field at Horncastle. As he appeared he was received by 'the parsons and vicars' with a loud long yell—'Kill him! kill him!' 'Whereupon two of the rebels, by procurement of the said parsons and vicars, pulled him violently off his horse, and, as he knelt upon his knees, with their staves they slew him, the parsons crying continually, 'Kill him! kill him!''

As the body lay on the ground it was stripped bare, and the garments were parted among the murderers. The sheriff distributed the money that was in the chancellor's purse. 'And every parson and every vicar in the field counselled their parishioners, with many comfortable words, to proceed in their journey, saying unto them that they should lack neither gold nor silver.' These, we presume, were Pole's seven thousand children


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520 of light who had not bowed the knee to Baal—the noble army of saints who were to flock to Charles's banners.

The same Tuesday there was a rising at Lincoln. Bishop Longlands' palace was attacked and plundered, and the town occupied by armed bodies of insurgents. By the middle of the week the whole country was in movement—beacons blazing, alarm-bells ringing; and, pending the reply of the King, Lincoln became the focus to which the separate bodies from Castre, Horncastle, Louth, and all other towns and villages, flocked in for head quarters.

The duty of repressing riots and disturbances in England lay with the nobility in their several districts. In default of organized military or police, the nobility ex officio were the responsible guardians of the peace. They held their estates subject to these obligations, and neglect, unless it could be shown to be involuntary, was treason. The nobleman who had to answer for the peace of Lincolnshire, was Lord Hussey of Sleford. Lord Hussey had spoken, as I have stated, in unambiguous language, of the probability and desirableness of a struggle. When the moment came, it seems as if he had desired the fruits of a Catholic victory without


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 CHAPTER XXI.

as had been our sojourn among "our New Zealand cousins," and rapid as had been our journeying through the islands, it will be evident, I think, from what I have recorded in the foregoing chapters, that enormous progress has been made during the last twenty years in all that tends to build up sound national life. The history of New Zealand in its connection with the mother country is, in fact, the history of all the Australian colonies. Too often has their importance been but grudgingly recognized, where it has not in some instances been overlooked altogether by the leaders of thought and political life at home. Of late years, thanks to such true Britons as Professor Seeley and others, ample amends have been made for this whilom neglect. The tendency now is all the other way. With the multiplication and development of

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 means of communication, the pulsations of colonial life are more quickly and keenly felt at the heart of the empire. Their political importance is no longer ignored; but it is open to some doubt if their commercial importance is as yet adequately recognized. What fields are there not here open for the employment of British capital in exploiting our mineral wealth alone. We hear of millions being sunk in Southern India, Spain, and elsewhere, yet I know myself of gold, silver, copper, tin, antimony, bismuth, coal, slate, marble, lead and other deposits in dozens of localities in Australia and New Zealand, all of which would give certain and ample returns to judicious investment. In silver alone, of late years, the application of improved methods has at one jump lifted Australia into the foremost ranks of silver-producing countries. If English capitalists would utilize the services of competent scientific mining engineers, metallurgists and mineralogists; if they would assist their colonial cousins with part of their wealth, to properly prospect the country, there might be such a "boom" in mining, as would draw more closely than ever the heart and circumference of the Empire together, and forge fresh bands of solid substantial profits, mutual inter-dependence, and community of material interests between all portions of our race which would quickly result in a very real tangible federation indeed. But not only in minerals do these colonies offer inducements to the capitalist at home. Hundreds of promising industries are retarded for want of the necessary capital. Oil

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 mills, for example, would be an instant success, if the farmer were only assured of a steady market close at hand for his oil crops. Tobacco-growing would increase a hundredfold and would become a lucrative investment, if capital were judiciously expended in putting up the necessary appliances for manufacturing the leaf. Butter, cheese, and bacon factories are even now increasing, but are capable of indefinite multiplication. In the manufacture of essences and essential oils, there are splendid openings for investment, and indeed there is scarcely a product of nature used in the arts or sciences that could not be profitably grown and manufactured in these colonies were but the right men imbued with the desire to try them. As a rule the colonial farmer is a poor man. Clearing is expensive; wages, fortunately for the labouring classes, are high; and the facilities for securing land have hitherto been great, so that most settlers have been tempted into purchasing more land than they could profitably work, with such resources as have been at their command. Now, however, capital might be encouraged to bring the aids of combination, modern machinery, and skilled enterprise, to the aid of the farmer. In fruit-preserving alone, were the right methods adopted, there are fortunes lying ready to be made, beside which the profits of similar enterprises in old lands would seem petty and mean. As it is, all the available capital in the colonies is profitably invested, and any return under six per cent, is looked on as on the whole rather unsatisfactory.

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 In fisheries I have suggested boundless potentialities; and indeed nature has been so lavish in her gifts of raw material, that if we could only fairly set moneyed men and men of inventive genius thinking, and induce them to throw in their lot amongst us, we could not fail to benefit by the accession, and they would never have cause to regret their advent.

To farmers with a little capital, who find too circumscribed a sphere for their energies in the old lands, the colonies present an inviting field. Land is yet plentiful and cheap. The returns for faithful tillage are bountiful and certain, and there is no end to the variety of products that may be grown. "Corn, and wine, and oil," is no figure of speech as applied to the products of these colonies, but a plain matter-of-fact statement. As regards New Zealand, for instance, the following statement illustrates the anxiety and determination of the Government to foster agriculture, and it should not be forgotten that roads and railways are constantly being constructed, and new markets being opened up.

"In order to test the sincerity of the outcry for land by professional political agitators, as well as to prevent the chronic appeals of the labouring classes to the Government through alleged lack of employment, the Minister of Lands has devised a new land scheme. The leading features of it are the setting apart of blocks of land as special settlements—in the first instance in Wellington province, but if successful, the scheme will be

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 extended to other provinces—to be occupied on perpetual leases for a first term of thirty years, and a second term of twenty-one, without any right of acquiring a freehold. Rental is to be based on the capital value of the land, the minimum price being two per cent, per acre, and the maximum area twenty acres to any applicant, who will get it without competition, as priority will be determined by lot. Among the essential conditions are residence, cultivation, and that the land shall not be subdivided or sublet. Government will contribute 20l. towards building the settler's house, and, if land is bush, will give the average price to enable the selector to clear and sow the section in grass. The State will then charge on value of the land five per cent, per year, and on the sum advanced for the improvement the same rate. A start will be made in the middle of June of the present year (1886) to make the initial experiment at Parihaka, and the Government state the settlements will be located near towns or railways where labour is attainable, and where the land is suitable for small industries."

To active, intelligent artisans, and workers who have no capital but their own stout hearts and strong, willing limbs, these colonies present a field for their enterprise, such as is nowhere else existent at this time upon the earth. We have no room for the intemperate idler, the loafer, or incompetent, chicken-hearted, slovenly shirker. We have enow of these, God wot, already; but there is work out

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 here for every willing, capable, self-respecting man, under circumstances of such material comfort, such increased remuneration, such political freedom, such generous fare and charm of climate, with all the accessories and surroundings of community of speech, race, religion, and home institutions, as are nowhere else procurable in any dependency of the Empire. A little "roughing it" there is certain to be at first. Things will be a little strange to begin with. The streets of colonial cities are not paved with gold, and indeed the towns and cities are in any case not the best fields for the labourer in the colonies, but if a man is willing, adaptable, handy, cheerful, sober, and determined to get on, depend upon it he cannot fail of a success, which is all but impossible of achievement in the crowded and narrow sphere of the labourer's life at home.

To the seeker after health, these colonies offer the fountains of renewed youth. At all times of the year by judiciously changing the locality, you can live in perpetual summer, with an air as balmy and bracing, and perfectly enjoyable, as can fall to the lot of mortals here below.

To the lover of the picturesque, and the seeker after the pure delights that a communion with nature ever yields, I think my pages of description surely afford ample promise that a visit cannot possibly be fraught with disappointment.

The clouds of commercial depression are lifting. The native difficulty seems to be fairly and for ever settled. Politics, let us hope, are becoming purified. The long succession of deficits has at

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 length come to an end. Last year's estimates have shown a surplus of 37,000l. The coming year has an estimated revenue of over four millions, with an anticipated surplus of 42,000l. This is accompanied by a diminution of the property tax to the amount of 24,000l. The population is increasing satisfactorily. Public works of much importance, and of a reproductive character, are being vigorously prosecuted; and those already carried out, are year by year becoming increasingly reproductive. The feeling of friendly regard and brotherly affection for the dear old mother country seems only to become accentuated as time rolls on. The signs of returning and permanent prosperity are everywhere apparent. Intellectual and mental life is vigorous; religion and learning are advancing; and on all sides, the outlook is hopeful and the signs fortuitous. It is to be hoped indeed that our New Zealand cousins are entering upon a new era of peaceful progress and steady advancement in everything that will tend to build up true national greatness, and help to preserve the unity, the peace, and the dignity of that great Empire of which their southern island home is one of the most beautiful and most fruitful dependencies.

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301 NEW ZEALAND FORESTS.

has prepared a voluminous report on the forests of the Colony and the state of the timber trade, which he has forwarded to the Minister of Lands. The report deals with each provincial district separately, but the forests of East Cape and the southern districts of the North Island have yet to be treated of. The following are portions of the report:—

THE SOUTHLAND TIMBER INDUSTRY.

In Southland there are still 312,467 acres of virgin forest out of 345,197 reserved by the Crown. It will thus be seen that the area already denuded by sawmillers is 32,730 acres. There are thirty-six sawmills in operation, employing about 700 men, the average weekly expenditure for wages being 1200l., or about 65,000l. per annum; the total output being estimated at 24,000,000 superficial feet of inch thickness per annum. The Southland timber trade is certainly in a depressed state at this time, caused by over-production, though the rapid development of Southland trade has closed mills in Catlin River, annihilated the coastal timber export of Westland, and greatly restricted that of Marlborough and Nelson. The timber converted in Otago district does not amount to more than one-fourth of the annual output of Southland, so that Southland practically supplies the markets of the southern portion of the Colony from Invercargill to Ashburton with red and white pine, and exports cargoes to Queen Charlotte Sound, the Wairarapa, and the Manawatu. The quantity of timber shipped from Southland ports coastwise during the year ending 31st March, 1885, was 1,659,038 superficial feet; to foreign countries, 1,107,674 feet. There can be no doubt that the foreign trade is capable of considerable expansion. The total area of forest land granted for sawmill leases during the three years ending 30th September, 1885, is 5901 acres, so

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 that, including the mills working on private land, over 200 acres of forests are denuded yearly in Southland alone.

THE OTAGO FORESTS.

Otago has an area of 13,759,000 acres Crown lands, but the Professor thinks the area of really good forest will fall below 1,000,000 acres. From a return prepared by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Otago, I find that eleven sawmills are in operation in the district, while two others are returned as not working. The total number of men employed is stated to be 101, and the annual output slightly exceeds 7,600,000 superficial feet. Although six mills are stated to be worked by engines of six-horse power only, the number of men may safely be increased to 160, and will then contrast poorly with 700 men and boys employed in the Southland sawmills. Licenses in Otago are granted for sections of 100 acres, at the rate of 1l. 1s. per acre, payable in three annual instalments. Licenses are granted to split and cut firewood, fencing, &c., on sections 200 feet square, on payment of 2l. 10s. per annum. The total receipts from both sources amount to rather more than 500l. per annum.

TIMBER INDUSTRY IN CANTERBURY.

The proportion of forest land in the Government district of Canterbury is less than in any other part of the Colony, large portions of the districts being absolutely divested of trees except where small plantations have been made by settlers. The district has an area of 8,693,000 acres, of which 374,350 acres are considered to be more or less clothed with forest, but as the chief forest areas are situated in mountainous country, the quantity of timber available for the purposes of sawmills is extremely small. No timber is being cut in State forests in Canterbury under license at the present time. The land is sold at 2l. per acre, including timber. Twenty-one sawmills are in operation, and the average output of each is less than 500,000 feet per annum, the total not exceeding 9,893,000 superficial feet.

WESTLAND.

The area of Westland is estimated at 3,045,000 acres, of which 1,897,558 acres are covered with splendid forest still in the hands of the Crown, in addition to 632,519 acres of lowland scrub or inferior forest. At the present time most of the mills are not working more than one-third time, and

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 some even less. The actual output at the present time scarcely exceeds three million superficial feet, while the number of men employed is 291, conversion being restricted to sufficient to meet local demands, the coastal trade having completely passed away. The freehold may be acquired in Westland for 1l. per acre, including the timber. Licenses to cut timber are granted for one year on payment of a fee of 5l., or 10s. per month, but no definite limitations are made with regard to area. Practically, the licensee has liberty to cut wherever he pleases within the boundary described in this license, no supervision being attempted.

NELSON FOREST LANDS.

The area of the provincial district of Nelson is estimated at 7,000,000 acres, the forest lands still in the hands of the Crown comprising an area estimated approximately at 3,290,000 acres; but this quantity includes good mountain forest, scrub, and patches of timber in gullies, &c., so that it is extremely difficult to form an approximate estimate of the average of timber available for profitable conversion. In all probability it will not exceed 1,000,000 acres. Twenty-two sawmills are in operation in the district, and afford employment to 130 men and boys. The total output is stated at 5,360,000 superficial feet.

THE TIMBER INTERESTS OF MARLBOROUGH.

Marlborough has 2,560,000 acres, one-fifth of which is covered with forests of varying quality. Fourteen sawmills are in operation in the district, and afford employment to 175 men and boys. The annual output is estimated at 8,606,340 superficial feet. Sawmills were established in this district in the very early days, a large supply of good timber growing in situations of easy access, and the facilities for shipping coastwise have proved an irresistible inducement. It is therefore no great matter for surprise that most of the forests near the sea have been practically worked out.

THE AUCKLAND TIMBER INDUSTRY.

The provincial district of Auckland comprises 17,000,000 acres, and includes the most valuable forests in the Colony. The area covered by forest is estimated by the chief surveyor to contain 7,200,000 acres, of which about 1,606,350 acres—including the reserves—are still held by the Crown. A

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 feature of the forests of the Northern District is that while they possess timber-trees not found in any other part of the Colony, they comprise as well all the kinds found in the other provincial districts. The kauri is by far the most valuable timber-tree in the Colony. For good continuous kauri forest, 20,000 superficial feet per acre would be a rather low average, but much of the land classed as kauri forest may have only one or two trees per acre—equivalent, say, from 3000 to 5000 superficial feet.

The following approximate estimate has been prepared by Mr. S. P. Smith, chief surveyor:—Kauri forest in the hands of the Government, 36,470 acres; owned by Europeans, 58,200 acres; owned by natives, 43,800;—total, 138,470 acres. Mr. Smith states his belief that a considerable proportion of the kauri forest still in the hands of the natives is subject to rights of Europeans to cut timber therefrom, and adds: "In making up this estimate I exclude forests in which the timber, as far as my knowledge goes, is scattered and not likely to pay for working at present, and take only that which is fairly accessible."

Referring to the timber industry of Auckland, Professor Kirk says that the return drawn up by the Registrar-General states the number of sawmills to be 43, of which eight are worked by water-power. The annual output is stated to be 48,631,206 superficial feet, and the number of persons employed 1443 men and 35 women. These are very much below the proper numbers. The total value of timber exported from Auckland is returned at 135,952l., or more than five times as much as all the rest of the Colony put together. The Auckland sawmills must be classed amongst the best in the world. The largest are considered to be unequalled in the southern hemisphere. In one or two cases employment is given to nearly 500 men and boys, and the annual output of each is stated to exceed 8,500,000 feet per annum. At the present time there are numerous mills with an output of 5,000,000 feet and upwards. One mill, with an annual output of 500,000 feet, is stated to have sufficient timber to last for over 30 years, but this is an exceptional case. With possibly two exceptions, all large mills have sufficient standing kauri to keep them going for the next 12 or 15 years, at least, at the present demand.

THE EXTINCTION OF THE KAURI.

Professor Kirk concludes his report, as follows:—"Estimating the total extent of available kauri forest at 200,000 acres, and placing the average yield at the high rate of 15,000 superficial feet per acre for all classes, the present demand

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 will exhaust the supply in 26 years, making no allowance for natural increase of local requirements. If, however, the demand expands in the same ratio that it has shown during the last 10 years, the consumption in 1895 will be upwards of 240,000,000 superficial feet per annum, and the kauri will be practically worked out within 15 years from the present date. Under these circumstances, the best interests of Auckland and the Colony at large demand the strict conservation of all available kauri forests. The progress and welfare of northern districts have been largely due to her magnificent forest resources, and their conservation will prove an important factor in the permanence of her prosperity. The utilization of the ordinary timbers should be encouraged, and it should be an axiom with the settlers not to use kauri when red or white pine can be made to answer the purpose. Any steps tending to postpone the period of exhaustion will be of the greatest benefit to Auckland, as they would allow a longer period for the growth of kauri timber to take place within the restricted limit in which replacement is possible. Should this warning be unheeded, a large displacement of labour will result, and the prosperity of the North will be greatly retarded.

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 Extracts from the Sydney Daily Press relating to the recent eruption of Mount Tarawera.

Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, June 11th, 1886.

, Thursday. was received here early this morning from Rotorua, stating that a terrible volcanic disturbance had taken place at Mount Tarawera. The residents of Rotorua passed a fearful night. The earth had been in a continual state of quaking since midnight. At ten minutes past two this morning the first heavy shock of earthquake occurred. It was accompanied by a fearful subterranean roar, which caused the greatest alarm to the residents, who immediately ran out of their houses. A grand yet terrible sight met their gaze. Mount Tarawera, which is in close proximity to Rotomahana, suddenly became an active volcano, and from the summit of the mountain immense volumes of flame belched forth to a great height. Streams of lava ran down the sides of the mountain.

The eruption appears to have extended itself to several places southward.

Dense masses of ashes came pouring down in the neighbourhood of the settlement at Rotorua at 4 a.m., accompanied by a suffocating smell, which rose from the lower regions of the earth. An immense black cloud of ashes hung like a pall over the country for miles round, extending in a line from Taheka to Wairoa.

At 3 a.m., a terrific report aroused the sleeping inhabitants of Taupo. An immense glare of a pillar-shaped light was observed to the N.N.E., and a great black cloud hung over this pillar. It was concave on the underside and convex on the upper, whilst meteors shot out from

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 the cloud in every direction, shedding unearthly bluish lights all around. Loud reports, accompanied by very heavy shocks of earthquake, followed in quick succession. The earthquakes continued till 6 a.m., when daylight dimly appeared, but the clouds of ashes which hung over the country rendered the light almost invisible. The trembling inhabitants thought that the end of the world had come. Two hitherto extinct volcanoes, Ruawhia and Tarawera, threw an immense column of flame and smoke into the heavens. Molten lava and hot mud ran in all directions, while huge rocks and masses of fire went up and around everywhere.

June 12th, 1886. Refugees from Wairoa describe the eruption of Okaro, one of the peaks of Mount Tarawera, as a magnificent, but terrible sight. It is estimated an area of country sixty miles in extent has been either under volcanic eruption, or affected by the upheavals. The scene at Wairoa is described by several eye-witnesses as being one of terrible grandeur, and equal to that represented in Martin's celebrated picture of the Last Day. Shocks of earthquake continued almost incessant for three hours, but after that the quakings somewhat subsided.

Latest intelligence from Rotorua states that at a quarter to eight to-night, Ruawaku, one of the craters of Mount Tarawera, was still belching forth a huge column of steam and smoke. The whole mountain is almost completely hidden from view by the dense clouds of smoke. One man, who caught a momentary glimpse of the mountain, says that it has been raised by from 200 to 300 feet. Lake Rotomahana has become less, and is now one mass of boiling water. Nobody has yet been able to penetrate as far as the famous Pink Terraces. It is a matter of dispute as to what state they are now in. An attempt will be made to examine the neighbourhood of the terraces to-morrow.

Sydney Daily Telegraph. Tuesday, June 22nd, 1886. June 12.—We left Tauranga at half-past six, the wind sharp and bracing and the ground covered with hoar frost and the pools with ice. All over the surface of the land, as far as the eye could reach, lay a coating of volcanic dust, which was stirred up into clouds by every puff of wind. As we ascended the hill towards Oropi bush this coating became thinner, diminishing from an even deposit of about a quarter of an inch to the bare covering of the ground. Vegetation everywhere is coated with this earthy matter, although it is not so deep as to prevent the cattle from obtaining food.

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 The atmosphere was perfectly clear and the sun unobscured. The few settlers spoken to on the road all referred to the alarm caused by the untoward event of the previous day, but it was generally taken for granted that the force of the eruption had expended itself. Its distance and the cause of the dustcloud being understood, there was no further uneasiness, except for the fate of those near the centre of the eruption. The coating of dust steadily diminished as we neared Ohinemutu itself. On emerging from the bush at the top of the hill overlooking Lake Rotorua, a magnificent and at the same time saddening spectacle was disclosed. A dense bank of steam of snowy whiteness extended for miles and rose above the range of hills on the shore of Rotorua, opposite Ohinemutu. This bank of vapour drifted slowly to the northward and merged into another dustcloud, which appeared to be created by the play of the wind upon the thick deposits of dust which covered the hills and forests in that direction, In the direction where Tarawera was known to be, the bank of steam was solid and unbroken for miles, and rose to a height of several thousand feet further to the right. Over the road leading to Kotomahana [sic] was another vast column; over that lake the setting sun lit up these cloudbanks with a flush of pink, covering with a glory the ramparts of desolation below. Taking within this view the whole line of hills from Taheke to Ohinemutu—that is to say, the whole of the north shore of Rotorua everything wore the grey-drab tint of the volcanic débris. At Ohinemutu itself the steam-jets appeared rather less active than otherwise, although numbers of new springs have broken out and the water of Lake Rotorua has risen a foot.

At the Ngae the shower was heavier, the dust falling to a depth of nine inches. The stories of mud and stones being deposited to a depth of several feet at this place are thus disproved. The dust covered up all vegetation, leaving cattle absolutely without food; some have already died at the Ngae; others are being fed on hay. The block of land at Taheke, which was valued on Tuesday at 11s. an acre, is now declared almost worthless, owing to this thick deposit of dust. Beyond Taheke, in the direction of Tauranga, the lightning felled several trees, which produced bush fires, and falling timber has obstructed the coach-road. There was, fortunately, no loss of life in any of these directions.

The pretty little Tikitapu bush, such a favourite with tourists, is completely destroyed; the whole forest is covered with three feet of volcanic dust. Trees 170 feet high are lying flat, torn up by the convulsion and the high wind, and their roots, as they were torn from the earth, lying in many cases ten feet

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Rh high. All undergrowth is swept away or torn down with the weight of the débris, and not a leaf is to be seen, and the foliage of the big trees is destroyed. On reaching the Tikitapu Lake, we find that it is the "Blue Lake" no longer; the colour of the water is changed to a dirty brown. Following the road, the sidings are filled up with drift deposits to half the width of the road. Rising the hill we come in view of Rotokakihi. What was once the green lake is now dirty water, and the heaviness of the shower may be gauged by a ditch of two feet, and a bank four feet, the top of which only is visible.

The residents at Rotorua described the noises heard as similiarsimilar [sic] to those experienced at Tauranga—rumblings and tremors—but nothing resembling the cannonading heard in Auckland. The latter noise probably arose from the discharges in the upper atmosphere, and was deadened to those nearer the scene by the rumblings and vibrations in the lower atmosphere.

At Ohinemutu, the first signs of disturbance were felt at one o'clock in the shape of rumbling noises, which were taken for earthquakes. These continued without intermission. On looking out, a dense black cloud was seen in the direction of Tarawera, but it appeared as if it was hanging over Ohinemutu itself. In this cloud occurred wonderful electric phenomena, like the most brilliant lightning, but terrible beyond description. Finally the whole population rushed from their houses, terror-stricken, and ran down the street, moved apparently by the impulse to get away from the black canopy which swelled as if it were about to seal up the history of the village and involve all its inhabitants in a common grave. Some declared that the Day of Judgment had come, and the feeling experienced was such as we may suppose would be felt by the inhabitants of the earth on that day. None of these to whom I have spoken wish to repeat the experience of that terrible night.

The discoveries made by the expedition to Rotomahana and its south sides enable us for the first time to construct a connected account of the eruption and the extent and character of its influence. As to the phenomena, as connected with the first outbreak, there is naturally some discrepancy in statements, owing to the excitement under which observations were made, but a careful comparison of the descriptions given by the most competent and careful observers, shows that the first outbreak undoubtedly began in the peak of Tarawera mountain, known as Ruawhia. Not improbably some shifting of the earth crust beneath the mountain or a change within it, producing the generation of

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 great heat, caused the prolonged earthquake and rumblings which were heard between one and two o'clock in the morning, forming the first of the series of phenomena which attended the eruption. Soon after two o'clock Ruawhia was observed to be in flames. Above it hung a canopy of black smoke, producing on the mountain the appearance of a large mushroom, and lightning played with such brilliancy around the peak that the glare from the volcanic fires was hardly distinguishable. There is no doubt, however, that the mountain did emit flames, attended with a belching forth of red-hot stones, which could be distinctly seen as they were ejected into the air and rolled down the mountain sides. This continued for about an hour before the vomiting of the great mud cloud out of Lake Rotomahana, which fell so disastrously on the village of Wairoa. This cloud was observed by those watching the eruption of Tarawera to come up some miles south of the great mountain, and its apparent location gave rise to the belief, now proved erroneous, that Mount Kakaramea and the adjacent Lake Okara were in eruption.

The loss from the destruction of the terraces, as we cannot but fear they are gone, is simply incalculable. A marvel which was without parallel on the earth has been swept away; and even if ever replaced by the same agencies working in the silicious strata, and this is improbable, a long geological period would be necessary for their reproduction. The eruptions now in progress are attended by frequent earthquakes. Three were felt while we were in camp and two during the four hours spent on the dusthills around Rotomahana. One was of such violence that the swaying of the hill we were standing on was visible to the eye. If these craters keep in action they will form as great an attraction to tourists as the terraces, but when an escape has been found for the forces recently set into motion, they may subside into quiescence or become intermittent. The Rotorua district, however, must always be a very wonderful one, which tourists through New Zealand will never willingly leave out of their routes. As an attraction now, the district offers novelties which surpass everything here before. It furnishes the extraordinary example of how geological changes in the earth's strata are sometimes effected in the course of a few hours. The half-buried houses and whares at Wairoa are perfectly unique, and the village ought to be left standing just as it is, except so far as excavations are necessary to recover bodies or property. Rotomahana, as an exhibition of nature's forces, is infinitely more marvellous than ever it was before. To see this large basin torn and

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 lashed with a fury that baffles description—roaring, cannonading, screeching, driving into the air at one spot columns of steam such as might be generated in the boilers of a leviathian [sic] steamship, and from another orifice in the same crater send out black volumes of smoke and showers of stones, is a spectacle that can only lose in magnificence by any attempt to convey an expression of it in words. I feel that I dare not attempt to do it justice. Fortunately, from the configuration of the ground a full view may be obtained of a most extensive area of country.

With regard to the volcanic eruption, Dr. Hector believes that the earthquake shocks caused by the outbreak of Tarawera mountain, ruptured the steam-pipes in the Rotomahana geysers and let in the water of the lake upon the subterranean heat, resulting in the generation of enormous quantities of steam and the ejectment of the mud at the bottom of the lake. He doubts, however, whether the eruption has been of a character which produces the formation of lava. He thinks rather that the outburst on Tarawera was caused by the rupture of the sealed cap which was previously impervious to steam. The stones resembling scoria were, he thinks, formed by heat produced in steam and not through liquefaction of the rock by intense heat. From a number of specimens I had collected on the scoria hills at the back of Rotomahana, he selected one which, from its characteristics, gave indications of lava. The rest were mostly pieces of terrace formation and a small piece of obsidian. As to the chance of a further eruption, Dr. Hector hesitates to pronounce any decided opinion. He believes, however, that the chief danger at present is from the mud. He says the danger from the shifting of recent deposits is well recognized.

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The Invasion.―At the time of the great Aryan migration (see p.4), some Aryan bands, journeying from the northwest, settled first the plains of the Indus and then occupied the valley of the Ganges. They reached the banks of the latter river as early probably as 1500 B.C.

These fair-skinned invaders found the land occupied by a dark-skinned, non-Aryan race, whom they either subjugated and reduced to serfdom, or drove out of the great river valleys into the mountains and the half-desert plains of the peninsula.

The Origin of .―The conflict of races in Northern India gave rise to what is known as the system of castes; that is, society became divided into a number of rigid hereditary classes. There arose gradually four chief castes: (1), or priests; (2) warriors; (3) agriculturists and traders; and (4) serfs, or. The Brahmans were those of pure Aryan blood, while the Sudras were the despised and oppressed non-Aryan aborigines. The two middle classes, the warriors and the cultivators of the soil, were of mixed Aryan and non-Aryan blood. Below these several


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 castes were the, or outcasts, the most degraded of the degraded natives.

The system of castes, modified however by various influences, particularly by the later system of Buddhism (see p. 11), has characterized society from the time the system originated down to the present, and is one of the most important facts of Indian history.

The .―The most important of the sacred books of the Hindus are called the Vedas. They are written in the Sanscrit language, which is believed to be the oldest form of Aryan speech. The Rig-Veda, the most ancient of the books, is made up of hymns which were composed chiefly during the long period, perhaps a thousand years or more, while the Aryans were slowly working their way from the mountains on the northwest of India across the peninsula to the Ganges. These hymns are filled with memories of the long conflict of the fair-faced Aryans with the dark-faced aborigines. The Himalayas, through whose gloomy passes the early emigrants journeyed, must have deeply impressed the wanderers, for the poets often refer to the great dark mountains.

Brahmanism.―The religion of the Indian Aryans is known as Brahmanism. This system gradually developed from the same germs as those out of which grew the Greek and Roman religions. It was at first a pure nature-worship, that is, the worship of the most striking phenomena of the physical world as intelligent and moral beings. The chief god was Dyaus-Pitar, the Heaven-Father. As this system characterized the early period when the oldest hymns were composed, it is known as the Vedic religion.


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 In course of time this nature-worship of the Vedic period developed into a sort of pantheism, that is, a system which identifies God with the universe. This form of the Indian religion is known as Brahmanism. Brahma, an impersonal essence, is conceived as the primal existence. Forth from Brahma emanated, as heat and light emanate from the sun, all things and all life. Banish a personal God from the universe, as some modern scientists would do, leaving nothing but nature with her original nebula, her endless cycles, her unconscious evolutions, and we have something very like Brahmanism.

A second fundamental conception of Brahmanism is that all life, apart from Brahma, is evil, is travail and sorrow. We can make this idea intelligible to ourselves by remembering what are our own ideas of this earthly life. We call it a feverish dream, a journey through a vale of sorrow. Now the Hindu regards all conscious existence in the same light. He has no hope in a better future; so long as the soul is conscious, so long must it endure sorrow and pain.

This conception of all conscious existence as necessarily and always evil, leads naturally to the doctrine that it is the part of wisdom and of duty for man to get rid of consciousness, to annihilate himself, in a word, to commit soul-suicide. Brahmanism teaches that the only way to extinguish self and thus get rid of the burden of existence, is by re-absorption into Brahma. But this return to Brahma is dependent upon the soul’s purification, for no impure soul can be re-absorbed into the primal essence. The necessary freedom from passion and the required purity of soul can best be attained by self-torture, by a severe mortification of the flesh; hence the asceticism of the Hindu devotee.

As only a few in each generation reach the goal, it follows that the great majority of men must be born again, and yet again, until all evil has been purged away from the soul and eternal repose found in Brahma. He who lives a virtuous life is at death born into some higher caste, and thus he advances towards the longed-for end. The evil man, however, is born into a lower caste, or


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 perhaps his soul enters some unclean animal. This doctrine of re-birth is known as the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis).

Only the first three classes are admitted to the benefits of religion. The Sudras and the outcasts are forbidden to read the sacred books, and for any one of the upper classes to teach a serf how to expiate sin is a crime.

Buddhism.―In the fifth century before our era, a great teacher and reformer, known as Buddha, or Gautama (died about 470 B.C.), arose in India. He was a prince, whom legend represents as being so touched by the universal misery of mankind, that he voluntarily abandoned the luxury of his home, and spent his life in seeking out and making known to men a new and better way of salvation. He condemned the severe penances and the self-torture of the Brahmans, yet commended poverty and retirement from active life as the best means of getting rid of desire and of attaining Nirvana, that is, the repose of unconsciousness.

Buddha admitted all classes to the benefits of religion, the poor outcast as well as the high-born Brahman, and thus Buddhism was a revolt against the earlier harsh and exclusive system of Brahmanism. It holds somewhat the same relation to Brahmanism that Christianity bears to Judaism.

Buddhism gradually gained the ascendancy over Brahmanism; but after some centuries the Brahmans regained their power, and by the eighth century after Christ, the faith of Buddha was driven out of almost every part of India. But Buddhism has a profound missionary spirit, like that of Christianity, Buddha having


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 his disciples to make known to all men the way to Nirvana; and consequently during the very period when India was being lost, the missionaries of the reformed creed were spreading the teachings of their master among the peoples of all the countries of Eastern Asia, so that to-day Buddhism is the religion of almost one third of the human race. Buddha has probably nearly as many followers as both Christ and Mohammed together.

During its long conflict with Buddhism, Brahmanism was greatly modified, and caught much of the gentler spirit of the new faith, so that modern Brahmanism is a very different religion from that of the ancient system; hence it is usually given a new name, being known as Hinduism.

Alexander’s Invasion of India (327 B.C.).―Although we find obscure notices of India in the records of the early historic peoples of Western Asia, yet it is not until the invasion of the peninsula by Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. that the history of the Indian Aryans comes in significant contact with that of the progressive nations of the West. From that day to our own its systems of philosophy, its wealth, and its commerce have been more or less important factors in universal history. Greece carried on an intellectual commerce with this country; Rome, and the Italian republics of the Middle Ages, a more material but not less important trade. Columbus was seeking a short all-sea route to this country when he found the New World. And in the upbuilding of the imperial greatness of the England of to-day, the wealth and trade of India have played no inconsiderable part.

General Remarks: the Beginning.―China is the seat of a very old civilization, older perhaps that that of any other land save Egypt; yet Chinese affairs have not until recently exerted any appreciable influence upon the general current of history.


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 All through ancient and mediæval times the country lay, vague and mysterious, in the haze of the world’s horizon. During the Middle Ages the land was known to Europe under the name of Cathay.

The beginning of the Chinese nation was a band of wanderers who came into the basin of the Yellow River, from the West, probably prior to 3000 B.C. These immigrants gradually pushed out the aborigines whom they found in the land, and laid the basis of institutions that have endured to the present day.

Dynastic History.―The government of China since the remotest times has been a parental monarchy. The Emperor is the father of his people. But though an absolute prince, still he dare not rule tyrannically: he must rule justly, and in accordance with the ancient customs and laws.

The Chinese have books that purport to give the history of the different dynasties that have ruled in the land from a vast antiquity; but these records are largely mythical and legendary. Everything is confused and uncertain until we reach the eighth or seventh century before our era; and even then we meet with little of interest in the dynastic history of the country until we come to the reign of Che Hwang-te (246-210 B.C.). This energetic ruler strengthened and consolidated the imperial power, and executed great works of internal improvement, such as roads and canals. As a barrier against the incursions of the Huns, he began the erection of the celebrated Chinese Wall, a great rampart extending for about 1500 miles along the northern frontier of the country.

From the strong reign of Che Hwang-te to the end of the period


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 covered by ancient history, Chinese dynastic records present no matters of universal interest that need here occupy our attention.

Chinese Writing.―It is nearly certain that the art of writing was known among the Chinese as early as 2000 B.C. The system employed is curiously cumbrous. In the absence of an alphabet, each word of the language is represented upon the written page by means of a symbol, or combination of symbols; this, of course, requires that there be as many symbols, or characters, as there are words in the language. The number sanctioned by good use is about 25,000; but counting obsolete characters, the number amounts to over 50,000. A knowledge of 5000 or 6000 characters, however, enables one to read and write without difficulty. The task of learning even this number might well be hopeless, were it not that many of the characters bear a remote resemblance to the objects for which they stand, and when once explained, readily suggest the thing or idea represented. The nature of the characters shows conclusively that the Chinese system of writing, like that of all others with which we are acquainted, was at first purely hieroglyphical, that is, the characters were originally simply rude outline pictures of material objects. Time and use have worn them to their present form.

This Chinese system of representing thought, cumbrous and inconvenient as it is, is employed at the present time by one third of the human race.

Printing from blocks was practiced in China as early as the sixth century of our era, and printing from movable types as early as the tenth or eleventh century, that is to say, about four hundred years before the same art was invented in Europe.

Chinese Literature: Confucius and Mencius.―The most highly prized portion of Chinese literature is embraced in what is known as the Five Classics and the Four Books, called collectively the Nine Classics. The Five Classics are among the oldest books in the world. For some of the books an antiquity of 3000 years is claimed. The books embrace chronicles, political and ethical maxims, and numerous odes. One of the most important of the


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 Classics is the so-called Book of Rites, said to date from 1200 B.C.

The Four Books are of later origin than the Five Classics, having been written about the fifth and fourth centuries before the Christian era; yet they hardly yield to them in sacredness in the eyes of the Chinese. The first three of the series are by the pupils of the great sage and moralist Confucius (551–478 B.C.), and the fourth is by Mencius (371–288 B.C.), a disciple of Confucius, and a scarcely less revered philosopher and ethical teacher. The teachings of the Four Books may be summed up in the simple precept, "Walk in the Trodden Paths." Confucius was not a prophet, or revealer; he laid no claims to a supernatural knowledge of God or of the hereafter; he said nothing of an Infinite Spirit, and but little of a future life. His cardinal precepts were obedience to superiors, reverence for the ancients, and imitation of their virtues. He himself walked in the old paths, and thus added the force of example to that of precept. He gave the Chinese the Golden Rule, stated negatively: "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

During the reign of Che Hwang-te (see p. 13), Chinese literature suffered a great disaster. That despot, for the reason that the teachers in their opposition to him were constantly quoting the ancient writings against his innovations, ordered the chief historical books to be destroyed, and sentenced to death any one who should presume to talk about the proscribed writings, or even allude to the virtues of the ancients in such a way as to reflect upon his reforms. The contumacious he sent to work upon the Great Wall. But the people concealed the books in the walls of their houses, or better still hid them away in their memories; and in this way the priceless inheritance of antiquity was preserved until the storm had passed.

Influence of this Literature and of the Sage Confucius.―It would be impossible to exaggerate the influence which the Nine Classics have had upon the Chinese nation. For more than 2000 years these writings have been the Chinese Bible. And as all of the


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 Four Books, though they were not written by Confucius, yet bear the impress of his mind and thought, just as the Gospels teach the mind of Christ, a large part of this influence must be attributed to the life and teachings of that great Sage. His influence has been greater than that of any other teacher, excepting Christ and perhaps Buddha. His precepts, implicitly followed by his countrymen, have shaped their lives from his day to the present.

The moral system of Confucius, making, as it does, filial obedience and a conformity to ancient customs primary virtues, has exalted the family life among the Chinese and given a wonderful stability to Chinese society. Chinese children are the most obedient and reverential to parents of any children in the world, and the Chinese Empire is the only one in all history that has prolonged its existence from ancient times to the present.

But along with much good, one great evil has resulted from this blind, servile following of the past. The Chinese in strictly obeying the injunction to walk in the old ways, to conform to the customs of the ancients, have failed to mark out any new footpaths for themselves. Hence their lack of originality, their habit of imitation: hence the unchanging, unprogressive character of Chinese civilization.

Education and Civil Service Competitive Examinations.―China has a very ancient educational system. The land was filled with schools, academies, and colleges more than a thousand years before our era, and education is to-day more general among the Chinese than among any other pagan people. A knowledge of the sacred books is the sole passport to civil office and public employment. All candidates for places in the government must pass a competitive examination in the Nine Classics. This system is practically the same in principle as that which we, with great difficulty, are trying to establish in connection with our own civil service.

The Three Religions,―Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.―There are three leading religions in China―Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The great Sage Confucius is reverenced


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 and worshipped throughout the Empire. He holds somewhat the same relation to the system that bears his name that Christ holds to that of Christianity. Taoism takes its name from Tao, which is made, like Brahma in Brahmanism, the beginning of all things. It is a very curious system of mystical ideas and superstitious practices. Buddhism was introduced into China about the opening of the Christian era, and soon became widely spread.

There is one element common to all these religions, and that is the worship of ancestors. Every Chinese, whether he be a Confucianist, a Taoist, or a Buddhist, reverences his ancestors, and prays and makes offerings to their spirits.

Policy of Non-Intercourse.―The Chinese have always been a very self-satisfied and exclusive people. They have jealously excluded foreigners and outside influence from their country. The Great Wall with which they have hedged in their country on the north, is the symbol of their policy of isolation. Doubtless this characteristic of the Chinese has been fostered by their geographical isolation; for great mountain barriers and wide deserts cut the country off from communication with the rest of the Asiatic continent. And then their reverence for antiquity has rendered them intolerant of innovation and change. Hence, in part, the unwillingness of the Chinese to admit into their country railroads, telegraphs, and other modern improvements. For them to adopt these new-fangled inventions, would be like our adopting a new religion. Such a departure from the ways and customs of the past has in it, to their way of thinking, something akin to disrespect and irreverence for ancestors.


text:
Author:Qin Shi Huang

Works about Qin Shi Huang

 * "The First Emperor" in Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook, by Frederic Henry Balfour (1887)

title: Author:Qin Shi Huang


text: Portal:Genseric

title: Portal:Genseric


text: Portal:Attila

title: Portal:Attila


text: Author:Ghengis Khan

title: Author:Ghengis Khan


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The American Journal of Science/Series 3, Volume 22/Observations on the Comet 1881 b

XXVII.—Observations on the Cornet 1881 b; by.

of the sudden appearance of a great comet in the northern sky first reached me through the local newspapers on June 23; but that night was cloudy. On the evening of June 24, the comet was occasionally seen for a few moments at a time, through intervals in clouds, but never with sufficient clearness to admit of satisfactory examinations as to its physical appearance. One micrometric comparison between the comet and DM 50° 1225 was secured with the thirteen-inch refractor. The comet was plainly visible to unassisted vision in a clear sky at sixteen hours mean time, and then appeared as bright as Capella.

Owing to an accident which happened to the equatorial during my absence, I have thus far been unable to secure additional micrometric comparison by that instrument. At lower culmination the comet has usually been hidden by clouds, and the hour is now very inconvenient; so that I can report only the following observations of apparent position:

From the first three positions reduced to 1881·0 and corrected for parallax and aberration by means of values of Δ from a preliminary orbit, I derived the following parabolic elements.

Middle place, C-O. Δλ cos β, +4″. Δβ, -7″. We also have with the same elements: July 8, C—O. Δλ cos β, +30″. Δβ, -75″. The elements therefore are not likely to be found greatly in error.

The similarity of the elements of this comet with those deduced by various computers for the comet of 1807, has already been much discussed in the newspapers. The difference of about three degrees in the position of the nodes, and especially the great difference in the respective values of q (which amounts to ·087) seems larger tlfan can well be ascribed to errors of computation, or possible planetary disturbance.

It seems to me more likely that these two comets may have formed parts of the same body in distant ages, and that these parts may have separated as Biela's comet did. The two parts would need to have but slightly differing mean distances from the sun in order eventually to reach the amount of separation which now exists between the perihelion passages of the 1807 and 1881 comets. A great number of similar, though generally less striking resemblances among cometic orbits have been noted, in cases where absolute identity between the two comets considered seems impossible. These cases increase the demand for a general explanation, such as I have suggested above. The resemblances seem to be too close and too frequent to be considered the result of chance; and the above hypothesis seems to have some support in reason and experience. If the comet of 1881 proves to have a periodic time between one and two thousand years the plausibility of this hypothesis will be very much strengthened.

I have been too much pressed with other duties to give close or systematic attention to the physical characteristics of the comet. The nights of June 26, June 28, July 1, 8 and 13 were unusually favorable for such studies here. The atmosphere was unusually transparent on June 26 and I then traced the tail for a distance of nearly forty degrees from the nucleus. On that night there were two branches. The longer and brighter branch was perfectly straight. The other curved, with its concavity toward greater right ascension. On the next clear night (June 28) the straight branch was of about the same length as the curved one, and was a thin and scarcely perceptible streak. On July 1, the two branches seem to have merged into one, presenting a shorter and broad fan-like appendage, perfectly straight and strongly marked on the preceding side, concave and nebulous on the following.

On all occasions the nucleus under a power of 250 has seemed to be quite distinctly defined and star-like in appearance. On June 26, its measured diameter was 7″; on July 8, this had become 2″. The latter measure reduced to the distance of June 26 becomes 3″·3, a rather surprising reduction in the diameter, if it be real.

Dudley Observatory, Albany, N. Y., July 19, 1881.


text: Author:Lewis Boss

title: Author:Lewis Boss


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Author:George Brinton McClellan Harvey

Works

 * Women, etc. (1908)
 * The power of tolerance (1911)
 * Henry Clay Frick, the man (1928)

title: Author:George Brinton McClellan Harvey


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The American Journal of Science/Series 3, Volume 22/The Polarization of Light from Comet b, 1881

XXVIII.—The Polarization of Light from Comet b, 1881; by.

observations of the comet were made on the evenings of June 25 and 26, which gave faint indications of the existence of polarization, but with the instruments then used it was not possible to ascertain satisfactorily either its character or amount. The state of the sky was not very favorable for observation until the evening of June 29, when a method of observation was found which made it possible to determine the polarization, which was at once seen to be considerable, with comparative ease and a good degree of precision.

The instrument employed was the polarimeter constructed for observation of the solar corona in the eclipse of July 29, 1878, and described in the volume containing the reports upon this eclipse issued from the U. S. Naval Observatory. A slight modification was made by substituting a Savart plate for the selenite, it being attached to the Nicol's prism in the eye-piece. This gave a rather narrow field which was nearly filled by the image of the comet, an arrangement very favorable for detection of the bands caused by polarization. The aperture of the telescope to which the polarimeter is attached is three inches.

The plane of polarization of the light was found to have such a direction as to pass through the sun's place. This was determined both by the disposition of the bands seen in the polarimeter, and also independently by means of a double-image prism placed before the ordinary eye-piece of the telescope when this was attached to the instrument. The two images of the comet as the prism was rotated were easily seen to have different intensities in certain positions corresponding to polarization in a plane situated as above described. As seen with this instrument the fainter of the images appeared considerably shorter than the other as if the light coming from toward the extremity of the tail were more strongly polarized than that from points near the nucleus. But this was possibly an illusion depending upon the fact that when the very faint light was diminished by the polarizing effect it became too feeble for perception, and this lessened the extent of the visible area. When examined with the polarimeter the light appeared to be slightly less strongly polarized as the instrument was directed to points more remote from the head of the comet, as would be the case if the proportion depended simply upon the angle of incidence of the light, which decreased with the distance from the nucleus. The second and third of the observations of July 1, in the list below, were made upon regions removed several degrees from the nucleus, but though the amount of polarization is somewhat less, and tends to confirm the above conclusion, the difference is hardly greater than would be accounted for by the errors of observation. Determinations of polarization at great distances from the nucleus were not possible, the light being too feeble.

In the use of the polarimeter, the latter was fitted so that a card could be attached to the slide moving the glass plates. The positions were pricked upon this with a needle point, and were read off by means of the graduated circle after the observations were finished. The latter were made in sets of ten, the plates being moved to the point of neutralization, or disappearance of the bands, first from below, then from above, alternately, until five had been made from each direction. The points upon the card thus fell into two groups separated by an interval which was greater or less according to the degree of polarization. The mean of the angles for each set of five being taken, the percentage of polarized light corresponding to each was determined from a curve constructed for the instrument. Two values were thus obtained the mean of which was the amount of polarization for the point observed. Each card was capable of containing two sets of points, and could be removed or replaced by another without the aid of a light, a necessary precaution in observations of such delicacy, as the proper sensitiveness of the eye could only be maintained by seclusion from the light.

The results of the observation are given in the following table. The date and local mean time for the series of each evening are given in column I. In column II are given the results derived from the sets of determinations arranged in their order as made, each result, as explained above, being obtained by ten measurements. The numbers express the proportion of polarized light to the total light reckoned as one hundred parts. The means of the percentages of the sets in column II for each evening are given in column III. Column IV gives the approximate angles of incidence of the light derived from the sun, referred to the nucleus or points very near it. It is obtained from the ephemeris of Peters, combined with that of Oppenheim given in the Dun Echt Circular No. 24. The angles subtended at the comet by the earth's radius vector at the dates of the ephemeris were obtained by a simple graphic process. With these a curve was constructed from which the angles for the dates of the different observations were derived. These divided by two are the angles of incidence.

The observation of July 2 was made under rather unfavorable atmospheric conditions, and the sky was somewhat luminous from auroral action. The amount of polarization found is undoubtedly less than the true value. The others were made when the sky was very clear, and during those of July 21 and 22 it was exceptionally fine. The time of the observations precluded the possibility of any influence from twilight or the light of the moon.

On comparing the percentage of light polarized and the angles of incidence it is seen that they decrease together. No definite maximum was made out, but the existence of one near or beyond 60° is perhaps indicated by the fact that polarization was less easily observed on the evenings previous to June 29, and by the more rapid variation in the percentages on this and the two succeeding evenings. At first sight the large percentages obtained in the earlier observations appeared to indicate reflection from a gaseous substance, but the numbers found later, and especially the relation of all the values to the angles of incidence, render an inference as to the character of the reflecting material more difficult. It is not improbable that the constitution arid physical condition of the matter composing the tail were variable, and this circumstance would introduce changes in the proportion of polarized light, in addition to those produced by the alteration in the angle of the reflected rays. The fact of polarization shows that a large part, probably the greater part, of the light coming from the tail is reflected sunlight.

Yale College, July 25, 1881.


text: Author:Arthur Williams Wright

title: Author:Arthur Williams Wright


text: Popular Science Monthly/Volume 51/May 1897/Principles of Taxation: Rules Under a Constitutional Government XVI