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 paper currency regulated to keep prices steady. Until that far-off day arrives, we shall most of us agree that the gold standard, with all its faults, carried an immeasurable advantage in that under it the action of the Government was confined to the purely mechanical business of coinage. It also provided a machinery for international payments under which trade between nations was carried on with an ease and confidence which seem now almost incredible.

If then we want the gold standard restored, do we want the old pre-war gold standard, or a new one to be arrived at by a process of "devaluation?" The devaluation plan has high theoretical authority behind it, but as far as England is concerned our bankers have pronounced strongly in favour of the old pre-war standard, and even in countries like France and italy the necessity for devaluation has not yet been admitted by those who guide their financial destinies. As to England even Professor Cassel now seems to think that it might be as well for us to restore the old standard.

The question was discussed with admirable clearness by Sir Charles Addis, Chairman of the London Committee of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and a

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 Director of the Bank of England, in his Inaugural Address as President of the Institute of Bankers delivered in November 1921. He pointed out that if we accept the findings of the Cunliffe Committee that there are sound reasons for a return to the pre-war parity, then we must recognize that further deflation (using the word in the sense of a fall in prices) might be necessary, and he proceeded to put the case against deflation and in favour of devaluation as follows:—

"Why then, it may be asked, should we continue to wrestle with the burthen of deflation with all its attendant ills, when a way of escape presents itself, not by abandoning the gold standard, but by the simple expedient of altering it? Is there anything sacrosanct, it may be asked, in the ratio of 123 grains of gold or 4.86 American dollars to the pound? How could we be prejudiced if the pound were reduced to 92½ grains of gold and the American exchange to a new parity of 3.65 to the pound? It is true that gold would then command a premium of 33 per cent.; that is, it would be quoted at £5 3s. 8d. instead of £3 17s. 9d. per ounce in paper money, while the paper pound would be worth only 15s. in gold. What would that matter? It is worth a good deal less now. And as for the American

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 exchange, we should go back at a stroke to the much vaunted automatic standard system by which we set such store. Prices would be stabilized at the new level by gold flowing out when exchange fell below the new parity of 3.65, and flowing in when it rose above it just as it did when the parity was 4.86. Why not?"

And having thus set out the case for devaluation, Sir Charles then tore it to pieces. "An unlettered man," he said, "I never listen to the learned Dons—I hope I have stated their case fairly—who advocate this course, and suffer the charm and vivacity of their exposition, and realize my incompetence to make an adequate response, without feeling constrained to adjure them in the words of Oliver Cromwell to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, 'I beseech you, consider it possible you may be mistaken.' Do not let me be misunderstood. I intend no sneer. I hope I should be the last man to underrate the value of the theoretical economist. I am too sensible of my obligations. Where long periods have to be considered the theoretical economist is indispensable to business men. Indeed, if ever I felt tempted to treat his judgment lightly it would be sufficient, in order to render me dumb, to remind me of the great boom of 1920, and where our hand

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 to-mouth business opportunism led us then. . . . But I must be allowed to remark with respect that it is not enough for a principle to be shown to be logically indefeasible in the seclusion of the economist's study. We have to take the world as it is. The principle must—be brought down into the hurly-burly of the market place and proved in operation there, through the medium of the heart and mind of ordinary men, in conflict with their opposing interests, their changing purposes, their unruly passions and their defective wills. That, to my mind, is where Professor Cassel's devaluation proposal falls short. It may have all the merits claimed for it, but if it fails to take sufficient account of human nature, or, shall I say, of human nature as we know it in these Islands, it is doomed to nullity. To suppose that a people so conservative by instinct, so tenacious of custom, so careful of tradition, could be induced to trample on their monetary past and to relinquish the dearly purchased gold standard, which rightly or wrongly they believe to be bound up with the prestige of their national credit and their supremacy in international finance, is to live in a world of illusion."

Apart from these questions of conservative sentiment, on the great importance of which

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 Sir Charles laid such eloquent stress, there is also that of the claim of common honesty. It may be rather far fetched, but I think it is very real and relevant. We have been in the past a great place of deposit for other peoples both officially and individually, because London was thought to be a place where money could most safely be put with the certainty of getting it back. This was partly because of the freedom with which gold could be taken away and partly owing to our comparatively stable politics and our long freedom from invasion. Foreigners left and kept money here because they knew that when they wanted it they could take it back in gold. Thanks to the tricks that our Governments have played with our money any foreigner who had put money here before the war and took it away after would get a quantity of gold that would be less than he originally expected according to the premium on gold current on the day when he drew it. Unless he got a licence he could not take gold at all, and would probably take dollars and get so much fewer of them. It is easy to argue that this wrong has already been perpetrated, but I do not see that this justifies us in making it perpetual. It is surely worth while to make an effort so that we may show that although the war and the bungling and cowardice of our

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 rulers depreciated our currency, we put it back on its old gold basis as soon as we reasonably could. For the fact that gold has lost much of its pre-war buying power we can hardly be held responsible.

It is very true that if we attempt, in order to bring our currency up to its old gold value, to bring prices down by violent credit contraction and so take the heart out of our producers and traders, we shall be damaging ourselves more than could be expected by our reasonable creditors. In all these economic matters it is surely best to go very slowly. If we can induce our Governments to spend less than they get in revenue, and leave a balance for debt redemption, then at least we can be sure that there will be no new inflation on the war-time lines through faulty Government finance. Then as the volume of production and trade gradually grows it should slowly overtake the volume of money, restoring the value of the latter. Professor Cassel in his two Memoranda published under the title The World's Monetary Problems, expresses the opinion that is it a "particularly vain expectation" to suppose that the "general economic development will increase the genuine need for money so much as to match the present supply." He thinks that such a policy would

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 involve a continual depression of the general level of prices by about 3 per cent. per annum, and that "the most probable result would be a more or less complete killing of industrial enterprise, and of the very spirit of economic progress." On this point—the connexion between falling prices and depression, the Professor is strongly supported by Mr. Hawtrey, who says in his Monetary Reconstruction (page 145): "The relation of business depression to falling prices is so well recognized, not merely among economists but among practical men, that it is hardly necessary to labour the point. Experience has confirmed theory scores of times."

Shall we venture with Sir Charles to quote Cromwell to these learned pundits and beseech them to consider it possible they may be mistaken? We indeed dare to do so, because we have excellent authority on the other side. Mr. Hawtrey refers to the period 1873-96 as having been marked by a "chronic state of depression." Mr. W. T. Layton, now Editor of the Economist, on page 101 of his Introduction to the Study of Prices published in 1912, says that "the arts of production and the means of transport probably progressed faster between 1874 and 1896 than they had ever done before." He finds that national productivity depends much more upon the advance of

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 science and discovery and on the training, education and organization of labour than on the rise and fall of prices—"the Bessemer process of steel production was invented when prices were rising fast—the Siemens Martin process when they were depressed." He decides that "there is no reason to desire an advance in prices on the ground that it stimulates production" and that "on the whole the social well-being is best advanced when prices are stationary or slightly declining," and in a note he thanks Dr. Marshall for a "pregnant suggestion" that under an ideal currency system prices should fall at such a rate that receivers of fixed salaries should secure a fair proportion of man's increasing control over his material environment.

For a theoretical authority Dr. Marshall should satisfy the most exacting. He is also quoted by Professor Lehfeldt, in Restoration of the World's Currencies (page 123), as stating before a Royal Commission at a time when the continuous fall in prices provoked widespread complaint that "it wants very much stronger statistical evidence than one yet has to prove that the fall in prices diminishes perceptibly, or in the long run, the total productivity of industry." He maintained that a depression of prices, interest and profits was consistent with prosperity—"the employer

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 gets less, and the employee gets more"—not a bad thing when the uneven distribution of wealth is a cause of much social mischief.

Professor Lehfeldt himself adds that "whilst rising prices bring more profit to the employing classes, this very fact makes them careless, and the opposite conditions, which make it difficult to run business with profit, eliminate the careless and incompetent employers and screw the whole body up to a higher pitch of efficiency and enterprise"; and finally Dr. Snow in the Manchester Guardian Commercial article already quoted on page 245, says that in the leather producing industry "it is almost axiomatic that trade is good when prices are low and bad when prices are high."

It is true that falling prices would increase the weight of the debt charge. But it is safe to rely on high prices for securities if prices of goods are low, and so the course of the market would enable the debt charge to be lowered—perhaps cut in half—by conversion. In 1896 when the Index Numbers were at their nadir Consols touched their zenith—114.

We come then to the conclusion that the practical thing to do is to leave Index Numbers, stabilization, international conventions and Consortiums of Banks of Issue in the hands of the learned and able gentlemen who understand these matters, wishing them, with the

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 heartiest respect, all success in the task of working out a scheme of currency reform which will avoid Government control and will be accepted by all of them; and in the meantime to follow the line marked out by our leading bankers at the International Chamber of Commerce Conference held in 1921. Sir Felix Schuster expressed their determination to "return as soon as possible to the pre-war gold standard . . . whether it be this year, next year, or in five, six or ten years." The best way to get there is not to cut down our money but to increase our goods so that we may have cheapness through plenty and make England the best country to buy in. When we have got back the gold standard we can go on to think about Professor Lehfeldt's suggestion for a working agreement between United States and ourselves to stabilize gold prices by regulating the output of gold. In view of the close relations already existing between the Bank of England and the—American Federal Reserve Board this proposal seems to be much more feasible than a European Consortium with a gold pool and a common Bank Rate. But even it—so close is the connexion between monetary policy and political money—could not be considered if a Presidential Election were anywhere within sight.

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and delivered by the end of August 1923, the foregoing chapters, for very good reasons over which the writer had no control, went into cold storage for four months. Usually, cold storage has an even worse effect on the freshness of financial script than on that of chilled beef. But in this case the delay in publication brought with it several advantages. It enables me to record certain interesting developments in the stabilization theory and to show that, at least in one instance, the plea for stabilization looks very like our old friend inflation in disguise; and to refer, though briefly and after necessarily inadequate study, to Mr. Keynes's Tract on Monetary Reform published by Messrs. Macmillan early in December. And above all, the intervening period has provided a most timely and striking example of the effect on the minds of men, both at home and abroad and perhaps more especially

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 abroad, of a mere mistaken suspicion which made them believe that in order to cure unemployment, this country was going to adopt a policy of inflation.

This misapprehension was caused by some observations made by Sir Montague Barlow, Minister of Labour, in a speech at Nottingham on October 9. As reported by the Daily Telegraph of the following day he said: "I see it was announced in one of the papers yesterday that I was going to inaugurate and press on an immense scheme of inflation of one hundred millions sterling, and so on. Such a scheme has been put forward by no less an authority than the Chairman of Barclay's Bank, bearing the honoured name of Goodenough, and such a scheme is worth consideration, but I cannot myself plead guilty to being its author. All I can pledge you is this—that we are at work," etc. etc. It should at once be noted on the authority of Barclay's Bank's monthly review for November, that "Mr. Goodenough had not at any time made any such suggestion. Mr. Goodenough has been a persistent and steady opponent of inflation since the Armistice."

Commenting on October 17 on the sharp and sudden fall in the dollar value of the pound sterling that had followed the publication of

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 Sir Montague's remarks, the City Editor of the Times observed that "although the occasion of the speech was not an important one, its substance was telegraphed immediately to all the chief foreign centres, and a 'flight from the pound' on a small scale began immediately." And the Economist of October 20 pointed out that "through the indiscretions of a Minister, the foreign exchange market has been able to give a very useful lesson this week of the effects of a deliberate policy of inflation. To those, among whom the Minister in question appears to be included, unaware of the sensitiveness of this market and of the basis of confidence upon which the predominance of London as a monetary centre rests, the immediate removal of funds in some cases, and the thousands of anxious inquiries from every part of the world, showed very clearly what might be expected from such a policy."

Such was the effect of a hint by a Minister, who had not hitherto been an outstanding figure in British politics, that the Cabinet proposed to drop the policy of working back to the gold standard, and to dose unemployment with inflation. In a letter to the Times dated October 16 Sir Montague repeated a statement that he had made on that day to the

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 effect that he had been misunderstood and that no such change was contemplated; and in his speech at Plymouth on October 25 the Prime Minister dealt, in his hearty and outspoken manner, with the inflation scare. "You will," he said, as reported in next day's Times, "have seen, as I have, suggestions for creating out of nothing artificial money to finance this, that, and the other. It is not in that way that the problem of unemployment is to be tackled. There is no truth whatever in any stories that you may hear from any quarter that any Government of which I am a member will depart from what is understood in this country to be sound financial policy. It is well that this should be understood clearly at home and abroad, as great harm is being done to British credit, on which so much depends, by loose talk about inflation. People are about as accurate when they talk about inflation and deflation as they are in the use of inverted commas. We are not in present circumstances, any more than we have been for many months, pursuing a policy of active deflation, and we certainly do not propose to proceed in the direction of inflation. No such project has ever been considered."

Mr. Baldwin ended his remarks on the subject by saying he hoped this would "lay

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 the ghost," and he had certainly done his best for that purpose. But then came the General Election with the Labour Party putting a levy on capital into a prominent place in its programme, and so the sensitive nerves of foreign holders of sterling had another uncomfortable shock. It may be very tiresome that British financial prestige should be thus affected by mistaken apprehensions, but the fact being so, it is evidently necessary for prominent people who discuss our monetary policy to do so with most careful caution and in terms that cannot be misunderstood, unless they believe that financial prestige is an overrated asset that is less important than the objects that they hope to secure.

As it was there has been a good deal of loose talking, quite enough to make the apprehensive foreigner believe that though Mr. Baldwin has effectively laid the inflation ghost as far as he and his Government can control its appearances, there is nevertheless an important body of opinion in this country which would welcome its return, re-embodied in a live and full-blooded doctrine. On October 20, Mr. St. Loe Strachey published in the Spectator, which under his editorship has maintained its great name as a thoughtful and independent leader of English educated opinion, an article

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 saying: "We hold with financial experts like Mr. McKenna, Mr. Keynes, and others, that a great deal of the present unemployment, possibly the whole of it, is directly due to the policy of deflation," and arguing that "as long as there is unemployment the Government may safely and without thinking about foreign buyers, help trade by not frittering their money away, as Sheridan put it, by paying their debts." Mr. Strachey also submitted the article before it was published to Mr. McKenna, and so was able to print before it a letter from him in which Mr. McKenna endorsed Mr. Strachey's analysis of the financial position and added: "I am glad that you do not minimize the evils of inflation, but there can be no question that deflation is not less injurious. A policy either of inflation or deflation should never be adopted, as you say, except as a corrective, and the degree of unemployment at any given time will always furnish a test of the right medicine to be applied."

In spite of Mr. McKenna's emphatic reference to the evils of inflation, the words last quoted from him can be easily read to mean that it is nevertheless a cure for unemployment, to be applied freely when the evil is rampant. In fact, if they do not mean this, it is hard to see what they do mean.

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 In an address that he delivered before the Belfast Chamber of Commerce on October 24, Mr. McKenna chose his words more carefully. He argued strongly against deflation, but disclaimed any desire for inflation. "When," he said, "unemployment is greatly in excess of the normal we should abandon unhesitatingly the deflationary policy which is a cause of unemployment. But let me not be misunderstood. I do not say that a change in official policy would have the same far-reaching effect in this country as in America. Neither do I say that we should pursue a policy of monetary inflation. . . . The evils of such inflation are present to all our minds. . . . Personally I have no fear of a recurrence of monetary inflation. The high traditions of the Bank of England were never in safer keeping than in the hands of the present Governor, Mr. Norman. Neither the Prime Minister, now the Chancellor of the Exchequer, nor the Governor of the Bank of England is likely to countenance such a policy."

In a previous passage in the same address, Mr. McKenna had contended that in this country "deflation was actively continued until three months ago and still nominally stands as our official policy. . . . Our bank deposits to-day show a decline of 10 per cent. This

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 means a severe restriction of purchasing power and a consequent lowering of prices, which is indeed the declared purpose of a deflationary policy. . . . Very little argument is needed to show that a policy of driving or keeping down prices by a restriction of purchasing power must depress trade. . . . If the merchant or manufacturer thinks that prices are going to fall, he will restrict his orders for finished goods or raw materials. . . . What is the consequence? Men and women are thrown out of employment, less is paid in wages and the amount spent upon consumption is reduced." Mr. McKenna's authority on these matters is worthy of all the respect that it so widely commands, but I still venture to submit that there is strong ground, as shown in Chapter V above, for the view that deflation did not cause depression, but followed it and was caused by it. The collapse in trade began abroad, long before there had been in England any reduction in purchasing power as measured by the volume of bank deposits. Bank deposits shrank because trade was inactive and prices were lower and credit was not wanted. The deflation of which he complains, as having been actively continued until three months ago, was the system against which he argued so vigorously in his speech to the Midland bank shareholders

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 at the end of January 1923, by which the Government sold Treasury bonds to investors and with the proceeds bought Treasury bills held by the banks, thus reducing the banks' investments or discounts, and likewise their deposits. But if trade had been active and the demand for credit keen, this process need not have produced deflation; because the banks might have replaced the Treasury bills paid off by discounting commercial bills or increasing their advances to customers, and so the level of their deposits would have been maintained, the purchasing power in the hands of the public would have been restored and the banks would have been doing their proper business of financing trade instead of providing credit for the Treasury.

In this country, which lives so largely on its foreign trade, trade depression and unemployment are usually produced by external matters which are little influenced by our monetary policy. This is especially so at present. In the same address Mr. McKenna told his Belfast audience that "when we turn to trade we have to deal with conditions, many of which are not under your control. . . . Your prosperity rises and falls with the prosperity of Great Britain and of the world generally, and an impoverished and disorganized Europe can-

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 not fail to react upon Belfast and be reflected in unemployment and diminished profits. . . . You, like Great Britain, are dependent in an exceptional degree upon foreign trade. . . . If we are to recover the level of activity attained before 1914, we must first of all re-establish throughout Europe the conditions of peace and stability which then existed."

These weighty words are, as need hardly be said, as true of England as of Belfast. And they surely go a very long way to disprove the contention that "a great deal of the present unemployment, possibly the whole of it, is directly due to the policy of deflation."

Sir Eric Geddes, who has earned all our gratitude by lopping with his historic axe the extravagance of our official wasters, and now speaks with added authority as President of the Federation of British Industries, was the next "star turn" in this performance. Speaking at a meeting of the Scottish members of the Federation at Glasgow on October 23, he doubted whether we could support, in addition to all the other difficulties, "the effort and sacrifice involved in a continuous appreciation of our currency." (In fact, the value of our currency as measured by the Economist Index Number has shown very moderate fluctuations since December 1921.) "We had," he said,

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 "now been deflating our currency very heavily for a number of years. . . . There should surely be some connection between the financial policy of the country and its trade situation. The bad trade of the world was not of our making; inflation in foreign countries we could not control, but our own financial policy we could control. . . . A large number of people were jumping to the conclusion that those who proposed a reconsideration of monetary policy desired to suggest 'inflation.' He rather suspected that most of those who jumped to this conclusion had very little notion of what inflation meant, and he would suggest that they might wait until the Federation had said what it did mean, instead of accusing it wildly of all sorts of things which had never entered its head." (Times, October 24, 1923.)

Next day the Federation said what it did mean in a report addressed to the Government on the subject of unemployment and published in the papers of October 25. It expressed, among many other interesting observations on our economic difficulties, its belief that "the interests of trade and of the country as a whole will be best served by a stable monetary policy which aimed at keeping the price level steady." But this sweet draught of the pure milk of stabilization was spiced, as so often happens,

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 by the addition of a highly important ingredient. "At the moment," the report continued, "we are at the depth of an extremely serious depression of trade. Past experience shows that in such conditions a certain upward movement in prices is an invariable and inevitable accompaniment of the process of recovery. The object of a policy of price stabilization, therefore, should not be to stabilize prices at the abnormally low level shown by the index numbers at the bottom of a severe depression, but at such an increase on this level as normal trade activity would entail."

"But?" inquired the Economist, in commenting on this report, "are prices abnormally low, and, if so, on what standard?" What the Federation seemed to mean was a rise in prices brought about by monetary manipulation. But is not this something very like the inflation which according to its President had "never entered its head"? And who is to decide how much rise in prices normal trade activity would entail? And if the rise were brought about and cheered people up, would not there be an overwhelming clamour in favour of its continuance by the same method?

And now comes Mr. J. M. Keynes, clad in the shining armour of his outstanding ability and fame, and tells us in his Tract on Monetary

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 Reform that "the gold standard is already a barbarous relic" and that "the Cunliffe Report belongs to an extinct and an almost forgotten order of ideas." He puts the case for the gold standard into one limpid sentence. "The advocates of gold, as against a more scientific standard, base their cause on the double contention, that in practice gold has provided and will provide a reasonably stable standard of value, and that in practice, since governing authorities lack wisdom as often as not, a managed currency will, sooner or later, come to grief." He admits the remarkable success with which "gold maintained its stability of value in the changing world of the nineteenth century," but he thinks that "we have no sufficient ground for expecting the continuance of the special conditions which preserved a sort of balance before the war." He shows that during the nineteenth century progress in the discovery of gold mines roughly kept pace with progress in other directions, but in his opinion, "this stage of history is now almost at an end. A quarter of a century has passed by since the discovery of an important deposit." If this be so, those who are seeking capital for the development of what is alleged to be a wonderful new field in Canada have lively imaginations. Moreover, if it be so, the disposal of

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 the enormous mass of surplus gold now held by the United States, which seems to Mr. Keynes to be so great a menace to us if we return to the gold standard, becomes a much less formidable problem. If it be true that no new great discoveries can be looked for, its gradual scattering over the countries of the world, as they return to peace, sanity and sound currencies, should not be a matter of overwhelming difficulty.

With regard to the other argument in favour of a return to the gold standard—that it frees us from the fear of ill-considered interference by Parliament with our monetary arrangements—Mr. Keynes's argument seems to be still less convincing. He says most truly that "experience has shown that in emergencies Ministers of Finance cannot be strapped down"; but surely that is a bad reason for turning them loose to do their worst at all times. And he adds that "there is no escape from a 'managed' currency whether we wish it or not; convertibility into gold will not alter the fact that the value of gold itself depends on the policy of the Central Banks." But it may be suggested that the policy of the Bank of England, working on traditional lines which the whole business world understood, is a different matter from a

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 policy which is to be complicated by the deliberate intervention of the Treasury, which would be dangerously open to pressure from interested parties in Parliament.

When he comes to positive suggestions for the future regulation of money, Mr. Keynes says that hitherto the Treasury and the Bank of England have "looked forward to the stability of the dollar exchange (preferably to the pre-war parity) as their objective." His scheme "would require that they should adopt the stability of sterling prices as their primary objective." If they did so, Mr. Keynes doubts the "wisdom and practicability" of so cut and dried a system as Professor Fisher's, which is to work merely by reference to an index number, without any play of judgment or discretion. "If," he says, "we wait until a price movement is actually afoot before applying remedial measures, we may be too late. . . . Actual price movements must of course provide the most important datum; but the state of employment, the volume of production, the effective demand for credit as felt by the banks, the rate of interest on investments of various types, the volume of new issues, the flow of cash into circulation, the statistics of foreign trade and the level of the exchanges must all be taken into account. The main

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 point is that the objective of the authorities, pursued with such means as are at their command, should be the stability of prices."

I think it is probable that most of these considerations were not altogether overlooked by the Bank Court in old days under the goldstandard, when it was deciding whether it was necessary to move its official rate. Its object was to preserve its gold reserve with a view to the convertibility of its notes. By this method it maintained our prices roughly on a level with those in other countries and so secured stability both in prices and in rates of exchange. This is surely better than (possibly) stabilized prices, with unlimited fluctuations in exchange.

As to the means to be used to secure the contraction and expansion of credit needed to preserve stability, Mr. Keynes looks to joint control, exercised by the Treasury and the Bank of England. He says that the extent to which the Treasury draws money from the public to discharge floating debt depends on the rate of interest and the type of loan that it is prepared to offer; and that "the Bank of England is also, within sufficiently wide limits, mistress of the situation if she acts in conjunction with the Treasury. She can increase or decrease at will her investments and her gold by buying

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 or selling the one or the other. In the case of advances and of bills, whilst their volume is not so immediately or directly controllable, here also adequate control can be obtained by varying the price charged, that is to say the bank rate." The Bank's buying and selling prices for gold would be announced every Thursday morning at the same time as its discount rate; and gold would be retained as a reserve against emergencies and "as a means of rapidly correcting the influence of a temporarily adverse balance of payments." How it would do so, if America and other countries also adopted Mr. Keynes's policy, is not clear. For they might put down their buying prices to a prohibitive level or refuse to buy gold altogether. One does not see why they should take it at all; for Mr. Keynes proposes that the gold reserve should be separated entirely from the note issue, the volume of which would depend on "the state of trade and employment, bank rate policy and Treasury bill policy." If everybody worked on these lines who but dentists and goldsmiths would want gold?

It is a most interesting and ingenious scheme, but I venture to think that it does not answer two objections, put forward in my previous chapters, to proposals to regulate prices by means of credit and currency management.

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The gold standard frees us from muddling with our money by politicians, has worked right well in the past and may do so again, whenever the politicians succeed in doing their proper job, of giving us peace and security and confidence and.

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title: Bankers and Credit/Chapter 9


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Rh

now proceed to reply, with as much brevity as circumstances will admit, to the objections which have been urged to the change in the committee’s plan of operation made in accordance with the resolution of the Indian government, dated the 7th March 1835; and as my object is not to write a book of my own, but to put this important subject, once for all, in a clear point of view, I shall continue to avail myself of the writings of others whenever they express what I have to say better than I could express it myself.


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 the emanation of the Holy Ghost and his coöperation, he contradicts the Holy Ghost.” (p. 262.)

It is not permitted to believe that God is waiting for our desire to purify ourselves, but we must believe that the Holy Ghost, that is, the same God in another person, produces this desire to purify ourselves. If the desire has already taken place and I am myself a creature of God, and the desire is directed toward God, it is evident that this desire must not be acknowledged as anything else but as having emanated from God. All these utterances remain completely unintelligible, if we do not keep in mind the aim toward which they lead. This aim consists in replacing the tendency to do good by the external actions of the sacraments which impart grace. Further:

“If any one asserts that a man may, by the force of his nature, think rightly, or choose something good, which refers to eternal salvation, and agree to receive the saving, that is, the evangelical, sermon without the illumination and instigation of the Holy Ghost, he is seduced by a heretical spirit (Rule VII.).” (p. 262.)

A man cannot wish for anything good without the inspiration of the Holy Ghost; but the inspiration of the Holy Ghost is imparted through grace; grace is communicated through the sacraments; and the sacraments are communicated by the hierarchy.

187. The necessity of grace for faith and for the very beginning of faith, or for a man’s conversion to Christianity. “Divine grace, which is necessary in general for man’s illumination and salvation, is necessary in particular for his faith and for the very beginning of the faith in the Lord Jesus.” (p. 263.)

Proofs from Holy Scripture and decrees of a council:

“If any one says that the increase, as well as the beginning of faith, and the very disposition toward it, by which we believe in the justification of the ungodly


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 present social order, and by those who, having become their followers, have willingly placed themselves on the same footing with them; with these people it is difficult for us to come to an understanding, because we do not speak the same language.

Those who wish to strike down the loyal Sovereign who embodies the unity and majesty of Italy; those who ignore the ideal grandeur of the sense of patriotism which unites the people in a community of language, interests and aspirations, and urges us to affirm ourselves in the world for the higher destinies of our race; who wish to break up this social order which, with all its defects and its not irremediable deficiencies, represents a mechanism which has secured for humanity the widest measure of moral and material progress—all these persons are naturally trying with all weapons, including illegal ones, to overthrow a Government and a party richly endowed with strength and will power, and they refuse to compromise or let themselves be overawed. All these men, is easy to see, regretfully look back to the not distant days when the vision of the nation's destiny had been


text: One of a Thousand/Faxon, Henry Hardwick

title: One of a Thousand/Faxon, Henry Hardwick


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Rh learning of the Brahmins is not to be compared. Wealth, numbers, influence, are on their side. The movement is becoming more and more irresistible; and the power of directing the public mind is passing from those who have exercised it for the last two thousand years to an entirely new set of men.

Although the knowledge of Sanskrit is confined to the Brahminical caste, the Brahmins are by no means practically limited to a studious and religious life: the majority of them, perhaps, get their subsistence by secular pursuits. The number of persons, therefore, devoted to the study of Sanskrit is surprisingly small when it is closely examined: the number of those who study Arabic is still smaller. The following table, extracted from Mr. Adam’s report, shows the actual number of teachers and students of those languages, in five of the principal districts of Bengal and Behar:


text: One of a Thousand/Fay, Frank B.

title: One of a Thousand/Fay, Frank B.


text: One of a Thousand/Fay, James Monroe

title: One of a Thousand/Fay, James Monroe


text: One of a Thousand/Fay, John S.

title: One of a Thousand/Fay, John S.


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 obscured, the sense of responsibility forgotten, conscience, discipline and devotion to duty depreciated, and through a Parliamentary policy made up of compromises, intrigues and renunciation, they had ended by dominating the situation. While they still thought themslves the undisputed masters, they found their path blocked one fine day by a solid barrier; after a moment of bewilderment they attempted systematically to break up their opponents.

The efforts made from November 1922 onwards to graft the new order on to the old, so that, while the stimulating and reconstituent action of the new forces was maintained, there should be no solution of continuity in the governance of the State, were wilfully ignored and underrated. The more the process of adaptation progressed, the more the enemy attacked the Government and demanded that it should go. The more concessions were made, the more this opposition, just because it had very different aims, regarded this policy as a symptom of weakness, and therefore took further courage.

However we may define the seizure of power in


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 November 1922, as a revolution or otherwise—the terminology does not matter—it was certainly a fact wholly outside normal and legal lines, a fact which was only possible owing to the support of the overwhelming majority of the nation, which, at least at that moment, was, as all agreed, absolute and unquestioned.

But while this event, fortunately for our country, took place almost without bloodshed, the stream overflowing the crater inevitably left rubbish poling if; and even the magic art of a more than human wizard could not suddenly calm the stormy sea. It was fortunate indeed that the Chief, as soon as he had assumed the government of the country at once set to work to discipline these forces and turn them into legally constituted bodies which were to be gradually absorbed by the regular organs of the State. Squadrismo was enrolled into the Milizia: the Milizia was given a military formation in order to discipline it, its casually selected leaders were replaced by officers, preferably, in the great majority of cases, ex-Army officers; the Government undertook to make the whole force swear allegiance to the King, and


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 the undertaking has been duly carried out. That the revolutionary parties should express contempt for these measures is not surprising, but that those who profess respect for properly constituted order should adopt a similar attitude is a deplorable form of political degeneracy, because the oath is a bond of honour binding all loyal citizens to the preservation of the State, and it is the self-same oath sworn with sacred solemnity by the soldier, the official or the magistrate.

The party trustees (fiduciari) created in an early phase of the Fascist movement in the provinces, were soon done away with, and the prefects re-integrated in their functions and responsabilitis once more.

The few political officials who were entrusted with administrative functions, for which there had been numerous precedents in the past, were subsequently almost entirely eliminated.

The increasing rowdiness was gradually repressed, and individual enterprises not only discouraged but legally proceded against in the criminal courts. If, in spite of all this, regrettable episodes still occurred, the


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 vast extent of the movement and the shortness of the time that had elapsed must be borne in mind. No impartial observer can deny the visible effort and will to reach a normal state of things, in spite of the resistance provoked by the violence of the enemy's attacks, so that the task of those whose duty it was to restore order was rendered far more difficult. We must consider the shortness of the time. Two years, less than an instant in the life of a nation, and yet in this short space how much work has been accomplished, what important results achieved!

The whole structure of the State had to be rebuilt. The nation's finances had to be restored—you remember that party leader and ex-Minister of Finance who declared that a budget deficit was inevitable for an indefinite number of years.

The Army had to be spiritually and materially reconstituted—you remember that the Prime Minister Giolitti justified the occupation of the factories on the pretext that it was impossible to count on the troops.

The bureaucracy had to be reorganized—you


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 remember the demonstrations of civil servants in the courtyards of the Ministries, and the Ministers themselves besieged in their cabinets for not having immediately granted some demand, or for having dismissed a hall porter.

The judicial administration had to be re-established—the creation of a single Court of Cassation (in the place of the existing four) and the reduction of the number of inferior courts had been studied and voted a hundred times, but never carried out.

The reorganization of taxation—you remember the congeries of disastrous laws and decrees inspired by the purest demagogy, which crushed the luckless and patient tax-payer, the capital levy, the super-tax, the infinite series of additional taxes of the most inequitable and vexatious nature, the confiscatory death duties—all this has either diappeared or has been reorganized and co-ordinated by the admirable and tenacious efforts of the Finance Minister De Stefani.

I shall not speak of the educational reforms, which are magnificent, event though requiring partial revision, but which, to mention but a single detail, have called


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 upon fresh sources of enterprise for university organization; the example of what has been achieved in Milan and by our mayor, Senator Mangiagalli, will suffice.

Then we have the telephone service entrusted to private enterprise, which means a service at last withdrawn from the State. Who would have dreamt of this barely two years ago? There is an undertaoing to invest many tens of millions in the lines, the central stations, the plant. At last it will be possible for a citizen to ask for a connexion in another city without putting in an application from father to son, and we can dare to hope that even in Italy the telephone will become a really useful instrument for a business man and no longer a distributor of bad temper.

Railways and the postal services are going ahead, and their budgets are well on the way to being balanced. The budget of the railways, which in 1821–22 showed a deficit od 1257 millions, in 1922–23 of 906 millions, and in 1923–24 of 298 millions, will probably be balanced in 1924–25. The Post Office budget for 1921–22 showed a deficit of 502 millions, which was reduced to 67


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 millions in 1922–23, and according to the estimates will be balanced in 1924–25.

Who remembers now—and it is regrettable that it should be so soon forgotten—the disorganization of these services, the insubordination of the personnel, the disastrous losses suffered by the Treasury and the country? How has it been possible to achieve these results if the staff is the same? By means of a very simple recipe: discipline. The agitators and the politicians have been got rid of, the authority of the chiefs has been re-established, the staff have been made to feel that they must carry ontout [sic] their duties with loyalty and diligence, and that the Minister is their chief and not their servant.

While this was being accomplished, other grave problems of an international character had to be faced: from the thorny Fiume problem, which was finally settled with the annexation of the town to Italy, to the Corfu incident, which was not without its use in proving that Italy refused to be brow-beaten or intimidated; from the complicated liquidation of Italy's relations with the Austro-Hungarian succession States to our vigilant par-


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 ticipation in the periodial international conferences no reparations and war debts; from the creation of an international institute for the unification of private law to the laborious preparation for commercial, treaties, of which seven have already been concluded and others of great importance, including one with Germany, are being negotiated.

All this constitutes a vast mass of work of great importance on account of the exceptional circumstances in which it had to be carried out, and such as should suffice to create a title of legitimate pride for any statesman. The country has indeed promptly responded with admirable and satisfactory spirit to this policy of reconstruction.

This, I repeat, is the satisfactory reality. Should we then shed tears if a few tons less of paper, which is often a corrosive stimulant like absinthe, are printed?

But, you will say, what about freedom, freedom crsuhedcrushed [sic] by reaction? Who of us has ever discovered that he was not free in this fair land of ours, where everyone is free to come and go, to discuss, work, live, suffer and enjoy, earn and lose, according to his humour and his


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 luck? Who feels enslaved or crushed, among those who quietly mind their own business, who attend to public affairs, applauding or criticizing, but without any thought of sedition? Absolute freedom is a philosophical or anarchical abstraction; the whole social structure constitutes a series of limitations of freedom, and the problem is one of measure and of social convention. There is no absolute criterion in this field, because this measure has varied and continues to vary according to times and circumstances.

Even the State is an organism which must provide for its own defence, and no one can deny its right to take such measures as circumstances render necessary for its own preservation. Did not Bismarck keep Parliament closed for seven years, did he not introduce exceptional restictions into the laws dealing with the press and the right of association? History, which studies and judges facts in their general lines, outside and above the particular circumstances of the moment, has indeed recognized the greatness of the man who laid the foundations of German power. Time has also rehabilitated the per-


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HOSE animals which by their ize chiefly attract our attention, are but the mallet part of animated nature; the whole earth warms with living beings, every plant, every grain and leaf, upports the life of thouands. Vegetables eem, at firt ight, to be the parts of organized nature, which are produced in the greatet abundance; but upon minuter inpection we hall find each upporting numberles minute creatures, who fill up the various gradations of youth, vigour, and old age, in the pace of a few days exitence.

Vegetables

Some

Caterpillars A


text: The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories/The Curate's Friend


text: The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories/The Road from Colonus


text: The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories/Adverts


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6 cannot compenate for damage done by the former; perhaps the wiet anwer would be, that every creature was formed for itelf, and each allowed to eize as great a quantity of happines from the univeral tock, as was conitent with the univeral plan; thus each was formed to make the happines of each; the weak of the trong, and the trong of the weak, but till in proportion to every order, power of conquet and enjoyment. Thus we hall find, that though man may be reciprocally ueful to other animals, yet in ome meaure they were formed for his ue, becaue he has been endowed with every power of rendering them ubervient, and enjoying their ubmiion. NATURAL


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 and proceed to the regeneration in the sacrament of baptism, are in us not by the gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, who directs our will from unbelief to belief, from godlessness to godliness, but takes place naturally,—such a one proves himself to be an opponent of the apostolic dogmas (Rule V.).” (p. 267.)

The meaning of the decree is that the believers must acknowledge that the change from godlessness to godliness cannot take place naturally, but is only the result of grace, that is, of some unnatural, external action. But if our will is completely directed by the Holy Ghost, then what free will has the Theology just been speaking about when it said that God wants all men to be saved, but that he foresaw that some would make good. use of their free will, while others would not? If he wants to save and everything depends on him, why does he not save?

“188. Being necessary for the very conversion of man to Christianity, for his faith, and for the beginning of faith, divine grace remains necessary for man even after his conversion, so that he may fulfil the evangelical law for a worthy life according to Christ.” (p. 271.)

Proofs from Holy Scripture conclude with this:

“Although man may be inclined toward good before his regeneration, and choose and do moral good, nevertheless, in order that he may be able after his regeneration to do spiritual good (for the works of faith, being the cause of salvation and being performed by supernatural grace, are generally called spiritual), it is necessary for grace to premonish and guide, so that he cannot by himself do works that are worthy of a life according to Christ, but can only wish or not wish to act in accordance with grace.” (p. 274.)

The meaning of this discussion is still more definite, and its expression is much bolder. Here it says distinctly


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 days, such as feasts, anniversaries, holidays, marriages, births, deaths and so forth; and it may include even charities that are bestowed at places of pilgrimage and at shrines, etc.

Now comes the charity that is given in expectation of some return or remuneration. This is well known to the Hindus, as they often give such charity for the benefit of their health, wealth, and safety. Even according to the ideas of men living in the midst of modern civilization, I can show you that people give their charity in the hope of getting some return or remuneration. You, at any rate many of you, know that many Zamindars, though they are more or less heavily involved in debt, borrow money and spend it in giving large subscriptions for various objects, simply with a view to get a title from Government. I know of many instances of such charity in the last twenty-five


text:
Author:Rosalind Murray

Works

 * The Leading Note (1910)
 * Moonseed (1911)
 * Unstable Ways (1914)
 * The Happy Tree (1926)
 * Hard Liberty (1929)
 * The Greeks (1931)
 * The Good Pagan's Failure (1939)
 * Time and the Timeless (1942)
 * The Life of Faith (1943)
 * The Forsaken Fountain (1948)
 * The Further Journey: In My End Is My Beginning (1953)

title: Author:Rosalind Murray


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246 Vaisampayana continued, "And when the great Kavya had been so addressed by Vrishaparva he then went to and told her all., however, quickly replied, 'O Bhargava, if thou art truly the lord of the Asura king himself and of all his wealth, then let the king himself come to me and say so in my presence.' Vrishaparva then approached  and told her, 'O  of sweet smiles, whatever thou desirest I am willing to give thee however difficult it may be to grant the same?  answered, 'I desire Sharmishta with a thousand maids to wait on me. She must also follow me to where my father may bestow me.'

"Vrishaparva then commanded a maid-servant in attendance on him, saying, 'Go and quickly bring Sharmishta hither. Let her also accomplish what wisheth.

Vaisampayana continued, "The maid servant then repairing to Sharmishta told her, 'O amiable Sharmishta, rise and follow me. Accomplish thou the good of thy relatives. Urged by, the Brahmana (Sukra) is on the point of leaving his disciples (the Asuras.) O sinless one, thou must do what wisheth!' Sharmishta replied, 'I shalt cheerfully do what  wisheth!' Urged by  Sukra is calling me. Both Sukra and  must not leave the Asuras through my fault.

Vaisampayana continued, "Commanded by her father then, Sharmishta, accompainedaccompanied [sic] by a thousand maidens, soon came in a palanquin, out of her father's excellent mansion. And approaching said, 'With my thousand maids I am thy waiting-woman. And I shall follow thee where thy father may bestow thee.'  replied, 'I am the daughter of one who chaunteth the praises of thy father, and who beggeth and accepteth alms. Thou, on the other hand art the daughter of one who is adored. How canst thou be my waiting woman?'

"Sharmishta answered, 'One must by all means contribute to the happiness of one's afflicted relatives. Therefore shall I follow thee wherever thy father may bestow thee!

Vaisampayana continued, "When Sharmishtā had thus promised to be waiting-woman, the latter, O


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Rh king, then spoke unto her father thus:—'O best of all excellent Brahmanas, I am gratified. I shall now enter the Asura capital. I now know that thy science and power of knowledge are not futile.

Vaisampayana continued, "That best of Brahmanas, of great reputation, thus addressed by his daughter, then entered the Asura capital in gladness of heart. And the Danavas worshipped him with great reverence."

And thus ends the eightieth Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "After some length of time, O best of monarchs, of the fairest complexion went into the same woods for purposes of pleasure. And accompanied by Sharmishta with her thousand maids she reached the same spot and began to wander in freedom. And waited upon by all those companions she felt herself supremely happy. And sporting with light hearts, they began drinking the honey of flowers, eating various kinds of fruits and biting some. And just at this time, king Yayati the son of Nahusha, again came there in course of his wanderings, tired and thirsty, in search of deer. And the king saw  and Sharmishta, and those other maidens also, all decked with celestial ornaments and full of voluptuous langour in consequence of the flowery honey they drank. And  of sweet smiles, unrivalled in beauty and possessing the fairest complexion amongst them all, was reclining at her ease. And she was waited upon by Sharmishta gently pressing her feet.

"And Yayati seeing all this, said, 'O amiable ones, I would ask ye both your names and parentage. It seems that these two thousand maids wait on ye two.' Hearing the monarch, then answered, 'Listen to me, O best of men. Know thou that I am the daughter of Sukra the spiritual guide of the Asuras. This my companion is my waiting-woman. She


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248 attendeth on me wherever I go. She is Sharmishta the daughter of the Asura king Vrishaparva.'

"Yayati then asked, 'I am curious to know why is this thy companion of fair eye-brows—this maiden of the fairest complexion—the daughter of the Asura chief—thy waiting-woman? replied, 'O best of kings, everything resulteth from the fates. Knowing this also to be the result of fate, cease to wonder at it. Thy features and attire are both like a king's. Thy speech also is fair and correct as that of the Veda. Tell me thy name, whence thou art, and whose son also!'

"The monarch replied, 'During my vow of Brahmacharya, the whole Vedas entered my ears. I am known as Yayati, a king's son and a king myself.' then enquired, 'O king, what for hast thou come here? Is it to gather lotuses, or to angle or to hunt?' Yayati said, 'O amiable one, thirsty in the pursuit of deer have I come hither in search of water. I am very much fatigued. I wait but your commands to leave this spot.'

" answered, 'With my two thousand damsels and my waiting-woman Sharmishta, I wait but your commands. Prosperity to thee! Be thou my friend and lord!'

"Yayati hearing this replied, 'Beautiful one, I do not deserve thee. Thou art the daughter of Sukra, far my superior. Thy father cannot bestow thee even on great kings. To this : 'Brahmanas have before this been mixed with the Khatrias, and Khatrias with Brahmanas. Thou art the son of a Rishi and a Rishi thyself. Therefore, O son of Nahusha, marry thou me!' Yayati, however, replied, 'O thou of the handsomest features, the four orders have, indeed, sprung from one body. But their duties and purity are not the same. The Brahmana is truly superior to all? answered, 'This hand of mine hath never been touched before by any man save thee! Therefore do I accept thee for my lord. How, indeed, shall any other man touch my hand which hath before been touched by thyself who art a Rishi?' Yayati then said, 'The wise know that a Brahmana is more to be avoided than an angry snake of virulent poison or a


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Rh blazing fire of spreading flames.' then told the monarch, 'O thou bull amongst men, why dost thou, indeed, say that a Brahmana should be more avoided than an angry snake of virulent poison or a blazing fire of spreading flames?' The monarch answered, 'The snake but killeth only one. The sharpest weapon slayeth but a single person. The Brahmana, if angry, destroyeth whole cities and kingdoms. Therefore, O timid one, do I deem a Brahmana as more to be avoided than either. I cannot hence wed thee, O amiable one, unless thy father bestoweth thee on me!' then said, 'Thou art, indeed, chosen by me. And, O king, it is understood then that thou wilt accept me if my father bestoweth me on thee. Thou need'st not fear to accept my poor self if bestowed on thee. Thou dost not, indeed, ask for me.

Vaisampayana continued, " After this, quickly sent a maid-servant to her father. The maid represented to Sukra everything as it had happened. And as soon as he had heard all, Bhargava came and saw Yayati. And beholding Bhargaya come, Yayati, that lord of the earth, bowing down worshipped and adored that Brahmana, and stood with joined hands in expectation of his commands.

"And then said, 'This, O father, is the son of Nahusha. He took hold of my hand when I was in distress, I bow to thee. Bestow me unto him. I shall not wed any other person in the world!' Sukra exclaimed, 'O thou of splendid courage, thou hast, indeed, been accepted as her husband by this my dear daughter! I bestow her on thee. Therefore, O son of Nahusha, accept her as thy wife!'

"Yayati then said, 'I beseech the boon, O Brahmana, that by so doing, the sin of begetting a mixed caste might not touch me!' Sukra, however, assured him by saying, 'I shall absolve thee from sin. Ask thou the boon that thou desirest! Fear not to wed her. I grant thee absolution! Maintain virtuously thy wife—the slender-waisted ! Transports of happiness be thine in her company. This other maiden, Vrishaparva's daughter Sharmishta, should ever be regarded by thee. But thou shalt not summon her to thy bed!

Vaisampayana continued, "Thus addressed by Sukra, Yayati 32


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250 then walked round the Brahmana. And the king then went through the auspicious ceremony of marriage according to the rites of the Shastras. And having received from Sukra a rich treasure in the excellent with Sharmishta and those two thousand maidens, and duly honored also by Sukra himself and the Asuras, the best of monarchs then, commanded by the high-souled Bhargava, returned to his capital with a joyous heart."

And so ends the eighty-first Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "Yayati then, having returned to his capital which was like unto the city itself of Indra, entered his inner apartments and established there his bride . And the monarch, directed by, established Vrishaparva's daughter Sharmishta in a mansion especially erected near the artificial forest of Asokas in his gardens. And the king surrounded Vrishaparva's daughter Sharmishta with a thousand maids and honored her by making every arrangement regarding her food and garments. But it was with that the royal son of Nahusha sported like a celestial for many years in joy and bliss. And when her season came, the  conceived. And she brought forth as her first child a fine boy. And when thousand years had passed away, Vrishaparva's daughter Sharmishta having attained to puberty saw that her season too had come. And she became thoughtful. And she said to herself, 'My season hath arrived. But I have not yet chosen a husband. O what hath happened! What should I do! How am I to obtain the fruition of my wishes! hath become a mother. My youth is destined to pass away in vain. Shall I choose him also for my husband whom hath chosen? Indeed, this is my resolve: that monarch should give me a son. Will not the virtuous one grant me an interview in private?"

Vaisampayana continued, "While Sharmishta was thus


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Rh busy with her thoughts, the king wandering listlessly came to that very forest of Asokas, and beholding Sharmishta before him, stood there in silence. Then Sharmishta of beautiful smiles seeing the monarch before her with nobody to witness what might pass, approaching the monarch said, joining her hands, 'O son of Nahusha, no one can behold the ladies that dwell in the inner apartments of Shoma, of Indra, of Vishnu, of Yama, of Varuna, and of thine. Thou knowest, O king, that I am both handsome and well-born. I solicit thee, O king! My season hath arrived: see that it goeth not in vain.'

"Yayati answered, 'Well do I know that the honor of birth is thine, born as thou art in the proud race of the Danavas. Thou art also gifted with beauty. Indeed, I do not see even the speck of a fault in thy features. But Usana commanded me while I was united with that never should Vrishaparva's daughter be summoned to my bed.'

"Sharmishta then said, 'It hath been said, O king, that it is not sinful to lie on the occasion of a joke, in respect of women sought to be enjoyed, on occasions of marriage, in prospect of immediate death and of the loss of one's whole fortune. Lying is excusable on these five occasions. O king, it is false that he is fallen who speaks not the truth when asked. Both and myself have been called hither as companions to serve the same purpose. When, therefore, thou hadst said that thou wouldst confine thyself to one only amongst us, that was a lie thou hadst spoken.' Yayati replied, 'A king should ever be a pattern in the eyes of his people. That monarch certainly meets with destruction who speaks untruths. As for myself, I do not dare speak an untruth even if the greatest loss threatens me.' Sharmishta answered, 'O monarch, one may look upon her friend's husband as her own. One's friend's marriage is the same as one's own. Thou hast been chosen by my friend as her husband. Thou art as much my husband therefore.' Yayati then said, 'It is, indeed, my vow to always grant what one asketh. Thou askest me. Therefore tell me what am I to do! Sharmishta then said, 'Absolve me, O king, from sin! Protect my virtue! Becoming a mother


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Sebæa.]

Erect glabrous annual herbs. Leaves small, opposite, sessile. Flowers small, yellow, in terminal dichotomous cymes. Calyx 4–5-partite; segments often keeled or winged. Corolla-tube cylindric; lobes 4–5, spreading, contorted in the bud. Stamens 4–5, affixed to the throat or tube of the corolla; filaments short; anthers oblong, introrse, straight or recurved at the tips. Ovary completely 2-celled, placentas large, adnate to the septum; style filiform; stigma clavate or capitate. Capsule globose or ovoid, septicidally 2-valved. Seeds numerous, minute; testa reticulated.

1. S. ovata, R. Br. Prodr. 452.—A simple or sparingly branched annual herb 4–8 in. high; stems 4-angled. Leaves few, in distant pairs, sessile, ¼–½ in. long, broadly ovate or orbicular-ovate, obtuse or subacute. Flowers small, ¼ in. long, pale-yellow, in a terminal dichotomous cyme, with a flower in each axil. Calyx-segments 5, ovate-lanceolate, acute, keeled. Corolla with a long straight tube and 5 short lobes which are twisted after flowering. Anthers linear-oblong, with a gland at the tip. Style short. Capsule oblong.—''Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 179; Handb. N.Z. Fl.'' 191; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 371. S. gracilis, ''A. Cunn. Precur. n. 400; Raoul, Choix,'' 44.


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252 by thee let me practise the highest virtue in this world. It is said, O king, that a wife, a slave, and a son, cam never earn wealth for themselves. That which they earn always belongeth to him who owneth them. I am, indeed, the slave of of. Thou art master and lord. Thou art, therefore, O king, my master and lord as much as. I solicit thee. O fill my wishes!

Vaisampayana continued, "Thus addressed by Sharmishta, the monarch was persuaded that all she spoke was true. He, therefore, honored Sharmishta by protecting her virtue. And they passed some time together. And taking an affectionate farewell of each other they then separated, each returning to whence he or she had come.

"And it came to pass that Sharmishta of sweet smiles and fair eye-brows conceived in consequence of that connection of hers with that best of monarchs. And, O king, that lotus-eyed lady then in due time brought forth a son of the splendour of a celestial child and of eyes like lotus leaves."

And thus ends the eighty-second Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "When of sweet smiles heard of the birth of this child, she became jealous, and, O Bharata, Sharmishta became an object of her unpleasant reflections. And  repairing to her addressed her thus:—'O thou of fair eye-brows what sin is this thou hast committed by yeildingyielding [sic] to the influence of lust?' Sharmishta replied, 'A certain Rishi of virtuous soul and fully conversant with the Vedas came to me. Capable of granting boons, he was solicited by me to grant my wishes that were based on considerations of virtue. O thou of sweet smiles, I would not  seek the sinful fulfilment of my desires. I tell thee truly that this child of mine is by that Rishi.  answered, 'It is all right if that is the case, O timid one! But if the lineage, name, and family of that Brahmana be known to thee, I should like to


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Rh hear them.' Sharmishta replied, 'O thou of sweet smiles, that Rishi, in [sic]ascetism and energy is resplendent as the Sun himself. Beholding him, I had not, indeed, the power to make these enquiries!' then said, 'If this is true, if, indeed, thou hast obtained thy child from such a superior Brahmana, then, O Sharmishta, I have no cause of anger.

Vaisampayana continued, "Having thus talked and laughed with each other, they separated, returning to the palace with the knowledge imparted to her by Sharmishta. And, O king, Yayati also begat in  two sons called Yadu and Turvasu who were like Indra and Vishnu. And Sharmishta the daughter of Vrishaparva became mother by the royal sage of three sons in all, named Drahyu, Anu, and Puru.

"And, O king, it so came to pass that one day of sweet smiles accompanied by Yayati went into a solitary part of the woods (in the king's extensive park.) And there she saw three children of celestial beauty playing with perfect trustfulness. And  asked in surprise, 'Whose children are these, O king, so handsome, and so like unto the children of the celestials? In splendour and beauty they are like thee I think.

Vaisampayana continued, "And Devayani without waiting for a reply from the king, asked the children themselves, 'Ye children, what is your lineage? Who is your father? Answer me truly. I desire to know all.' Those children then pointed to the king with their fore-finger and spoke of Sharmishta as their mother.

"And having said so, the children approached the king to clasp his knees. But the king dared not caress them in the presence of . The boys then left the place weeping in grief and going towards their mother. And the king, at this conduct of the boys became very much abashed. But, marking the affection of the children for the king, learnt the secret and [sic]addresing Sharmishta said, 'How hast thou dared to do me an injury, being as thou art dependent on me? Dost thou not fear to have recourse once more to that Asura usage of thine?'


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446

Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite. Flowers axillary and terminal, solitary or cymose, usually conspicuous. Calyx tubular or cup-shaped, 5- or rarely 4-lobed. Corolla subrotate or campanulateor tubular or funnel-shaped; lobes 5–4, in species not found in New Zealand often with folds between the lobes. Stamens 5–4, inserted on the corolla-tube, included; anthers oblong or ovate. Ovary 1-celled, with 2 parietal placentas; style short or almost wanting; stigmas 2, persistent, recurved; ovules numerous. Capsule stalked or sessile, ellipsoid to narrow-oblong, 2-valved to the base. Seeds small, globose or oblong.


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114 years. If a person cannot manage his property to the best possible advantage, and if he involves his estate in heavy debts and thus reduces his heirs and estate to an impoverished condition, why should he be considered by the Government to deserve any distinction? I therefore sincerely hope that the Government will not bestow titles and honours on such persons.

Permanent charity means the money spent on permanent objects, such as the digging of wells and tanks for drinking-water, the laying out of public gardens and the planting of avenues of trees along the roads, and the providing of buildings and permanent funds for public institutions, such as schools, hospitals, rest-houses for travellers, and poor-houses, and so forth.

Though I have nothing to say against classifying charity under four heads as


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254 "Sharmishta said, 'O thou of sweet smiles, all that I told thee of a Rishi is perfectly true. I have acted rightly and according to the precepts of virtue. Therefore I do not fear thee. When thou hadst chosen the king for thy husband I too chose him for mine. O thou beautiful one, a friend's husband is, according to usage, one's own husband also. Thou art the daughter of a Brahmana and, therefore, deservest my worship and regard. But dost thou not know that this royal sage is held by me in greater esteem still?

Vaisampayana said, " then, hearing those words of hers, exclaimed, O king, thus:—'Thou hast wronged me, O monarch! I shall not live here any longer.' And saying this she quickly rose, with tearful eyes, to go to her father. And the king was grieved to see her thus. And alarmed greatly, he followed her footsteps endeavouring to appease her wrath. But with eyes red in anger would not desist. Speaking not a word to the king, with eyes bathed in tears, she soon reached the side of her father Usana the son of Kavi. And beholding her father, she stood before him after due salutation. And Yayati also, immediately after, saluted and worshipped Bhargava.

"And said, 'O father, virtue hath been vanquished by vice. The low have risen, the high have fallen. I have been transgressed by Sharmishta the daughter of Vrishaparva. Three sons have been begotten in her by this king Yayati. But, O father, luckless as I am, I have got only two sons! O son of Bhriga, this king is renowned for his knowledge of the precepts of religion. But, O Kavya, I tell thee that he hath deviated from the path of rectitude.'

"Sukra, hearing all this, said, 'O monarch, since thou hast made vice thy loved pursuit though fully acquainted with the precepts of religion, therefore shall invincible decrepitude paralyse thee.' Yayati answered, 'Adorable one, I was solicited by the daughter of the Danava king to fructify her season. I did it from a sense of virtue and not from other motives. That male person, who being solicited by a woman in season doth not grant her wishes, is called, O Brahmana, by those cognisant of the Veda as a slayer of the embryo. He who, soli-


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Index talk:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalof404219041905roya).pdf

Chinese Names of Streets and Places: text direction
Is there any particular reason why this text seems to have both RTL and LTR? And may I suggest inputting the Chinese as LTR and adding a RTL template (or just leaving it alone, like I would probably do), for searchability/usability? Fish bowl (talk) 08:36, 17 November 2023 (UTC)

 * According to the compiler, more than one contributor provided the Chinese characters for place names. I suspect that they simply typeset and published what was provided as-is. Good point about searchability. I like the solution of using Template:Chinese rtl. I'll concentrate on the initial transcription of the pages, but feel free to start adding in the RTL templates as you see fit. Kbseah (talk) 09:44, 17 November 2023 (UTC)


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115 above, I should prefer to form only two classes, viz.:—

I. Charity bestowed in expectation of some return or recompense, and

II. Charity that does not expect any return, but is given as a matter of duty.

It lis unnecessary to dwell at length on the various kinds of charity that come under the first heading. But I think that some explanation is needed here as regards certain acts of Hindu charity known to the Hindus as Krura Danams. (Krura Danam is a Sanskrit word, meaning cruel act of charity.) Amongst Hindus, and perhaps also amongst Mahommedans to a certain extent, money is spent in charity, when a person is sick or miserable, for his benefit. Such kinds of charity are called Krura Danams. Money is also freely spent on funerals under the belief that it will relieve the soul of the departed of some portion of


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Rh cited in secret by a woman full of desire and in season, goeth not unto her, loseth virtue and is called by the learned a killer of the embryo. O son of Bhrigu, for these reasons, and anxious to avoid sin, I went unto Sharmishta.' Sukra then replied, "Thou art dependent on me. Thou shouldst have awaited my command. Having acted falsely in the matter of thy duty, O son of Nahusha, thou hast been guilty of the sin of theft.

Vaisampayana continued, "And Yayati the son of Nahusha, thus cursed by the angry Usana, was then divested of his youth and immediately overcome by decrepitude. And Yayati said, 'O son of Bhrigu, I have not yet been satiated with youth or with . Therefore, O Brahmana, be graceful unto me so that decrepitude might not touch me.' Sukra then answered, 'I never speak an untruth. Even now, O king, art thou attacked by decrepitude. But if thou likest, thou art competent to transfer this thy decrepitude to another.' Yayati said, 'O Brahmana, let it be commanded by thee that that son of mine who giveth me his youth shall enjoy my kingdom, and shall achieve both virtue and fame.' Sukra replied, 'O son of Nahusha, thinking of me thou mayst transfer this thy decrepitude to whomsoever thou likest. That son who shall give thee his youth shall become thy successor on the throne. He shall also have long life, wide fame, and a large progeny.

Thus ends the eighty-third Section in the Sambhava of the Adi Parva.

( Sambhava Parva continued. )

Vaisampayana said, "Yayati then, having been overcome with decrepitude, returned to his capital, and summoning his eldest son Yadu who was also the most accomplished, addressed him thus:—'Dear child, from the curse of Kavya called also Usana, decrepitude and wrinkles and whiteness of hair have come over me! But I have not been gratified yet with the enjoyment of youth. Thou, O Yadu, take this my weakness along with my decrepitude. I shall enjoy with thy youth.


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116 the burden of its sins. I know that Christians, at the first sight, object, to a certain extent, to the reasonableness of the Hindu belief as to the efficacy of the Krura Danams. But I do not think they will have much reason to object after they read my explanation. I must, however, say here that I am writing these essays for Hindus first and then for all others. Christians, however, believe that prayers obtain mercy from God, who forgives the sin of the person praying or of the person on whose behalf the prayer is offered. A few sects of Christians believe that prayers offered at and after funerals by the relatives and friends of the departed person obtain the mercy of God and secure peace and happiness for the soul of the departed. The Hindu belief as regards Krura Danams is that it has the effect of transferring a portion of the giver's sin to the person that receives the gift, and that the receiver


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Gentiana.]


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117 would be pardoned that sin by the mercy of God obtained by his offering certain prayers to the Almighty. The ultimate results expected according to the beliefs of Hindus and Christians are nearly the same. But Hindus and Mahommedans also believe that all ordinary charity, that is, charity other than Krura Danams, makes the giver free from sin and sickness, although it does not injure the receiver as Krura Danam does, Krura Danams are gifts prescribed to be given in certain special cases of sickness, calamity, and so forth. If our prayers can obtain mercy from God, and thereby relief from something painful, why should not money given in charity accompanied by prayers and spent with that motive fulfil the same object?

Now let me say a little as regards charity that is bestowed in expectation of no return, but that is given as a matter of duty. It is the duty of a rich man to provide meals


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118 and clothes for decrepit people who cannot earn the means for providing food and clothes. It is also a sort of duty for a rich man to dig wells and tanks for drinking-water, to lay out gardens, to plant avenues of trees, to found schools, hospitals, and other such public institutions and to entertain friends and relatives, and also, I may say, according to our notions, to feed the Brahmins and others on pleasant and happy occasions, such as marriages, births, and so forth. Even according to the Hindu belief there is no sin imparted to the donee from the giver in receiving charity and hospitality in all the above instances.

Now, my friends, I exhort you to look on the second kind of charity as more worthy of attention than the first one. The second kind is a duty incumbent on you and it imparts no sin to the donee, nor does it expect any recompense whatsoever.


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119 Before finishing this lecture, let me draw your attention to a very good saying, viz., "Charity begins at home." This means that if we have money, we must first provide for our family, and then distribute our charity amongst our deserving relatives, friends, and neighbours and then extend it to others.


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121 wet-nurses or maid-servants. If there are any elderly ladies in the house to supervise the children, so much the better.

When a child is quite young it is a good thing for the child to be allowed to cry for a while. But generally the mother will not allow the child to cry a bit; for our ladies think that their children should not cry like other ordinary children. As soon as the child cries the mother calls the wet-nurse and has it suckled as many times as the baby cries. This makes the poor child subject to indigestion. There-fore we must see for ourselves and enquire often about the treatment. Never leave them entirely in the hands of your ladies. It is the best thing to get a qualified European or Eurasian nurse; but our ladies object much to their being entertained on account of caste scruples. You may, therefore, get a qualified Hindu nurse for a year or two.


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122 When the baby is about three, or at most before six, months old, have it vaccinated, and repeat the operation every seven years. It is also said by doctors that it is a good thing for a grown-up person to be vaccinated once in every six or seven years.

When a child grows big enough to play about, let it play as much as it likes, supply it with necessary toys and play-things suitable to the age of the child, and allow the child to have fresh air both morning and evening.

In the fifth year, according to Hindu custom, get a native teacher and let the child be taught alphabet in the shape of play. Be careful to see that the child is not in the least pressed to learn in that year nor in the year following.

It is the usual practice, in our Zenanas especially, to tell certain tales to children, when they go to sleep. These tales,


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2 wrong as St. John Long; but an organised opposition, supported by the efforts of many acting in concert, appealing to common arguments and experience, with perpetual succession and a common seal, as the Queen says in the charter, is, be the merit of the schism what it may, a thing wholly different from the case of the isolated opponent in the mode of opposition to it which reason points out.

During the last two centuries and a half, physical knowledge has been gradually made to rest upon a basis which it had not before. It has become mathematical. The question now is, not whether this or that hypothesis is better or worse to the pure thought, but whether it accords with observed phenomena in those consequences which can be shown necessarily to follow from it, if it be true. Even in those sciences which are not yet under the dominion of mathematics, and perhaps never will be, a working copy of the mathematical process has been made. This is not known to the followers of those sciences who are not themselves mathematicians and who very often exalt their horns against the mathematics in consequence. They might as well be squaring the circle, for any sense they show in this particular.

A great many individuals, ever since the rise of the mathematical method, have, each for himself, attacked its direct and indirect consequences. I shall not here stop to point out how the very accuracy of exact science gives better aim than the preceding state of things could give. I shall call each of these persons a paradoxer, and his system a paradox. I use the word in the old sense: a paradox is something which is apart from general opinion, either in subject-matter, method, or conclusion.

Many of the things brought forward would now be called crotchets, which is the nearest word we have to old paradox. But there is this difference, that by calling a thing a crotchet we mean to speak lightly of it; which was not the necessary sense of paradox. Thus in the sixteenth century many spoke of the earth's motion as the paradox of Copernicus, who held the ingenuity of that theory in very high esteem, and some, I think, who even inclined towards it. In the seventeenth century, the depravation of meaning took place, in England at least. Phillips says paradox is "a thing which seemeth strange"—here is the old meaning: after a colon he proceeds—"and absurd, and is contrary to common opinion," which is an addition due to his own time.

Some of my readers are hardly inclined to think that the word paradox could once have had no disparagement in its meaning; still less that persons could have applied it to themselves. I


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123 almost all of them, are not only myths, but unfortunately are stories of devils, demons and cruel beasts. Children get terrified on hearing them. The women think that a child, on hearing such stories, will go to bed willingly. But they, nay even men, are ignorant of the fact that it makes a child faint-hearted and cowardly. When the children grow older, the women-servants, generally old maids, tell tales of love. This second practice makes the children think of the passion of love sooner than they should. Therefore the telling of silly idle tales to children should be strictly prohibited; nor is it a wise thing to allow grown-up girls opportunities of listening to such stories.

From the seventh year or so the child should begin to learn regularly. See that both your mother-tongue and English are taught to the child. You must also see that he learns a little of Sanskrit.


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Rh chance to have met with a case in point against them. It is Spinoza's 'Philosophia Scripturæ Interpres, Exercitatio Paradoxa,' printed anonymously at Eleutheropolis, in 1666. This place was one of several cities in the clouds, to which the cuckoos resorted who were driven away by the other birds; that is, a feigned place of printing, adopted by those who would have caught it if orthodoxy could have caught them. Thus, in 1656, the works of Socinus could only be printed at Irenopolis. The author deserves his self-imposed title, as in the following:—

This is properly paradox, though also heterodox. It supposes, contrary to all opinion, orthodox and heterodox, that philosophy can, with slight changes, explain the Athanasian doctrine so as to be at least compatible with orthodoxy. The author would stand almost alone, if not quite; and this is what he meant. I have met with the counter-paradox. I have heard it maintained that the doctrine as it stands, in all its mystery is à priori more likely than any other to have been Revelation, if such a thing were to be; and that it might almost have been predicted.

After looking into books of paradoxes for more than thirty years, and holding conversation with many persons who have written them, and many who might have done so, there is one point on which my mind is fully made up. The manner in which a paradoxer will show himself, as to sense or nonsense, will not depend upon what he maintains, but upon whether he has or has not made a sufficient knowledge of what has been done by others, especially as to the mode of doing it, a preliminary to inventing knowledge for himself. That a little knowledge is a dangerous thing is one of the most fallacious of proverbs. A person of small knowledge is in danger of trying to make his little do the work of more; but a person without any is in more danger of making his no knowledge do the work of some. Take the speculations on the tides as an instance. Persons with nothing


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4 but a little geometry have certainly exposed themselves in their modes of objecting to results which require the higher mathematics to be known before an independent opinion can be formed on sufficient grounds. But persons with no geometry at all have done the same thing much more completely.

There is a line to be drawn which is constantly put aside in the arguments held by paradoxers in favour of their right to instruct the world. Most persons must, or at least will, like the lady in Cadogan Place, form and express an immense variety of opinions on an immense variety of subjects; and all persons must be their own guides in many things. So far all is well. But there are many who, in carrying the expression of their own opinions beyond the usual tone of private conversation, whether they go no further than attempts at oral proselytism, or whether they commit themselves to the press, do not reflect that they have ceased to stand upon the ground on which their process is defensible. Aspiring to lead others, they have never given themselves the fair chance of being first led by other others into something better than they can start for themselves; and that they should first do this is what both those classes of others have a fair right to expect. New knowledge, when to any purpose, must come by contemplation of old knowledge in every matter which concerns thought; mechanical contrivance sometimes, not very often, escapes this rule. All the men who are now called discoverers, in every matter ruled by thought, have been men versed in the minds of their predecessors, and learned in what had been before them. There is not one exception. I do not say that every man has made direct acquaintance with the whole of his mental ancestry; many have, as I may say, only known their grandfathers by the report of their fathers. But even on this point it is remarkable how many of the greatest names in all departments of knowledge have been real antiquaries in their several subjects.

I may cite, among those who have wrought strongly upon opinion or practice in science, Aristotle, Plato, Ptolemy, Euclid, Archimedes, Roger Bacon, Copernicus, Francis Bacon, Ramus, Tycho Brahé, Galileo, Napier, Descartes, Leibnitz, Newton, Locke. I take none but names known out of their fields of work; and all were learned as well as sagacious. I have chosen my instances: if any one will undertake to show a person of little or no knowledge who has established himself in a great matter of pure thought, let him bring forward his man, and we shall see.

This is the true way of putting off those who plague others