blunders. Not that I think the French press more evilminded than the press of other countries; it is only more clever, sparkling, and stimulating, and therefore more dangerous, than its rivals in other lands.

But valuable as would be a general disarmament and cessation of wars and rumours of wars, simply as affording a pause, a breathing-space, in the midst of our really social troubles, these palliatives would not produce a solution of those troubles; they would only postpone them for a season, priceless as that postponement would be. If the war waged by cannon and rifles were to cease, the more bitter war of commercial rivalry would remain, probably fiercer than ever, as there would be no competing interest to engage men's minds.

One would think that it was obvious to casual observation that we are commencing to descend an incline, down which we shall move with accelerated speed, to be brought up at last in general calamity. The difficulty of taking new views of old things and conditions, can alone blind men from seeing the fate before them. The numbers of the unemployed in all large centres are growing from year to year. The palliatives of charity, public-works, state-aid in every form, are still talked of as if there were hope in them. But before the century is at an end, the

b

illusion will have vanished. The production of wealth, as it has obtained in the past, can continue no longer. The State will be impoverished along with individuals; and with increasing charges will have less revenues to meet them. Then we shall know what a general or universal commercial catastrophe really means, when the famishing unemployed will not be counted by thousands, but millions; when a page of the Times will suffice for the business advertisements of London; and when the richest will be glad to live on the little capital they have left, never thinking of interest.

No moralist or preacher ever had such occasion to point out the deceitfulness of riches, as will soon be afforded by the industrial collapse. For upwards of a century wealth has been produced with a speed and in a volume quite beyond precedent in former times. If the wealth of Nations were enough to ensure their prosperity and happiness, the countries of Western Europe should be now in a state of unprecedented bliss. It may be doubted if there was ever more misery in the midst of more wealth. Morality is avenged at last; and the great lesson being brought home, that wealth and its production are not the first nor even the second chief interests of a State; that the commonwealth demands some

thing else and more from its citizens than a unique pre-occupation to make their own fortunes.

Bad, however, as the industrial and economic situation is, there is reason to fear that it may presently be made worse by rash and ill-considered attempts to mend it. I am very far from thinking with Mr. Herbert Spencer, that "all Socialism involves slavery," as I believe that there is a good Socialism as well as a bad; a Socialism of love and mutual help, and a Socialism of hatred and spoliation. One must shut one's eyes to obvious facts not to realize that, under the mask and name of Socialism, projects fraught with evil to all classes, but especially to the poor, are being pushed forward with a zeal which is certainly not according to knowledge, and which is difficult to regard as according to honesty of purpose. The condition of growing distress into which large numbers of the population will inevitably fall in a near future, must offer a correspondingly wider field for demagogic arts; which are none the less effective because they are as old as history, and flourish naturally in all periods of social suffering. Famine, or even short rations, are not calculated to put men in a philosophic frame of mind; and even the honest and intelligent workman who has had no breakfast, and does not know

where he will get a dinner, very naturally lends a willing ear to speakers and writers who tell him that all his troubles might soon be ended if only the "selfish rich" were made to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten wealth, procured by the sweat of his brow, but which unjust laws have transferred from him to them. The fact is, that one can only lament that such a short and easy solution of the social difficulty as a transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, could not be put in practice. With all its violation of the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," it would be a boon and a relief from the chronic care and sadness which now oppress the deserving poor and rich alike. But it is precisely at this point that such proposals break down. a little reflection shows that the suggested remedies would promptly aggravate every existing evil, and add an endless number to those we have.

And

The singular thing is, that in such a commercial country as ours, it should be forgotten or overlooked that trade depends in buying and selling; and that in every purchase and sale two parties are concerned, one of whom cannot be coerced. Legislation, popular agitation, and resolute combined action, brought to bear on special points, may do much, though not always so much as is often

thought; but there is one thing which they cannot do they cannot make people buy goods which they refuse to buy. The producer, whether capitalist or workman—who, though often enemies in their private relations, are partners with regard to the public-may have any number of trials of their own; but if they cannot succeed between them in producing goods of a quality and at a price which induce the public at home or abroad to buy, they may say and do what they like; they will remain without customers. No man of business, from the largest merchant to the petty shopkeeper, is ignorant of this fact. Yet, it is despised or ignored, as a paradox unworthy of notice, by those who urge that work is to be provided by the State for the unemployed, whether there be a demand for it or not. What is the contention? A number of men are out of work; it is heartrending to think that they, their wives and children, are starving. Therefore, the State, or the parish, or somebody, ought immediately to improvise work for them. What work? This is rarely specified with accuracy. If remunerative work-work which it would pay any individual or corporation to take in hand—is it not certain that the natural cupidity of mankind would long ago have found it out and made a profit by