that our government will prove an exception to the rule, and long remain free with a large standing army. What Lord Macaulay declares concerning this menace to freedom in a limited monarchy is equally true of a republic in which great monopolies may have a potential voice in the shaping of administrative policies, and we may rest assured that if we have become so morally anesthetized that we acquiesce in the new doctrine that it is right for soldiers under the Stars and Stripes to wage a cruel war against a people whose only crime is their love for freedom and that they insist on following the example of our own fathers, we will be expected to feel the strong military arm, if its use will advance ambitious men in their designs for power or grasping monopolies in the suppression of popular resistance to oppression and extortions.

The military bill, for which the war being waged by our government against the liberty-loving Filipinos is made the excuse, is in our judgment one of the gravest mistakes which Congress has made in its whole history. But bad as is the increase of the standing army, that evil is even less menacing than the precedent established by Congress in delegating to the President rights which should under all circumstances be sacredly and jealously guarded by the representatives of the people in the two houses of Congress. On this momentous point we are glad to note that even some of the most ultraconservative papers of the land have taken alarm and are raising solemn protests. The New York Nation, for example, in a recent editorial, utters this timely warning:

"The growing tendency of Congress to shirk responsibility by shifting it onto the President's shoulders is perhaps the most alarming sign of the decay of republican government noted for a long time. The Republican Philadelphia Ledger sees in it a real ground for the charge of Imperialism, and finds it 'shocking testimony' to the ability of Jingoism to lead us away from the spirit which should actuate men of republican beliefs living in a democracy. It does not believe that Mr. McKinley will abuse the privileges given to him, but it rightly fears the result of setting so un-American a precedent as to confer on him, respecting the size of our army, greater power than the German Emperor's, who cannot add a single soldier to his army. A proof of this is that the Reichstag has been teeming with protests during the last month against the unauthorized despatch of a volunteer East Asiatic corps to China, and the defenders of the German Constitution have been outspoken in their attack upon this violation of its sanctity, using the very same arguments which apply to our own case. What a change has come over the spirit of our institutions when those who stand for its organic law can make common cause with the most liberal subjects of what we have so long

considered a 'down-trodden' monarchy! It is already 'feared' in Administration circles in Washington that Congress may, after all, limit the President's power to raise armies to two years. We trust that it will not even give him this power for two days."

The new doctrine that the Constitution does not follow the flag, that a republic can remain a republic and yet adopt the colonial system of imperial governments, that it can insist on holding subject peoples and yet be true to the fundamental principles upon which it was builded, and that it is right to crush with the strong military arm a people struggling to enjoy that which our own Declaration of Independence declares to be an inalienable right of all peoples, ought to be sufficient to show the most slow-thinking patriot how rapidly the great Republic is drifting away from the ancient moorings, and also to what shore this evil current is bearing her.

UNTRUE TO HER MISSION.

On the arrival of Mr. Kruger in Paris, Senator Fabre presented him with a copy of his "Life of Washington," dedicated

"To the grand old man who, by his struggles and persistency, recalls Washington, and to whom France has given the same enthusiastic welcome as was given to Franklin, regretting that she has been unable up to the present to coöperate in the foundation of the United States of South Africa as she coöperated in the foundation of the United States of America."

Is it possible that the canker of sordid commercialism has eaten so deeply into the heart of our people that the above incident, coupled with the knowledge of the attitude of our government toward the little republics of South Africa in their heroic struggle to maintain free self-government, brings no sense of bitter humiliation or indignation to the conscience of the nation? Had our Republic shown fidelity to her traditions and her glorious mission by generously aiding the Filipinos to realize their long-cherished dream of self-government, while extending at least the moral support of the government to the republics of South Africa, the real position of the United States as a world power would have been a hundred fold greater than it is to-day, while she would have vindicated her high claim to the place of leadership among the nations that are pressing toward the goal to which permanent civilization must move.

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

REVIEWED BY B. O. FLOWER.*

ECCENTRICITIES OF GENIUS. By Major J. B. Pond. Illustrated with over 90 portraits of men and women. Cloth, 564 pp. Price, $3.50. New York: G. W. Dillingham Company.

A Book Study.

In his new work entitled "Eccentricities of Genius," Major Pond marshals before the reader in a most pleasing and interesting way the great men and women who during the last fifty years have made the lecture platform one of the positive educational factors in American life. Few of us begin to realize how much the lyceum has contributed to the real culture of our people, and it is well that the man of all men best qualified intelligently to introduce to the rising generation so many of the master minds of the last half century has essayed this task, and in so doing has succeeded so admirably. The volume is rich in luminous pen pictures and characterizations of more than four-score men and women who molded the thought and conscience of millions of people. To be brought into sympathetic touch with many of the finest and truest leaders of thought is in itself an inspiration, and happily the author of this work understands how to bring out the strong points in the life he is dealing with, while he spices his descriptions with a rich fund of anecdotes which further serve to illustrate the character he is discussing. In most instances Major Pond dwells lovingly upon those of whom he writes. We are brought very near to the heart-life of many of whom we may have known but little beyond the splendid intellectual powers or moral enthusiasm which have been the common heritage and one of the chief glories of the last two generations. Occasionally the reader is made uncomfortable by some revelations that tend to shatter his idol; for the author, though evidently conscientious and just, is also frank, as the admirers of Charles Sumner, the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, and Charles Spurgeon will agree. Yet his criticisms do not go beyond his personal experiences, and the great part of the volume consists of glowing descriptions and pleasing stories relating to one of the most brilliant coteries of thought-molders known to modern times. Very fine indeed are his sympathetic characterizations of John B. Gough, Wendell Phillips, and Henry Ward Beecher, whom he terms "the triumvirate of lecture kings."

*Books intended for review in THE ARENA should be addressed to B. O. Flower, 5 Park Square, Boston, Mass.

His treatment of Henry Ward Beecher is perhaps the finest and most interesting part of the volume. The two men were intimate friends. Few persons, indeed, came nearer to the heart of the great Plymouth pastor than did Major Pond. The affection of the two men was much like that of brothers, and in our author's story of Beecher on the lecture platform we have a description in which an intimate knowledge of the character of his subject, a sincere admiration for the great preacher's intellectual ability, and a deep love for the man are delightfully blended. Many are the charming anecdotes given relating to the days when the Major and the greatest pulpit orator of America were together. In Richmond, Va., they had an exciting experience. It was in 1877. Beecher had never spoken below the Mason and Dixon line, and his recent trouble in New York had done much to arouse a new antagonistic public sentiment. In all towns there were many ready to think that the worst that had been charged was true. The South was naturally disposed to credit the scandal, for her people had not forgotten the stand which Beecher and Plymouth pulpit took during the anti-slavery days. Mr. Powell, who was the proprietor of the theater at Richmond, soon found that public sentiment was so bitter against the minister that it would be dangerous for him to appear. He wired Major Pond, who with Mr. Beecher was then at Baltimore, not to come; but as the manager and lecturer were then en route, they continued their journey. At the hotel in Richmond Mr. Beecher was treated in a highly discourteous manner, even by the servants. They found that no tickets had been sold, and Mr. Powell declined to take the responsibility of the lecture, whereupon Major Pond agreed to cancel the contract provided the manager would let him have the theater for that night. To this proposal Mr. Powell readily agreed. Announcements were made, but no one would sell tickets or keep the door. "The Legislature, then in session, passed an informal vote that none of them would go near the theater. The Tobacco Board did the same." Major Pond had to be ticket-seller and doorkeeper. But curiosity is as strong in the South as in the North. At an early hour people began to come, and soon a great crowd had assembled. One surprising fact was that about all the members of the Legislature, and all the Tobacco Board, were among the early purchasers of tickets. Each man, supposing that the others would not be present, decided to slip in and hear for himself the much-talked-of orator. I will now let our author relate his experiences:

The time came for me to go after Mr. Beecher. I had no doorkeeper, but the theater was full of men and my pockets were stuffed with dollars, so I left the door to take care of itself. I found him ready. While in the carriage on our way from the hotel to the theater not a word passed between us, and during the day neither of us had spoken of the situation. When we arrived at the stage door of the theater the dozen policemen were keeping the crowd back. As we alighted from the carriage at the door, a yell went up. We met Mr. Powell on the stage. He called me to one side and said:

"Don't you introduce Mr. Beecher. The gallery is full of eggs. You will have trouble."

I stepped into the waiting-room. Mr. Beecher said: "Go ahead; I am ready."

I walked on the stage and he followed. As we sat down I saw the theater full of men only. The crowd was disposed to be uncivil. Canes began to rake the baluster of the balcony railing, and feet to pound the floor, and in less than a minute a yell fairly shook the theater. Mr. Beecher signaled me to proceed. I stood a moment for them to get quiet, and then introduced him to his first Virginia audience.

Mr. Beecher was to speak on "Hard Times," but had decided to change the subject to the "Ministry of Wealth." As he arose and stepped toward the footlights, another yell went up. He stood unmoved, and waited for some time; finally a lull came, and he began. He said that there was a natural law that brains and capital controlled the commercial world, and it could not be changed even by the Virginia Legislature, which opened with prayer and closed with the benediction. The Legislature were all there, and the public, like any other public, were ready to accept any good-natured drive at the Legislature.

It was not many minutes before the audience was in full sympathy with the speaker, and for two and a half hours Mr. Beecher addressed that crowd, swaying them with his mighty eloquence and telling them such truths as they never before had listened to. His peroration was a tribute to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Mother of Presidents, her history and her people, and closed with a brief retrospect: how she had prospered when she set her mark high and bred her sons for Presidents and position, but how changed when she came to breed men for the market; how manfully and nobly her worthy sons had kissed the sod, and how sad had been her lot. But in all her prosperity and adversity God had not forsaken her. Industry brought prosperity, and soon, very soon, Virginia was to be one of the brightest stars in the constellation of States.

Such applause and cheers as he got during that address I have never heard before or since.

He stepped off the stage and into the carriage, and we were in our rooms at the hotel before half the audience could get out of the theater. After getting to his room Mr. Beecher threw himself back in a large chair in front of a blazing wood fire and laughingly said:

"Don't you think we have captured Richmond?"

He had no more than spoken when the door opened and a crowd of men came rushing in. My first impression was that it was a mob, as it did not seem that there had been time for them to come from the theater; but I was mistaken.

The foremost was a tall man with a slouch hat. (They were all in slouch hats.) He said:

"Mr. Beecher, this is our 'Leftenant'-Governor. We have come to thank you for that great speech. This is our member for So-and-so, and this is Judge Harris," and so on, introducing a score or more of prominent Virginians.

"Mr. Beecher, we want you to stay and speak for us to-morrow evening. We want our women to hear you," etc.

Mr. Beecher was in his most happy humor. He shook the Virginians warmly by the hand. He told them that he was announced for Washington the following evening, and his time was all booked for the season. They offered to raise $500 if he would remain over. The following morning at seven o'clock many Virginians were at the station to see him off. All the morning papers contained extensive synopses of the lecture and favorable notices.

The following is a characteristic incident, which speaks volumes for the heart of the great minister: