Page images
PDF
EPUB

Deland has written a new series of "Old Chester Tales" which will appear in the same magazine.

Mr. Swinburne is about to publish a collected edition of his poems, and for the introductory volume, he will write, in the form of a letter to his friend, Mr. Theodore Watts-Dunton, a long account of his literary effort and of how he came to write the various books.

"The Tiger and the Insect" are really babies-not "Helen's" babies this time, but "Kate's"-and it is their doting aunt to whom Mr. John Habberton assigns the pleasant task of writing up their pretty pranks. Come from the Far West to take them in charge for their mother's vacation, Aunt Nell's impressions of New York diversify her experiences in the nursery, and a thread of romance, which the babies do their best to tangle, spins itself straight at the end of the story. R. H. Russell.

"A Romance of the Nursery" is to be elassed with stories about children rather than with stories for them. Janey, and her brothers, the sturdy, matter-of-fact, romping children of a hospitable English country-house, with Fiametta, the sensitive, self-conscious but fascinating little sprite whom their friend, the poet from London, leaves with them, make a charming group of characters, but the narrative is hardly objective enough for the juvenile taste. But grown people will delight in the subtleties and satire which give it its peculiar flavor. Allen Harker is the author. John Lane.

L.

The problems which confront a man of high principles, scholarly tastes and generous impulses, as he attempts to meet the demands of an ambitious

family with the earnings of his profession are the subject of Lewis Zangwill's new novel, "One's Womenkind." The scene is laid in London, the central figure is a clever young barrister, and his wife a girl of good family who has made a failure on the stage. The plot offers a variety of incident to entertain the idle reader, while the human interest-weak at the opening of the book-makes a stronger and stronger claim on the serious attention as the characters develop. The author is a brother of the betterknown Israel Zangwill. A. S. Barnes & Co.

To "Miss Muffet's Christmas Party" are bidden, by the aid of the Spider, "all the people you read about"-the Rev. Swiss Robinson and Family, Tiny Tim and all the Cratchetts, Mr. Aldrich's Bad Boy, Rollo and Jonas and Miss Edgeworth's Youths and Rosamond, Haroun al Raschid and Sindbad and the Three Wise Men of Gotham, Aesop with his Fables and Baloo and Bagheera, Uncle Remus, and Robinson Crusoe and a whole procession more, and Samuel McChord Crothers describes their mutual acquaintance in a style that will hold the children breathless with interest and keep their elders bubbling over with laughter. A more delightful compound of exuberant fancy, sly satire and genuine, good-humored fun it would be hard to find. There is a profusion of illustrations, all extremely clever. Olive W. Long is the artist. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

The figure of Thoreau has so far receded into the past that it is now possible to form a more correct estimate of his position in literature than could have been made by his contemporaries: yet the date of his death is not so long past that his personality, treasured in the memories of those

who knew him, is wholly without influence. The personal and the critical elements are well combined in the volume entitled "Thoreau, His Home, Friends and Books" in which Mrs. Annie Russell Marble presents a careful study of the naturalist and philosopher, vivified by many bits of personal reminiscence contributed by his friends, and extracts from letters and diaries hitherto unpublished, which throw light upon his character and the workings of his mind. It is a curiously attractive, even though lonely figure which is here portrayed; and the wellarranged study of Thoreau's writings which fills the later pages is discriminating. A number of excellent photogravures enhance the charm of the book and suggest holiday uses. T. Y. Crowell & Co.

Gossiping pleasantly in The London Chronicle upon "Literary Interviews," of which, by the way, he has no high opinion, Mr. Andrew Lang gives the following amusing instances of the confusion of literary personalities often existing in the popular mind:

For many years-nay, still, perhaps -the world thought that Mr. George Meredith was the late Lord Lytton, and that Mr. Matthew Arnold was the

:

author of The Light of Asia. A lady told me that The Light of Asia was Mr. Matthew Arnold's best poem, and I replied that to my taste Sir Edwin Arnold would ever be most remembered for his Scholar Gipsy. A gentleman, it is said, thanked Mr. Henry James for the pleasure which in boyhood he had derived from Darnley, Gowrie, and other romances by Mr. G. P. R. James. I have known a judge of this realm converse with the Poet Laureate under the impression that he was Mr. Austin Dobson.

Lovers of Jane Austen will be pleased to hear that two new editions of her works are to be published this season, each with exceptionally inter

esting features. One of them is to he in the illustrated pocket classic series of the Macmillans, furnished with introductions by Mr. Austin Dobson. The other, known as the Hampshire Edition, introduces a novel experiment in illustration. Within the front cover of each volume is a map (in the old style, showing trees, buildings, and hills) of the country or town in which the scenes of the story occur, prepared from views and guide-books of the period; and within the back cover the neighborhood supposed to be inhabited by the principal characters is pictured in a similar style, giving the relative sizes, distances, and positions of houses and walks according to the author's descriptions.

Perhaps it would be unkind to class Mr. W. D. Howell's latest book, "Literature and Life," among essays, for does he not tell us, in his consideration of "The Man of Letters as a Man of Business" in the opening paper that essays are decadent and that no one buys them? But by whatever name one chooses to call them, these talks, reminiscences, comments, sketches, are thoroughly delightful, alike in their temper and their philosophy. Whether discussing the relations of author and publisher or writer and editor, or depicting life in summer colonies or foreign capitals, or sketching performances on the stage, or at the circus or the dime museum, or presenting realistic bits of life and experience in city streets, Mr. Howells is sympathetic and friendly. He knows how to be serious without being cynical, and humorous without being trifling, and his views of life and literature are sane and sensible and drawn from wide experience. If the great public does not buy, and read-such essays as these, so much the worse for the great public. The book is well illustrated. Harper & Bros.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

We are rather apt in England to over-estimate the power of the American President. That power is undoubtedly very great. The President is the head, to a large extent, the working head, of the army and navy; he has charge of the whole Federal administration and the appointment of ambassadors, consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, Cabinet Ministers-in fact of all the higher Federal officers -initiates in him; he may convene Congress in extraordinary session whenever he so pleases; his right of veto gives him the power to delay and at times to block any and every measure of which he disapproves; the conduct of foreign affairs, in all except its final phase, is under his immediate control: and virtually he is irremovable. It is with all this in their minds that Englishmen turn to Germany and the German Emperor for a parallel to the Presidential authority. But to all this there is another and less imposing side. The President selects officers and makes appointments, but it is the Senate that confirms or rejects them. The President concludes treaties, but, as we know only too well, a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for their ratification. The President suggests legislation; it is for Congress to act on his suggestion or to disregard it,

as it wills. The President vetoes a measure, but it becomes law if both Houses by a two-thirds majority passit anew over his head. In fact the actual influence of the President on legislation is in many ways less than that of an English Prime Minister. Students of Constitutions will not need to be reminded of the cause of this. The "Sages of 1789" funked-there is no other word for it-a strong Executive. Whatever else the President might be, they took good care he should not be a George the Third. They were morbidly on the defensive against the evils of "one-man power," against anything that might give an opening to "monarchical ambitions." One consequence of this is that, in or. dinary times, the American form of administration is practically a conspiracy for doing nothing. The func tions and authority of each power in the State are so limited that no one person, no one body, is capable of leading either the nation or the Legislature, or framing and pursuing a continuous policy. Each organ of government, the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary, is made a jealous observer and restrainer of the others. The energy which under the English or Cabinet system is given up almost entirely to the work of legislation

spends itself in America in excessive strife among the various bodies created to check and balance one another. Nobody has even a comparatively free hand. Everybody hampers everybody else. The framers of the Constitution accomplished more than they intended. They divided the Executive from the Legislature so firmly as to make each not only independent but hostile, and therefore weak. The connecting link whch goes by the name of the English Cabinet they either missed or did not appreciate. In the quiet times which have ordinarily been the lot of the Republic, not much inconvenience has been felt from the rivalries of this triad of authorities. Some great questions, such as the tariff and currency, which under a more positive form of government would have been settled long ago, have been merely tinkered at. But many rash schemes of legislation have been squashed, many hotheaded Presidents held in check, many successive Houses "taught their place.' The negative work has, as a rule, been well done. It is when the country is face to face with some national peril, and immediate action becomes imperative, that the Presidential system of At all such 1789 shows its defects. times Congress practically abdicates. This was what happened during the war of 1812, the Civil War, and the War. There is Spanish-American

The

really no choice in the matter.
Constitution does not permit of rapid
action by the Legislature; and, assum-
ing such action to be necessary, it can
only be carried out by one person or
one board vested with almost plenary
too clogged
authority. Congress is
and cumbersome for such work.
must be done by the President or not
done at all. An autocracy in a time
of emergency is the price America has
to pay for her checks and balances in
ordinary times.

It

It is, however, with ordinary times

that we are now dealing; and in ordi-
nary times the President is anything
but an autocrat. Even under the most
favorable circumstances, that is to say,
when his party commands a majority
in both Houses, his power over legis-
lation depends wholly on the goodwill
may recommend
of Congress. He
everything, but he can direct nothing.
Neither he nor his Cabinet Ministers
sit in Congress, or hold any recog-
nized communication with it except
through the medium of written mes-
sages. The Administration has no of-
ficial spokesman in either House to
expound its policy and influence the
course of debate. An appeal to the
known wishes or opinions of the Presi-
Both
dent is resented as dictation.
Houses are rigidly tenacious of their
Constitutional powers, jealous of out-
side interference, especially from the
White House, and always ready to en-
croach on the debatable ground left
The
unassigned by the Constitution.
President, it is true, has his veto, and
that is a powerful weapon, for defence
at any rate. It is in attack that he is
tied and hampered. He can prevent
Congress from doing some things, but
he cannot oblige it to do others. His
Presidential Message may point the
way, but neither he nor any one can
ensure that it will be followed. Con-
gress in all such matters is its own
master. Not only may it completely
disregard all the President's sugges-
tions, but it may wreck every scheme
on which his heart is set by withhold-
ing supplies, defeating treaties, refus-
ing to confirm his appointments or at-
taching impossible riders to its bills.
And the President in such a case is all
but helpless. He may by a long cam-
paign, by appealing to the people over
the heads of their representatives, suc-
ceed at length in coercing Congress.
Or by a judicious humoring of the
Bosses and by allowing the Senate to
distribute his patronage for him, he

« PreviousContinue »