THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT is having a world of trouble with Bohemians or Czechs. These as a nation are determined to have an autonomy, and even desire to obtain an independent kingdom, as have the Hungarians. If this is granted to them it will raise the same demand among other national groups, and of trouble there will be no end. Politically, the whole country may indeed be said to be a bear-garden, so that, whatever measure the Government may adopt, it is sure to call out great discontent. The Czechs of Bohemia are trying to drive the German element entirely out of the country- from the schools, the churches, the courts, and commercial life. If this is accomplished it will only lead to great suffering and dissatisfaction to the German population of Bohemia, and the discontent of all the German element throughout Austria, which is the mainstay of the intelligence and skill of the land. To make the matter worse, the Czechs themselves are divided into the old Czechs and the young Czechs, the latter being extremely radical in all their aims. One of these is to dissolve the Bohemian Chambers, which now has a German majority, and to work for a reconstruction in the hands of the Czechs. Therefore, again, do what it will, the Government is between Scylla and Charybdis.

II. LITERARY.

BROCKHAUS, the famous German publisher, has just, and most opportunely, given to the world a collection of letters and reports by Emin Pasha from the Egyptian equatorial provinces and the bordering lands. These have been collected by Schweinfurth, Ratzel, Felklin, and other distinguished African explorers, with whom Emin has been in correspondence. Dr. Edward Schnitzer, or Emin Pasha, is of German birth from Silesia, and the Germans consider him one of the brightest of the marvelous group of African explorers. He is a thoroughly cultivated scholar, an experienced organizer and administrator, an unwearied traveler, and a brave soldier; and, take him all in all, the Germans think him in no wise behind the famous Livingstone in the importance of his African exploration. The fate of this bold and highly deserving man now actively interests the entire civilized world, and it was the first duty of German literature to give to his countrymen the most faithful picture possible of his strangely vacillating fate. In the course of years, as long as he was in communication with his country and his friends, he showed the greatest activity in the columns of various scientific journals. All these productions, and many more from private sources, now come together and make a most interesting work, that will find response and sympathy for the bravest of pioneers.

FROM France come all sorts of bad tidings. The last census tells a sad story regarding the population, which is greatly on the decrease, and every thing ahead looks dark and foreboding. The notorious Municipal Council of Paris is doing its best to make matters worse. This body has 19-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. V.

just resolved to introduce a new grammar in the schools, which is to serve as a classical exemplar for all works of the kind in France in the elementary schools. The author is Dacosta, who was condemned to death for communistic crimes, but was pardoned by Thiers.

In this new work the name of God and the soul are not banished from the book, but they are used continually in derision. The former friend and co-laborer of Rigault says: "If it has pleased the Ministers and the Council of State to take out a patent for the belief in a God, it has pleased the City Council to prevent such teaching from entering the curriculum of the Paris schools. Thanks to Citizen Dacosta, the children will now soon learn that intelligence is a function of the brain, and that man is merely an animal of the order of the mammalia. They have also the satisfaction of learning that man is not the king of beasts, but simply their president. As they say, He is the noblest of animals simply because he is the most intelligent."" We might quote other characteristics, but cui bono?

SWITZERLAND possesses one of the best journals in the interest of the Christian school. In its columns appeared recently an exhaustive programme regarding the influence of education on the family and the State. This was carefully read before a large convention of instructors, and seemed to inspire them with new zeal in regard to the literature for the young. A hundred prominent persons responded to an appeal thus made for the formation of a committee to organize an association to work against immoral literature. This body came together in Neuchâtel, and the subject was grandly treated by Budé, a teacher of Geneva. He showed the dangers that bad literature engenders for the school and the family, and passed them in review. His line of battle against the foe is interdiction of bad books, influence of teachers, public conventions, establishment of a good and cheap newspaper, formation of societies for the suppression of licentious literature, publication of good books, appeals to the government, etc. Letters of sympathy were received from France, from such honored men as M. Simon, E. de Pressensé, J. de Laveleye, who emphatically indorsed the movement. Jules Simon, the great moral champion, called their attention to the difficulties that surround restrictive measures in presence of the liberty of the press, and appeals for a great moral campaign.

THE MORAL QUESTION is also rapidly gaining the right of way in certain influential circles in France. The scourge of immoral literature is worse there than in any other land, and a petition signed by thirty-three thousand persons has been forwarded to the ministry praying for the application of existing laws in regard to immoral publications of the press. The circular connected with the petition was thorough and searching, but so far it has not succeeded in checking the foul flood of licentious literature. New organs surpass the older ones in infamy; one of these is known as the Echo de Paris. A raid was made by the police on its first numbers as they appeared in the street, but its publishers were not discouraged. Some of

the first lawyers pleaded with vigor and intensity at the bar for impunity in this kind of work. But the workers are not discouraged in this crusade, and will continue it against the poisoners of youth. They are taking measures to prove the sequence between it and many of the foulest crimes of the day. But the more the moral condition of the rising generations in France increases the inquietude of the best spirits of the land, the more are they happy to see that the Christian youth of the country comprehend their mission. They have founded a Young People's Christian Union, a branch of the "White Cross," and it promises to be popular and influential.

THE BULGARIANS seem to prosper in their literary efforts, notwithstanding all their political misfortunes. Late school reports say that the schools are being patronized more generally from year to year. The Government is doing its best to raise the character of the schools by extending the curriculum and spreading the schools into distant communities. They have introduced compulsory education, and with new inspectors and school officials are now applying the law with vigor. The intermediate schools are filling up, while the agricultural and industrial schools are largely attended. In Sofia, the capital, they have established a high school, and will have also the gymnasium and the scientific schools of the German system. In a few years they will have a university.

BISHOP DUPANLOUP, so influential in Catholic circles in his life, is not to be forgotten in death. In the famous old town of Orleans, which was his home, they have lately erected a magnificent monument to his memory. It represents the great prelate lying in his episcopal robes, and over him stands the angel of the country unfolding the standard of the Maid of Orleans. A frieze in bas-relief over the sarcophagus gives scenes from the life of the bishop, showing the children that he taught, and the masses that he comforted, and the mercies that he dispensed. A curious feature of the occasion was an appeal to the Church to realize one of the last wishes of Dupanloup, namely, to canonize the Maid of Orleans and give her a "proper place at the altar."

A PROTESTANT SCHOOL CONGRESS was recently held in Barmen, Germany, composed of nearly one thousand members. Nearly all the different states and provinces of the Fatherland were represented, and the feeling in the aims of the convention was intense. The great interest of the occasion is the rebuff which Protestantism is receiving in the schools of the State in presence of the demands of the Catholic priests. Rector Decker of Stuttgart spoke to the question, How can the high schools for our daughters best serve their purpose for their pupils? The answer was, By leading them to Christ, even though they may lack a certain kind of school knowledge, and may give less time to so-called accomplishments. The whole treatment of the question showed the deepest feeling.

PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION.

THE Indian Question belongs to American history, but it is also of ever-recurring interest in the civil affairs of the nation. With numbers reduced to 265,000, the task of educating, civilizing, and Christianizing them would seem to be inferior compared with the burden of evangelizing China, Japan, or Madagascar, and yet religious statistics concerning the Indians are not proportionately large, nor more than promising. Congress in a perfunctory way exhibits a seeming interest in these people, for, besides appropriating millions for the expenses of the Indian Bureau, no less than twenty-five new laws were enacted in 1888, in part relating to railroads through their reservations, division of reservations, marriages with whites, and compulsory education of Indian youth; but it must be confessed that about fifty bills, more in the interest of the Indian than any of the above, were not passed, and trouble along the borders may happen again. Advanced legislation dissolving tribal relations and assigning an equitable portion of the reservations to the Indians in severalty will be in the direction of individual self-support, civilization, and ultimate citizenship. This accomplished, the refusal of an annual stipend from the government, which at present would be a calamity, should follow, as the Indian should be taught to depend upon himself. United States Courts should be established in the Indian Territory, and a territorial government erected, with the usual sovereignty and limitations of territories. In territories including reservations there should be no distinction in law between citizen and Indian. The chief need of the Indian is a provision for education, which hitherto has been in part supplied by schools in the States, to which youth have been sent, and by schools maintained among them by the Churches and individuals of philanthropic spirit. President Cleveland, in his recent annual message, and Secretary Vilas, in his departmental report concerning this subject, agree in the elevating influence of education, and recommend a generous policy in this direction. The Church, however, must not forget that not by allotment of land, nor by the civil courts, nor by education will the Indian attain to true citizenship-he must be brought into the kingdom of God before he can be a king among men. In the trans formation of his race the Indian himself must be a co-operator, gladly yielding to the sovereignty of the federal government, and to the rescuing power of that religion that delivered the Fijians, tamed the Abyssinian, and has power to lift up all men into the sunlight of a new life.

Stanley is the star in the midnight sky of Africa, to which the telescopes of nations are turned. Is he in sight? To the world at large he is of more consequence than the new ruler of Germany, the premier of the British empire, or the Pope of Rome, all of whom dying, their gov ernments, their schemes, their religions would go on; but Stanley is necessary to Stanley's enterprise. England's army tactics in the neighborhood

of Suakim are the evolution of a purpose commercial and social, and of some moment-to England; but Stanley in jungle or mountain, a victor or captive, is doing more for civilization than the foreigners' cannonade of Arabs on the coast. Italy entering Massowah; Germany triumphing in Zanzibar; England brooding over Egypt, will contribute to Africa's deliverance from itself; but Stanley will lodge in the heart of the continent the influences that will leaven the races that inhabit it. Living or dead, to Africa he is more than soldier, merchant, explorer; he is teacher, reformer, the finger-post of a new era, the morning-star of a rising day. To all generations to come he will be not the hero of romance, but the real, typical master-spirit of a new age, than whom Paul's list of worthies contains but few nobler or greater. The latest-Stanley is alive!

Physical education, or the development of the body by athletic sports and gymnastic exercises, is assuming commanding importance in college circles and social life. The necessity for attention to the body, besides eating, drinking, and drugging, is being intelligently recognized and seriously discussed, though it is a question if the right system of hygienic instruction has as yet been adopted. A stouter generation of scholars must be produced, or physical degeneracy will appall the nation. Men of brain and brawn will be required in the future even more than in the past, and preparation must be commensurate with the broadening demand. The fine texture of the intellectual giant should be woven into a strongly developed protoplastic figure-a terror to ignorance, a hero for the right. Cadaverous scholars, shoulder-stooped thinkers, men on the borders of paralysis, requiring vacations every year, propped one half the time in upholstered chairs, afraid of the blasts of Boreas and equally of the smiles of the sun, unable to walk one mile without exhaustion, the apothecary's best customers-these are a discredit to the climate, medicine, ancestry, vocation, or something. What is the remedy? Plato prescribed soldiering, dancing, equestrian performances, and an out-door life as the condition of physical manliness; Count Tolstoï resorts to mowing, shoemaking, plowing, as a pastime and the religion for ennui, broken health, and discontentment; Gladstone speculates a speech while hewing a tree in Hawarden; E. P. Roe cultivated a fruit-farm and refreshed himself with its fragrance; Cincinnatus was taken from the plow, Amos from the flocks, Lincoln from the circuit, and Grant from the tannery-all specimens of physical nobility secured rather by toil than by sport. Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and other eastern colleges resort to yachting, base-ball games, the gymnasium, and a miscellany of acrobatic exhibitions to build their youth into Goliaths, but the result is often, if not usually, at the expense of morals and scholarship. We suggest that labor, rather than sport, occupy a place in the curriculum of the college, because, unattended with vices and as effectual for muscular development, it will every-where prove more remunerative than the amusements to which collegiate life is tending.