TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10188, 9 November 1898, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

: . Tub city of Sydney is in luck. A The Government has just reSplendid ceived an intimation that in the Offer. course of time they may, it they like, become the possessors of the finest library in the world so far as Australian literature is concerned. At present the library belongs" to Mr D. S. Mitchell, a native of Sydney, a private gentleman of great literary tastes, whose name is familiar to students as a book collector, and, it is said, often as a benefactor. The library contains some 30,000 volumes, and a Melbourne Professor, who is also a trustee of the Melbourne "Public Library, has valued it ct £100,000, and numbers of pther good judges cannot speak too highly of it. It contains, we are told, original journals, logs of ships, manuscripts of books and poems, autograph letters of exceptional value, rare maps and engravings relating to all the Connies, and the oldest newspapers,.and "Gazettes" dealing with the early history, bl' Australia. It is particularly rich,, also in ■old and rare books other than Australian. Many of its treasures are stated.to be absolutely unique, and could not be replaced ol any co.vt. It is also understood that Mr Mitchell, so far from being satisfied with his magnificent) collection,- is adding largely to , ' it every year, and that if he lives as long as opes he will, he will enormously increase it* value. Mr Mitchell's offer tr> present this library to the , Government at his death, together with an endowment of £800 a year, was charged with but one condition—that they provide for it suitable acconimcdatpn. : He asked for an assurance that it should be housed in a wing of the j National Library in Sydney, to be known as the "Mitchell" Library, and that it should be kept intact and distinct: The offer, witli this stipulation attached, W3s immediately accepted, and when the library falls into the Government's hands steps will be taken to give it fitting lodging, possibly in a portion of a fine .new building which may have to be erected to contain the National and the Mitchell collections. - When these two are combined, New South Wales will possess the finest library in the colonies, and one of the great libraries of the Empire. v ] Making every allowance for A German the hostility existing- be-Well-wisher, tween Germany and France, some remarks on the Soudnn campaign and its consequences by Dr. Karl Peters, the African explorer, in a Berlin paper, are rather gratifying to • British j national pride. France, he thinks, will not, j for the sftke of an imaginary -position on. the Upper Nile, run the risk of having her fleets sent to" the bottom of the sea when she expects so much from tihem in the war of the. iuture_for Alsace and Lorraine. He regards the victories of ftongola, Atbara, and Omdnrman as the three steps of a campaign, "which demonstrates as much the brilliant military genius of Sir Herbert Kitchener as the inexhaustible excellence of the British soldier when he is placed under proper leaders." The campaign means, in Dr. [ Pfeters's opinion, that Africa, from the source jof the White .Nile to the Mediterranean, is incorporated' witii the British Empire. He looks forward to the time '- when the disaster of Majuba Hill shall be as completely swept away as iiae been rii that,of Khar, toum, and "goes on <p" say .•—".'Africa Eng- ! lish fr6m Table Mountain to the Atlas' was < the programme proclaimed . about, twenty years ago by Cecil Rhodes and his. friends. Now, it only requires a single advance along : the Tanganyika, and that programme is I virtually fulfilled, the bridge placed between north and south. From the north the telegraph connects the civilised World with British Africa as far as Khartoum; in the south the telegraph line has crossed the Zambesi How long will it be before Cecil Khodes and Herbert Kitchener will clasp hands in the heart of Africa?" That would, indeed, be a historic meeting. After severely criticising German colonial methods—his own, by the way, were not beyend reproach —Dr. Peters finds ample cause for eulogy in British policy, in Africa not more than everywhere else pn the globe. "We are com-, pelledj" he says, "to admire the-tenacity with which it pursues its aims, and the cool daring with which it assumesVisks and responsibilities before which weaker natures recoil." It ie the same spirit which raised Rome to the position of mistress of the ancient world. "Year by year the Union Jack rises higher over the Dark Continent, and in its train steam and electricity provide the firm ties with which alone coy Africa can be dveronme." The fact that there also the- British colours took the lead settles, in, the writer's opinion, the over-eea relations between England and Germany. The latter, in fine, must accept the position of second flddie. "To Anglo-Saxon'North America to English Australia, fc>'British. SouthernAsia will be added 'Africa English from Capetown to Cairo/ An English Worlclepech rises ever irpre distinctly oix the horizon of time, and nothing is left to the ! other nations but to reconcile themselves for. good or evil, with this historical feat."

Two mules will be enshrined The Mulp in the history of tbe Ameri- '*,' ; of Santiago, can war with Spain. One-.;:.' is the unfortunate animal '!> " which was the sole victim of the bombard-' , ";' liietit of Matanzas. American papers made- ' out tJwt the hail of shut, and shell from ; their warships played havoo with the popu- ,' htion and fortifications of the town, while Spanish reports asserted that the only life lost-vns that of the aforesaid mule. Tor once the Spanish papers seem to have told the truth. The other mule, an American animal, played a prominent part in the attack on Santiago. The Fifth Army Corps had taken San Juan hill,, and were holding it, although their line was perilously this. An order to retreat would have meant it panic, as the men were nervous and restless, and all the olticers could do was-to beg Unit reinforcements should be sent up to strengthen the position. Matters were in a rather critical state that night, for the woods were believed to be full of Spaniards. Then one of the camp mules started a diversion. v Winbe took it into Ins head to act as he did in the middle of the night was never discovered, though it is surmised What , a land crab Imd surprised him asleep. Ho. began to kick as if he meant to kick the entire camp hiti- tins bush. Nothing v.-iiuo a-iniss to him, lie kicked everything his neels could reach, and the euinp equipment was sent in all directions. The din and clatter was something to remember. Old soldiers, who knew tlwa possibilities in an army nude's kick, would not have been half so 'scared at » midnight attack by the Spaniards: recruits, believing - this had really occurred, begun tiring in all directions. Urder the impression Hint some" thing was going to happen,, and igmmint of what had caused nil the fuss, the officers soon had all the men under arms and nvidy for the attack when it came. As a matter of ■ fact, it cainc almost at once, for the Spanish ' had planned a night attack, and if it hud nut been that the mule bad awakened the whole camp they might have been successful, fov the Americans tiert exhausted with constui*. righting and want of sleep. As it was, wlvai the pickets came running back with the news of the Spanish advance, they found everyone prepared, and vlien the enemy put in \n appearance they met with such a reception as drove them headlong back again, in utter confusion. Naturally the mule's timely action in saving the Fifth .Army Corps has , 1 een compared with tint of the geusc which, in olden days, are said to have saved Rome from capture by a midnight foe. The author of a recent Tales of book, while writing on -■ The Clergy. ,r Conversation," was struck \ by the fact that so many of the best sayings that come to mind have a clericalorigin. ilut, as he says, as those who speak much must have their occasional - f weak moments, so clergymen hare been '' guilty of many verbal infelicities, and some of these he quotes. "When the Bishop of , ' Southwell, preaching in the London mission \' of 1885, began his sermon , by saying, 'I feel .■ a feeling which I feel you all feel,' it is only'V fair to assume that he said something which he would rather have expressed differently. , ' - It was also a little unfortunate when Dean I Burgon, winding up a sermon on the merits .> of the' Anglican School of Theology, ex- ', { claimed with fervour, "May I live the life „ of a Taylor, and die the death of a Bull I , *.- ;, The "donniest" of Oxford .dons once , undertook, in a fit of good nature, to dls- . charge the duties of chaplain at. the Oxford '• j gnol during long vacation. Unhappily it <so fell out that he had the Sad task of preparing a condemned criminal for execution,-,: ''and it -was felt that he said a 'thing one~** would rather have expressed differently , ,."," when, at the close of his final interview he. '.."■ left the condemned cell observing, 'Well, at -"*' eight o'clock to-morrow morning, then. , ,' , , - "My brethren," remarked another young /' and aspiring preacher, "such n man as I.have - been describing to you is«like the captain'flf *'. a crewless vessel on a shoreless sea,. Happy - a ono be to bring his men to -; loftd." And it was not quite at once that ' his hearers reflected upon a crewless'vessel'*,'• having men, and a shoreless sea any land to 1 • ' put them on. The preacher who, at the • French Exhibition, exhorted the' congrejja-' " tion to drink of the "eau de vie" must have \- had some astonished listeners. It is to the , . , credit of clergymen that they can enjoy and*" : ' repeat a joke against themselves.' The.late » Lord Wriothesley Russell, who wagfor: ■■>■■ many years a Canon.of Windsor, and had a,' mission service for the household troops , / quartered there, was obliged to one of his' <- converts for the grateful compliment, "But : I always say there's not a fait of the gentleman about you, my Lord." But it seems - unkind of a country rector ty have repeated the amusing example given in'his parish of, ■ the difference which was supposed •, to separate him from the inferior order'-of-' curates; "Returning after an autumn lioli-J ' day, and noticing a woman at her door with a baby in her arms, he ; • 'Has that child been baptised! , """ 'Well,'", sir,' said the curtseying *- like to say as much as that; butVjpur young* '. man came and did what he cpfifd.'" ■■I