NEWS AND VIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10968, 24 January 1899, Page 3

NEWS AND VIEWS.

PRESBYTERIAN HYMNARY. The new Presbyterian Church . Hymnary, which it is expected will ba adopted by Presbyterian Churches throughout the world, and which is being published by the Oxford University Press, had gone to press when the last English mail left. The number printed of the first edition was 1,125,750 copies. The actual time occupied in the work of bringing out this edition was exactly nine months to A day. Between January 4 and September 20 no fewer than 6192 pages of hymns were set up by the compositors, electrotyped and printed. For the million odd copies, 330 tons of paper were required, and the pages of these books on end would reach round the world at tho equator two and a-half times. Every detail of the work was thought- out before it was put in hand, and consequently only a limited amount of overtime nad to be resorted to at the Oxford Press. No fewer than 26 of the most modern printing machines were engaged simultaneously in this work alone. The binding of such large numbers during the height of the book season was no easy task. The skins of 3222 animals were required for the backs only of copies in one of the many styles of binding in which the Church Hymnary has been issued. Possibly the general public scarcely realises the labour involved in a production of this kind. For instance, five and a-half million sheets had to be folded separately by hand in preparing for sewing only a mere 100,000 copies of one of the musical editions.

THE ÜBIQUITOUS SCOT! An important discovery has been made by a contributor to the pew number of the Proceedings of the Anglo-Russiaa Literary Society," which holds its meetings in the Imperial Institute. The Romanovs— the ruling family of Russia—derive their descent from Andrew Campbell, a Scotchman. The Tsar of All the Russias is by descent a Highlandmnn, and tho McCallum More is his tribal or clan chief. Andrew Campbell, the progenitor of the Romanovs, found his way across the continent, through Russia to Moscow, to the Court of tie Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, and his descendants rose to high positions there. The Tsar Ivan Vasilievitch married a daughter of one of these Moscow Campbells, and this lady became known to history a* the Empress "Anastasia Romanovna." It was from her brother Nikita that the Romanovs descended. This is further evidence in favour of the assertion that a Scotchman will be found at the North Pole when it is discovered.— Telegraph.

WOMAN IN ANCIENT EGYPT. Miss Brodrick delivered, on November" 30, in the British Museum the first of a course of lectures on ancient Egypt There were two classes of Egyptologists, she said, the one greatly exaggerating the civilisation of ancient Egypt, and the other denying it any advanced civilisation at all. Egypt could not properly be compared with G; eect and Rome, as their civilisations belonged to different periods of the world's history. In Rome and Greece the State was pa-amount, and the individual greatly restricted. With the Egyptian the individual was the lint consideration. It was for the freedom and expansion of the individual that laws were arranged, and thus was constructed a firm and strong basis for the State. The Slate comprised everyone between 17 years of age and 70. The" Egyptians were most particular in taking the census at periodical times. The family life was the strength of the Egyptian Constitution, and that fact stands out paramount in the history of the nation. The Egyptian was essentially quiet and peaceable. His country life did not call for any excitement. He was not commercial. This might have been accounted for by the want of seaports, the names Alexandria and Damietta being entirely Greek and belonging to the time of the Greek domination. The boundaries of his country did not render necessary the support of a standing army. The Egyptian hated soldiering. On the south there still exist two curious old forts, erected to keep out the black tribes. On the north-east they were protected bv the desert of Etham. The wealth of the land lay in the river, and the question of complete irrigation was more important than all political and social problems. The Pharaoh reigned supreme, and the divine right of kings was a religion among the ancient Egyptians. Everyone had free access to the King. Egypt was not a manufacturing country. It had no quarries, no mines or wood. Women occupied a very high position, and pedigree was recognised only on the mother's side. The woman had complete freedom, and ruled Iter house just as she liked. An instant obedience was required for the mother, while no mention was made of like homage for the father. Divorce was seldom resorted to, and when it was the woman invariably came off best, all the husband's propertybeing handed over to her. Education waa compulsory, and prince and peasant went to the same school and were taught the same subjects. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.

IF THE KHALIFA HAD NOT BEEN

HOODWINKED.

HOW DISASTER WAS ESCAPED AT

OMDURMAN.

There is a very interesting article by Major-General Frederick Maurice, C.8., R.A., on Omchirmaii in the Nineteenth Century. He protests against the way in which the importance of the battle has been minimised. It was a notable victory, ho declares— proceeds to prove it:—l doubt if Henry the Fifth before Agincourt, during the famous night of vigil which Shakespcre has brought home to us, or Wellington just before Salamanca, when Mannont had outmarched and outflanked him, had r' more cause to be deeply disquieted" than had Lord Kitchener on the night which preceded the battle of Omdurman. I believe I that I know the views of not one only, |~ but of all those who were in high responsi- \ bility that night, and though I am not aware J that they have had on this subject any con- j sultation with one another, I find them j all agreed that, had the dervishes attacked the camp during the hours of darkness, it !■ was an unproven thing whether they would; or would not have succeeded in forcing their '"' way in. Had the enemy succeeded at any ' i point in getting within the' lines, all the ! chances were in favour of then' complete l triumph. They would almost certainly j have driven the whole army into the river. Thev were at least two to one. At close quarters better fighting-men than these fanatics could not be. Our superior armament wonld have been almost useless. Firing in night fighting is a very dangerous game. As one who slept little that night has well put it to me-" Few people can, realise, and still fewer know from practical experience, what happens when an enemy gets inside your formation. Friend kills friend, contradictory orders.are given, bugles are sounded, to everyone's confusion. All is dark and dust. The roar of animals and shrieks of dying and wounded, the clamour of natives and shrill yells of the enemy, curses and prayers, make a babel of confusion and horror. We were spared all this by the enemy waiting for the light." Why did they wait? First, because the Sirdar had arrived a week before his time; second, because he had given it out that he would himself attack during the night. The Sirdar was a week before his time, in orderthat he might be before Omdurman at a time when it should be full moonlight. The Khalifa was successfully hoodwinked because, owing to the moonlight, the only time during which the Sirdar could be expected to attack was the dark interval before dawn. The Khalifa waited through the night for this short period of darkness. On discovering at last that no attack was intended, he had lost his opportunity of taking the offensive before day broke. His famous onslaught on the Anglo-Egyptian forces was made, therefore, in the full light of the morning: and his army was delivered into the Sirdar's hands, to be ground with pitiless precision to pieces. As one of the leading actors in the great fray said to Major-General Maurice "So long as the enemy, came on in daylight I had no fear. v But my conviction till I die will be, that if he had attacked us in the dark before dawn with the same bravery with which he attacked us next day by daylight, we should have been pierced, divided, broken and rolled into the river." But, instead, of another worse that Hicks' disaster, it is" Lord Kitchenei of Khartoum," a month or two of banqueting, the Khalifa a wanderer, and a £100,000 Gordon Memorial College fund.