LITERARY NOTES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 2760, 22 March 1890, Page 5 (Supplement)

LITERARY NOTES.

[I'KOsr oi:k paeis correspondent.] Paris, January 18. Re.marques Sur C'Exposirio* dit Cextkxatre. —M. de Vogue' aims to discover, what are the lessons, what the philosophy, of the extinct Centennial Show. Between 1789 and 1889, thero is an abyse, above all, a .scientific abyss. Were the men of 1579 to have visited the Machinery Hall, they would have been as stupefiei. as would be the generals of the revolution, or as the First Napoleon himself, at the exhibits in the pavilion of the Minister of war. The art to kill, euphemistically called the art of war, has made such progress, above all within tho last twenty years, as to be completely transformed. The author is a member of the French Academy and an ex-diplomatist. He dilates on tho display of the material of war, and asserts, that the inventions of Franee under this are more ingenious than those of other countries. But in any case, a new invention is generally superseded by another in the course of ten years. It is a fair question to ask, observes the author,if the highand vaiied studies at present required from officers, do not by their teuton, tell injuriously on their intelligence, the vice of overpressure in a word. He considers, that long range artillery and smokeless p nvder will deal out such invisible death that no troops will dare show in the open, save to run away with fright. A soldier always expects there will be iu battle, some chances in his favour to escape alive ; that it is his comrade, not himself, that is predestined to fall. But where there is no hope, there cm be but little courage. There can be it seems, no discipline in the coming battles, because mechanical and chemical inventions and discoveries have so perfected the science of slaughter, that panics must ensue. Lines of infantry cannot be expected to display the stoicism of plutarch heroes. It is in frightening visitors by the show of the terrible engines of death, that the Minister of War has unconsciously advanced ideas of peace. Aa to the economic aud social contrast between 1759 and 1889, M. dc Vogue observes; at the former epoch, the Tiers Et-it existed and moderated the other two States ; at present a Fourth Etat, that which works and produces, has sprung up, claiming its place in the sunshine ; demanding not exactly money, but an easier life. In the chapter devoted to the Fine Arts Gallery, the author deals with the aristocracy of wealth, of moiiay, which is the dominating influence, the summit of the social scale. It is the power of money, he adds, which in its insolence, humilates all the aristocracies and dictates laws to all the Governments. Sous-Okfs : By Lueien Dfscares (Tresse and stock.) —The author of this volume is to be prosecuted by the Minister of War. It is a work very painful to read, even for those not French ; but it is not the less human. It is a terrible satire on the grand words discipline and honourheir- looms in every army. Many volumes have been published on army abuses. They principally dealt with the private soldier and the monotony of his existence, or oerhaps with the general government of the regimnnt. But the volume in question handles the institution of nonoommissiened officers, the Sous-offs iu military slang. The book-keeper, the quarter-master, and the sergeant-major are the representatives mierospically examined. The writer's honesty cannot be called in question ; having served in the ranks he is familiar with his subject. And this is what imparts all the importance to his vitriolic denunciations of regimental abuses. These bo gibbets and analyses without mercy, regardless of the fury of the interests he strikes, or the rovonge cries of those whom he exposes. The book does not appear to be written in a spirit of revenge or hate. It is a ■ natural revolt of human dignity against an intolerable system. To secure a remedy the author tickets the abuses, paintß men, things, and their surroundings with a pitiless naturalism. The work is that of a pen dipped in gall ; it calls aloud for justice to be done to the sufferers, who cannot complain, being as it were prisoners in a cell. Public opinion exacts that the " flag " be cleansed from oven the appearance of a stain. Tho prosecution will separate the light from the darkness. La Di:rniere Battaile, by E. Drumont (Savine). —In his work on the results of the 1889 Exhibition, M. do Vogue touched on tho omnipotence of money iu tho preseut evolution of society. M. Drumont develops this idea. He is the author of '■ La France Juire," which caused not a little commotion some months owing to the personal attacks made 011 leading Israelites. M. Drumont is the lay Stcccker of France. In bis preeent bonk he does not rail or racre a.Eramst the J'»v , be philosophises on them, t'Hnufo- his text the great elm new thev have brought about oinca twenty your , ia

general society. Changes, which formerly look a century to accomplish, now are effected in a few years. Thus, asserts tbe author, there is as great an abyss between the moral conceptions and the state of consciences of the men of 1871 and 1880, as between the men of 1880 and 1889, while the latter appear to be of a difforent age from the men of 1871. M Drumont in his writings, aims to keep on the Semetic lines of Disraeli's studios and those of Abbe Leman's. Although he has been very hard on the Jews, the author relates, that he has received a multitude of discussion letters from them, while many personally called and exchanged courteous conversations. But neither letters nor interviews explain tbe this phenomenon to M. Drumont, and one of the most extraordinary in history, viz., that of a race, prescribed yesterday, which has become at the end of a century, the mistress of a world ; a race which holds all in its hand, which gives orders to Sovereigns and that are ever obeyed ; a race, that by a tolegram, can upset the economic conditions of a country ; and which overturns financial establishments that inconvenience it, without any public power being able to interfere. The Jew, adds the author, is a being, with an admirably organized brain, who laughs at his naturaliy less qualified race-rivals. The Jew is to be the great power in the new century. L'Education dk Nos tils : By Dr. Richard, (Hachette). —The author is the brightest hygienic authority in France, and his present volume is a showing up of the serious unsanitary conditiou of French colleges and lyceums—all overcrowded inadequale'y supplied with masters, a next to absence of arrangements for the physical exercise of the students, and a loose and defective system of moral surveillance. To foreigners there is nothing new in the indictment; still less in the measures the author recommends, which are simply the exercises in AngloSaxon educational establishments, not so much since years' as since centuries. D* - , Richard deserves great credit for his courage in exposing the imperfections of the French collegiate system. Colleges should be transferred to the suburbs, in the midst of pure air and green fields. He adduces that a lyceum recently erected in lung-room region of Paris — the Lakanal, which is fitted up with every modern improvement, is deserted, parents preferring the old, unhealthy institutions. In Germany the professors take part in the gymnastic exercises of their pupils. In France that would be regarded as inj'ne dig It all depends oil what constitutes dignity, or r.Uher selfrespect. On the other hand, in the free educational establishments conducted by the rcliffir.iix, the professors join in all the manly sports of their pupils.