19. The central block of Winchester Barracks, a building originally designed by Sir C. Wren as a palace for Charles II., almost entirely destroyed by fire.

The first-class line of battle-ship Magnificent, 14,900 tons displacement, the first of seven similar ships, floated out of Chatham dockyard, having been only one year in building.

The Canadian Ministry reconstituted under the premiership of Mr. Mackenzie Bowell.

A violent shock of earthquake felt at Oravicza, South Hungary, by which many houses were wrecked and serious damage done.

20. At Sydney the cricket match between the United Australians and Mr. Stoddart's eleven, lasting six days, ended in the defeat of the Colonials by ten runs. Scores Australians, first innings 586, second innings 166; England, first innings 325, second innings 437 runs.

An obstinate engagement between the Chinese and Japanese took place at Kungwasai on the road to Mukden. The Japanese although they ultimately forced the Chinese to retire lost upwards of 500 men.

21. The Dublin mail-packet Munster, carrying upwards of 200 passengers, run into by a collier and forced to return to Holyhead, one of her paddlewheels having been rendered useless.

Mr. F. York Powell, M.A., Student of Christ Church, appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford.

One of the most violent gales that had ever occurred in England broke over the Northern and Midland counties, causing enormous destruction of shipping round the coasts and of buildings inland. Tramcars were overturned by the wind, trains stopped and large trees uprooted. Upwards of 100 lives were lost by shipwreck and falling buildings.

22. A frightful accident occurred on the London and North-Western Railway at Chelford near Crewe, an express train being thrown off the line by a goods' waggon, which had been blown on to the up-line. The carriages in the middle of the train were completely wrecked and fourteen persons were killed and upwards of sixty seriously injured.

Captain Dreyfus, a French officer, after a protracted trial by courtmartial with closed doors, found guilty of having procured for a foreign power documents connected with the national defence. He was sentenced to military degradation and perpetual imprisonment beyond the seas.

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After much negotiation the Porte agreed to the instructions given to the British, French, and Russian delegates on the commission appointed to inquire into the Armenian atrocities.

24. The Emperor of Austria accepted the resignation of the Hungarian Cabinet, of which Dr. Wekerle was President, who decided to resign, notwithstanding his majority in the Chamber, because he was conscious of not possessing the entire confidence of the sovereign.

The first Indian Medical Congress opened at Calcutta by the Viceroy in presence of a large number of officials and natives.

An understanding arrived at between the Berlin breweries and the

Socialists for the repeal of the boycott which had been in force for seven months, each side making important concessions.

25. Serious collisions took place in Georgia and Alabama between the whites and the negroes, and several lives were lost on both sides.

The torpedo-destroyer Lynx while on her way from Birkenhead to Devonport struck on the rocks near Land's End and sustained severe damage.

26. The Indian National Congress attended by 1,350 delegates met at Madras, and Mr. Webb, M.P. for West Waterford, elected President for the year.

Influenza, in an epidemic form, reported from various parts of South

ern Russia.

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A captain of the New York police, convicted of having received bribes and levied blackmail, sentenced to three and three-quarter years' imprisonment in addition to $1,000 fine.

27. The manager and four directors of the Commercial Bank of Newfoundland arrested on a charge of having submitted a fraudulent statement of accounts to the shareholders.

28. The Chinese Commissioners appointed to negotiate terms of peace with Japan left Tientsin.

A strong north-westerly gale, increasing in violence through the night, broke over the Western counties of England, causing considerable damage along the coast. At Holyhead one large ship was wrecked and twenty-six lives lost, and on the West Coast of Ireland many catastrophes occurred.

At a congress of German miners, held at Essen, resolutions in favour of an eight hours' day, and for uniform laws and regulations for all German districts, adopted after some debate.

Severe cold reported from various parts of the United States. In Florida the temperature was lower than had been known for sixty years, and the damage to the orange groves was estimated at $3,000,000.

29. Mr. Gladstone celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday at Hawarden, and was the recipient of numerous messages from his friends and admirers. He received also a deputation of members of the National Church of Armenia in London and Paris, and in reply to an address, spoke in very strong terms of the tyranny of the Turks.

The French Cabinet suddenly decided to recall M. de Lanessan, Governor-General of Indo-China, in consequence of his relations with M. A. Rousseau was appointed to succeed him.

certain newspapers.

30. Two persons severely injured by the explosion in the Euston Road, caused by an electric spark igniting gas which had accumulated in an electric wire-box.

31. Perth Parish Church, forming the central portion of the old historic edifice, St. John's Cathedral, seriously damaged by a fire arising from the overheating of flues.

RETROSPECT

OF

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART IN 1894.

LITERATURE.

FICTION apart, the largest proportion of literature published during 1894 is devoted to history. Foremost among the historical achievements of the year must be ranked the first volume of Mr. S. R. Gardiner's History of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649-1660 (Longmans). It is characterised by the same deep and comprehensive research, keenness of insight into the remotest causes of great events, sympathetic appreciation of motives and aims of the different actors in the civil struggle, the same illumination of obscure points by the aid of side-lights drawn from contemporary testimony, which distinguish the preceding volumes of English history that form the monumental life work of the author. The present volume deals with three years, 1649-51, with the foundation of the English Republic and the wars of Cromwell in Ireland and Scotland. Mr. Gardiner supplements his study of documents by an equally minute study of topography, and this combination constitutes the special excellence of his narratives of military affairs. Cromwell's work of construction commenced after the execution of Charles I., and in the examination of the events which moulded the Republican form of Government, the author gives a vivid portrait of Cromwell as a man of no considerable foresight, but dowered with a quick instinctive grasp of the immediate situation, with unflagging energy of purpose. Mr. Gardiner shows how the military despotism that was essential to the existence of the Commonwealth became the element of its destruction by reason of the breach that it brought about between the Army and the Long Parliament. The design of this history is on a broad, noble scale; the execution is methodical and scrupulous, the style pure, simple, vigorous, and precise.

In The History of the Philosophy of History (Blackwood) Professor Robert Flint, of Edinburgh University, traces "the course of human thought in its endeavour to explain human history, or, in other words, to give an account of the rise and progress of reflection and speculation on the development of humanity." Professor Flint, in this very erudite work, holds that the science of history and the philosophy of history are not mere science and mere philosophy, but are interdependent. "The object of science is to ascertain the facts by the use of judicious criticism and a competent

acquaintance with the laws of evidence; that of philosophy to ascertain the causes, trace the consequences, and hence to draw inferences which may extend to the domain of thought and prove conducive to the advancement of humanity." Little attention was given to the philosophy of history until the beginning of the last century; Bodin was the first to write upon the subject, Bossuet might have given valuable contributions had it not been for his purely theological aim; thereafter, in the field of study, came Montesquieu, Turgot, Voltaire-who realised that the aim of history proper is to refer the causes of events to those general laws which govern opinions and men-and Rousseau, who defined very clearly the difference between equality and liberty. The two French writers who exercised a great influence on European thought are Chateaubriand, and Madame de Staël who, in Professor Flint's opinion, has an unusually firm grasp of the laws upon which the stability and achievement of societies depend. Thierry has "alinost perfected historiography as a literary art." With regard to the future, Professor Flint predicts that because the more democratic democracy becomes the greater the danger of a possible intervention of a military despotism; that danger, therefore, will come to pass when the strife between capital and labour reaches its climax.

The condition of the English Navy has been an absorbing interest during the year. The appearance has been very à propos of The British Fleet: The Growth, Achievements, and Duties of the Navy of the Empire, by Commander Charles N. Robinson, R.A. (Bell & Sons). This handsome volume is the result of the first effort made to write a popular history of the Navy from its first growth to the present day. The author touches upon every department of the service. While pointing out the importance to an insular State of an adequate sea force, he shows that the most important function of the Navy is to render warfare impossible, to "hold the sea" by means of a "silent, overpowering pressure." The volume contains about 150 reproductions of paintings, prints and drawings illustrative of battles, ships, persons, customs, and social life in the Navy. Three volumes of Papers and Addresses by Lord Brassey have been issued by Messrs. Longmans. Two volumes deal with naval and maritime affairs from 1872-1893, and include almost every important subject connected with the English fleet and mercantile marine, and questions relating to the defence of the empire; the editor is Captain S. Eardley-Wilmot, R.N. The third volume contains papers and addresses on work and wages, 1869-1893, edited by T. Potter, with an introduction by George Howell, M.P. It includes papers on trade unions, the depression of trade, the comparative efficiency of English and foreign labour, agriculture in England and the United States, etc.

In accordance with the principle established by the modern school of historians that the study of history should consist in the careful examination and appreciation of documents, much valuable work has been accomplished. For instance, The Calendar of the Patent Rolls, 1307-1313, and The Calendar of the Close Rolls, 1313-1318 (Stationery Office), are the latest additions to the two valuable series of Calendars that deal with the reign of Edward II. Both volumes are furnished with an invaluable index; they will be of special value to the topographer and genealogist. Mr. F. Darwin Smith is the first English writer who has thought it worth while to write the story of The Life and Times of James I., the Conqueror, the King of

Aragon, etc. (Clarendon Press), a man whose influence was great on Edward I. of England. In addition to the remarkable interest of James's personality, the interior history of his kingdom, of its system and laws, throws many curious side-lights on the political economy of France and England at this time. The posthumous work of Mrs. Hope, The First Divorce of Henry VIII., as told in the State Papers, is edited, with notes and a succinct introduction, by F. A. Gasquet, D.D. (Kegan Paul). Facts concerning this important historical event, which worked so marked an influence upon the beginning of the English Reformation, have only recently come to light in the researches carried on for the publications of the Master of the Rolls, and are for the first time gathered together and presented in popular form. The account of the treatment of Catherine before her divorce, of her isolation, her humiliations, is of peculiar interest. Relating to the same period Mr. James Gardner, assistant keeper of the public records, has, with his colleagues, brought out parts i. and ii. of volume xiii. of Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII. that are preserved in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, and elsewhere. The present instalment ends with the question of the King's fourth marriage. Valuable information is given concerning the suppression of monasteries, etc. Each section is prefaced by an able introductory survey, the index alone fills thirty pages of double columns. The second volume of the History of England under Henry IV., by James Hamilton Wylie, M.A. (Longmans), appeared early in the year. It covers the years 1405 and 1406 with their leading events, including the abdication of the King during the Long Parliament. Certain chapters are devoted to the relations of England with neighbouring foreign countries, and its financial condition. The volume is furnished with an exhaustive list of books of reference. The History of Cabinets from the Union with Scotland to the acquisition of Canada and Bengal, by W. M. Torrens (Allen), is the history of successive Cabinets, rather than the history of Cabinets as an institution, a systematic growth and development. The book contains much sound and valuable information. It is to be regretted that the author died when volume i. that now published-was passing through the press. Peculiarly opportune is the important and authoritative Constitutional History of the House of Lords, by Luke Owen Pike, M.A. (Macmillan), the editor of the Year Books. The author has drawn his materials from original sources. The chief points with which this learned, well-knit history deals are a survey of what the House of Lords has been and now is; its growth, its mutations, its legis lative and judicial functions, its rights, privileges, burdens and disabilities. It is written in a spirit as free as possible from political bias or intent. Undoubtedly the book will be recognised as a leading authority on the history of the House of Lords, which, as Mr. Pike expresses it, has lived the life of the nation, and grown with the nation's growth. Mr. T. A. Spalding writes upon The House of Lords: a Retrospect and a Forecast (Fisher Unwin). from a Radical point of view. It is an acceptable contribution to the frank discussion of the subject. In 1889 the Corporation of London resolved to commemorate the seven hundredth anniversary of the institution of the mayoralty by the compilation of a special history showing "the pre-eminent position occupied by the City of London and the important functions it exercised in the shaping and making of England." In fulfilment of this aim