initiation of the movement. An AntiCorn-Law Association had been formed in London, and, after promising well for a time, had collapsed. "London," as Mr. McCarthy has well said, "has never been found an effective nursery of agitation. It has hardly ever made or represented thoroughly the public opinion of England during any great crisis. A new centre of operations had to be sought." Transplanted to the north, with its centre in Manchester, the movement took new vitality, and grew year by year until the repeal of the obnoxious laws in 1846.

Before this result was attained, another movement of a commercial character, and destined to influence society very greatly, was already set on foot in the same district. In 1844 the Equitable Pioneers of Rochdale inaugurated the Co-operative Movement. Numbering at first twentyeight, which afterwards rose to forty, of the industrial class, they accumulated their weekly contributions of twopence or threepence each until they had a capital of £28, which they embarked in shop-keeping for the supplying of their own wants, and for their own profit should the adventure prove successful. It proved successful beyond all anticipation, and the effort was imitated everywhere in the north. Few recent movements have gained so wide an acceptance; few have exercised, on the whole, so beneficial an influence upon the labouring classes. It is a movement of spontaneous and free growth, teaching the benefits of self-help to a class which has been, and is still being, largely pampered and pauperised by parliamentary legislation and protection of Trades-Unions. It is giving them power in proportion to rightly directed effort, and educating them in the use of power as they win it. It is, in reality, one of the most

the

effective antidotes to socialism and anarchy; and looking at the movement broadly, we believe that its political value has not been adequately recognised.

The mention of Trades-Unions suggests another form of social activity exceedingly powerful for good and evil. While they cannot be too much deprecated for their interference with prices and the natural laws of supply and demand, in a word, for their use of labour as a monopoly, it must, we think, be conceded that as a means of bringing widespread and scattered workers into common agreement and united action, they have effected much good. Viewed on this side, they have united fragmentary and recurring industrial discontent and rebellion into great united efforts which, costly as they have been, may yet have been less costly than the alternatives. Moreover, the consciousness of this power must have often deterred one side from provoking its use; and the consciousness of its appalling cost must have sometimes made the other chary of its use. And it must be allowed that the entire absence of such a power would have given freedom to forms and degrees of oppression and injustice which ordinary legislation could not have dealt with, or dealt with only in an imperfect way. Into the history of Trades-Unions we cannot go. They seem to link themselves in form with the medieval craft-guilds and trade-corporations which were scattered, like the industries, throughout the country. But the spirit which organises national strikes is entirely modern. The laws against combination were only repealed in 1825, and the freedom legally permitted, even then, was very much restricted. Combinations of workmen against employers were still illegal. In 1834 the tailors of London braved the law, and struck for an increase of

wages. The weavers of Leeds and the calico printers of Glasgow followed their example. From that time TradesUnions began to be a real and growing force. It flourished especially in the north. There the great industrial centres adopted it, with its good features and its bad, and fought for freedom to do what they considered to be wholly right, against a nation which was convinced that they were wholly wrong. Towns like Sheffield and Manchester attained an unenviable notoriety on account of the outrages and crimes which their labourcombinations committed in their resolve

to be dominant. In their struggles against public opinion much bigotry and injustice had to be overcome on both sides. The Unions especially had to moderate their excesses and qualify their demands. But that their demands were, on the whole, just is implied by the trend of later legislation, which has been conceding rather than restricting, and by the change which has come over public opinion. Public opinion is now chary of interfering with the rights of combination, -perhaps, even, too chary.

One labour-organisation is especially remarkable for its bearing upon our subject. It is that of the agricultural labourers by Joseph Arch in 1872. The movement originated in Warwickshire, and is notable on two accounts. It was effected by and in the interests of a portion of the community lying outside the industrial centres where such movements usually originate; and it took its rise, territorially, about as far north as the mainly southern distribution of the agricultural population permitted.

In the earlier periods of our history, as we have repeatedly seen, the bulk of the population of England

was in the southern part of the country; it is now in the northern part.

We may fix the time when the change occurred as about the latter half of the eighteenth century, when the north began to outstrip the south in industrial importance. This change of site, as it were, is thoroughly wellknown; but it does not appear to be so well recognised that the sites of predominant social and political activity, above all the sites of social and political incentive, have also changed. Till near the close of the eighteenth century national progress and reform had been forced upon the nation by the southern, and especially the south-eastern, population; throughout the late century reform and progress have emanated from the north, and especially the north-west. The question may be raised whether it has now found a comparatively permanent site, or is it still moving northward? It is a question which we are not prepared to answer; but there are, at least, some facts supporting the latter possibility. In this survey we have confined ourselves to English ground, but it is not because we consider the Cheviot Hills an impassable political barrier; it has been rather to avoid complication and indefinite results. We recognise that Glasgow and Edinburgh have shared in much of the progressive and reforming energy of the north. They are much more likely to initiate a dominating policy in English national life than many parts of England are. Moreover the ubiquity, the successful ubiquity, of the average Scot points to a national vigour of physique, intellect, and character, which, if it be real, may easily rise to supreme position. We are content, however, to have asked the question. The discussion of it, if it be worth discussing, we leave to abler pens.

W. A. ATKINSON.

No. 497.-vOL. LXXXIII.

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By the death of Mr. John DavisAllen, which took place in London on the 6th of January last, the country has lost the services of a man whom at this juncture it can ill spare. was comparatively little known to fame his efforts on behalf of the Empire have been requited by no public honours; but he was one of those whose unremitting energy and statesmanlike views aid largely in moulding, half unseen, the destinies of nations. A man of scientific education and wide experience, a pioneer and explorer who had travelled far and read much, he brought to bear on Imperial problems a trained and sober judgment, keen insight, and large sympathies, animated by unselfish devotion to patriotic objects and high ideals. In regard to the South African question, in particular, he had gained on the spot a comprehensive grasp of the political and economical situation, while his intimacy with Afrikander leaders and his command of their language enabled him to regard things from the Dutch as well as from the British point of view. But abundant knowledge did not, in his case, spell indecision; the conclusions which he felt himself forced to draw he supported with all the energy and enthusiasm of his nature,—and he was gifted with an unusual fund of both. A clear and cogent reasoner, he was tactful and considerate in argument; with ready command of sarcasm and irony, he never abused those twoedged weapons; equally adroit with tongue and pen, he convinced without crushing, and roused no irritation in those whom he overcame.

In many

ways the type and offspring of his time, he represented to those who knew him the best aspects of that expanded patriotism which we somewhat vaguely call Imperialism. His adventurous career, short as it was,he died at forty-nine-is worth recording as that of a man whom worldwide travel had taught how "little they know of England who only England know"; who had played an active part in the development of Greater Britain, but to whom large experience had brought home the conviction not only of the greatness but also of the dangers and temptations of Empire.

Born in 1851, the eldest son of Mr. John Allen of Gloucester, he was educated at Leipzic and Edinburgh. At the Scottish University the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries was shown by his membership of the Speculative Society-that select little body, more or less corresponding to the Cambridge Apostles, of which Scott had been an early ornament, and which, shortly before Allen's days, included Louis Stevenson and his friend Charles Baxter, both of whom were among Allen's friends. At Edinburgh Allen graduated in Arts, Science, and Medicine; and had he, with so good an outfit, started on the ordinary career of a doctor, he would undoubtedly have attained wealth,and perhaps a baronetcy. But wider ambitions and venturesome blood drove him into another course.

He set out to see the world, and travelled, partly on commissions for engineering and other firms, in Mexico, Morocco, Australia, and America. In

The

1881 he led an exploring expedition from Axim, on the Gold Coast of Africa, into the interior; but his companions died of fever, and he returned to England. Next year he married; but marriage did not quell his love of roaming, and in 1883 he went to Mauritius with his wife. After staying there a little while as the guests of Sir John Pope Hennessey, the pair sailed to Madagascar in a small vessel, the GAZELLE. They found the French attacking Tamatave, and were unable to land; but, after being fired on by a French ship, they succeeded in running the blockade and got ashore further up the coast. journey to the capital, made in native palanquins, occupied fortnight. Arriving at Antananarivo, Allen became doctor to the English hospital there, and founded the native medical school, which sends native physicians and nurses into remote villages till lately under the unquestioned sway of the witch-doctor. The peace between France and Madagascar was signed in 1886 at Allen's house by the two French delegates, Admiral Miot and M. Patrimonio, who were then his guests; and he received a letter of thanks for his share in the negotiation from the Prime Minister, Rainilaiarivony. The establishment of the French protectorate, however, made further residence in Madagascar undesirable; and, after some three years of hard work and exciting adventure, Allen and his wife left for South Africa.

They settled first at Barberton in the Transvaal, but after a few months they migrated to Delagoa Bay, crossing the lion-country in a waggon drawn by ten donkeys. The Netherlands Railway had just been opened, and Allen was a passenger in the first train that left the coast. His health had been somewhat impaired, but a short visit to England set him up again.

In 1888 he settled with his wife at Kimberley. There he became manager of one of the chief diamond-mines, and soon took up a leading position. The calls of business did not prevent his taking part in public affairs, and he was active in promoting the annexation of Pondoland in 1894. He was also instrumental in bringing about the amendment of the Joint Stock Companies Act, and in the creation of the Government School of Mines. In 1892-3 he was Executive Chairman of the South African and International Exhibition, of which Lord Loch was President and Mr. Rhodes VicePresident. Perceiving from the first that one of the chief wants of the country was an improvement in the means of communication, he interested himself in the extension of the railwaysystem, and in 1893 visited Bloemfontein in order to obtain from the Government a concession for a railway connecting the capital of the Free State with Kimberley. The scheme he then drew out contemplated a further extension to Harrismith by way of Bethlehem, with a branch-line from Bethlehem to Kroonstad on the line from Bloemfontein to Pretoria. This excellent plan, which can hardly fail eventually to be carried out, would have tapped extensive grain-districts, connected the northern parts of the Free State with their nearest port, Durban, and given Natal an alternative route to Johannesburg. In Allen's eyes Bloemfontein was the natural railway-centre of South Africa. "You have," he said, "the Transvaal on the north, Natal on the east, the Cape on the south; and you hold the keys. The Free State would sit at the meeting of the ways, and prescribe the railway policy of South Africa." For the time this scheme fell through; but Allen did not relax his endeavours to promote railway-extension, and in 1894 successfully advocated the can

didature of his friend, Mr. Francis Thompson, for a place in the Legislative Assembly, on the ground of his pledges in favour of railway communication eastward from Cape Town to Mossel Bay.

Meanwhile the political situation began to interest him more and more; and, in order to familiarise himself with political opinions and economic conditions, he travelled far and wide in the Transvaal and the Free State, as well as in Natal and Cape Colony. Although he never attempted to gain a place in the Cape Parliament for himself, he became thoroughly familiar with the questions at issue and the aims, open and secret, of the two parties, and he was intimate with many of the leaders of the Afrikander Bond as well as with those on the other side.

Without any intention of leaving South Africa for good, he sailed, early in 1895, on a visit to Ceylon, where he passed some time with his wife's brother, a tea-planter at Neboda. He travelled about the island, and here again he interested himself in railwayextension, especially in the proposed connection of Ceylon with India by means of a bridge. On this subject he read an important paper before a distinguished audience at the Imperial Institute in March, 1896. The breadth and acuteness of his views on Imperial questions was admirably shown in this address, in which he pointed out the importance of Colombo as occupying a central position in the Eastern Hemisphere, and commanding the Indian Ocean. Colombo, he remarked, is a chief link in the chain connecting Egypt by Aden and Mauritius with the Straits Settlements, and so with China, Australia, and the Pacific; and its great value should be recognised by the completion of its harbour, and by railway-connection with the mainland, which he showed by expert

testimony to be a perfectly feasible project.

Returning to England, he landed in this country on New Year's Day, 1896; and the first news he heard was the news of Jameson's Raid. He recognised at once that this event had radically altered the situation in South Africa, and set himself to explain to his countrymen the conditions of the problem and the gravity of the questions at issue. With this object in view he joined in founding the Imperial South African Association, and became one of its chief advisers, the editor of its literary publications, and its most active lecturer. From that time, until his fatal illness began, he devoted all his energies to moulding public opinion into the shape on which, he was convinced, the safety of the Empire depended. For this end he worked with all the energy of his nature, but without any trace of bitterness or exaggeration. A strong believer in Sir Alfred Milner, and convinced of the necessity of firmness in pressing just demands, he opposed all provocations and hoped almost to the last that a peaceful solution would be found. He travelled much about the country, speaking at many meetings, and writing many pamphlets and articles. Early in 1899 he went to Canada on behalf of the Association, and delivered addresses on the South African question in many parts of the Dominion. One of the tangible results of his mission was the formation of a Canadian branch of the South African Association; and the loyal attitude adopted by Canada may fairly be attributed, in some measure, to his efforts.

His continued and strenuous labours for the cause he had at heart, combined with the anxieties of last winter, now began to tell seriously upon his health. In the late summer of 1900 he was ordered abroad, but