Tlbe Conservative * 11
of old , OVC3H though there bo n sprin
kling of the bettor classes in attendance.
Whatever removal of sheer brutality
has been effected from the old condi
tions of the prize ring has resulted from
legal compulsion , responding to an in
dignant public spirit in the community
As for this pugilist's eccentric notions
of "any company , " which must include
the best company , opinion , of course , is
a question of point of view. But it is
very questionable whether Mr. Corbett
would bo able to entertain "tho flatter
ing unction" long were ho able to put
it to the tost. That the modern bruiser
is sometimes treated with a kind even
of adulation by his superiors is true.
But it is in the same kind of spirit with
which the ancient Roman dandy patted
the brawn of the gladiator on whom
ho expected to bet his sesterces the next
day in the amphitheater and on whom
ho turned down his thumb with scorn
ful indifference if the poor wretch was
vanquished.
An interesting Indian race is describ
ed in The National Geograj hical Maga
zine for August. The radical differences ,
in the aboriginal stocks found ou the
North American continent are well il
lustrated in the habits of this tribe of
4,000 people found in Arizona and
lower Mexico. Having adjusted their
lives to the desert as completely as the
Be louius , they yet show an exceptional
stability of character unaffected by con
tact with alien races. The Papagos aio
evidently descended , like the Maquis ,
from n people of superior aboriginal
culture. They yet retain much of the
manual skill and artistic taste of their
ancestors whoso relics found in the
mounds and the ruins of whoso con
structive knowledge shown in aqueducts
and irrigation works indicate a remarkable -
able gens , perhaps allied to the ancient
Tolteo race. The early Spanish records
note their dignified hospitality and reserve -
servo , and they are the same now. Yet
that they are degenerates is without
doubt. Quo of the most interesting facts
in North American ethnology is the ex
istence of so many modern tribes who are
decadents from n notable degree of cul
ture in the arts of lifo.
No Room Here For Anarchists.
No anarchist crime has ever thrilled
Europe and the world with such a senti
ment of horror as that which was
aroused by the murder of the empress
of Austria. For other outrages of this
description some clearly discerned po
litical motive could bo discovered. The
taking off , for example , of the Czar
Alexander , the liberator of the serfs ,
was explicable. Ho had justrofufaed the
demand for a free constitution for Rus
sia and otherwise offended the nihilists.
Oarnot's murder was associated with
certain repressive and punitive meas
ures which had recently been adopted
by the French chambers in regard t : >
anarchist activities. In this last exhibi
tion of anarchy it is impossible to trac ?
any adequate motive. The Empress
Elizabeth was not only a woman , but
of nil the crowned women of Europe
that ono most indifferent to politics and
the management of public affairs. In
deed she had carried this abstinence so
far as to absent herself habitually from
oven those court functions as much as
possible which are most admirably
graced by the sovereign's wife. Her
dislike of pomp and ceremonial and of
all the outward show of her rank was
such ns to excite the protests of the
Viennese. Her eccentric seclusion oi
herself from public sight , though re
deemed by great benevolence of disposi
tion , had tot made her a popular per
sonage , though always regarded with
deepest respect. Empress Elizabeth
cared chiefly to live her own individual
lifo without fretting under the chains
of rank. That such a woman as this ,
entirely dissociated from political move
ments , who spent a considerable portion
of her time in travel , as if to escape her
own restless thoughts , should have been
selected by the assassin's dagger is a
mystery.
Her sex gave her no immunity. Thai
she had been in an exceptional degree
the target for the worst bolts of fate and
was known to bo ouo of the uuhappiest
of women was no armor against the hall
crazed perversity of an anarchist assas
sin. The tragio death of Rudolph , tin-
crown prince , ft few years ago , uudei
circumstances which startled the world
with a genuine sensation ; .tho death bj
the flames of the Duchesso d'Aleucou ,
her sister , at the Paris bazaar fire
these and other family misfortunes had
left Empress Elizabeth one of the most
melancholy of women. Perhaps she
would have welcomed death , though
not perhaps at the ignoble hand of the
assassin , could she have known it was
so near. But all these things which had
made Empress Elizabeth peculiarly the
object of general sympathy made no
difference to his impartial stab. And so
was quenched the lifo of ono of the
most brilliant and picturesque of mod
ern crowned heads , yet whoso career
had boon singularly innocent of privateer
or public cause of blame. The assassin's
stiletto seems to have been guided by
accident or caprice , and any other per
sonage of exalted place would possibly
have satisfied his lust for blood.
It has been proposed that as a cause-
quenco of this last imperial assassiua
tion the governments of continental
Europe should uuito in such uniform
repressive measures as would free that
section of the world from their presence
and mischief working hato. Just how
this can be done is difficult to perceive ,
for an overt act in most countries is
neceseary. It has just been proved how
easily the crazed brooding of a fanatic
leaps from a dream into action.
When the teachings of such men as
Bakunin , Priuco'Krapotkin and Elisce
Reclus , the logic of whoso instruction
is oven assassination or any other violence
lence which will shako Kpojoty , load to
suoh deeds , it seems clear jthAt , the in
tellectual chiefs of/iuVhrchy are as guilty
as their fatuous tools."TfcsJalmost * un- v " "
fortunate that the freest counrriejvsubh '
as Switzerland , Great Britain and'thov > ( / - " / / > * "
United States , are compelled to harbor 7 I/
*
these people by the very spirit and form '
of their laws. When rats leave one
house , they swarm to another. Ifc is
greatly to bo hoped that if the anarch
ists are driven from continental Europe
they will not come to enlarge the swarm
already in this country.
Chinese Scholarship.
All of us have heard much about the
lofty HSteern bestowed ou scholarship in
China and that it is the passport to the
highest honors of the empire. It is worth
while to examine into just what the
Celestials mean by scholarship. In one
sense no home staying Chinaman is
ever educated. The most erudite man
is absolutely iguorast of the current
problems of the world , both in practice
and theory , unless knowledge is knocked ,
into his skull by contact with foreign
ers. Yet the race is unique ou ouo side
in its scholarly spirit that is , in its
reverence for Chinese classical litera
ture ; in its devotion to a style steeped
in classical allusion , and in the ardor
with which candidates attempt the ex
amination , year after year , oven to oM
ago , in the hope of acquiring an hon
orary degree. It was the passionate re
vulsion of feeling which accompanied *
repeated failure and finally curdled into
hate of the whole system which in
spired Hung Tsu Sueu , the Hakka
schoolmaster , to tench the new religious
and political cult on which the terrible
Taipiug rebellion was founded.
The Chinese system of teaching is
based entirely on memory and the ab
normal reverence for the dead sages.
All that needs to be said has been said ,
according to this theory of education.
The boy learns by rote and does not un
derstand what he recites in a mechanical
singsong. As he grows older and comes
before the examination boards for pro
motion memory of the sayings of the
great dead authors and periphrastic re
statement of them in a great variety of
forms , from which original comment is
excluded by the lack of real intellectual
knowledge and acumen , still furnish
the test of his ability , which opens the
door to political promotion.
It can be readily seen then that what
is called knowledge is a mountain mass
of rubbish in resonant phrases. This
furnishes the political equipment of the
mandarin official , The scientific spirit ,
the wish to investigate , the sense of the
unknown , which have been at .the bottom
tom of all western progress , are absolute
ly unknown to Chinese education. This
petrifaction of intellect is the root of
Chinese lifo , society , knowledge and
politics. With a dead root a dead people
