The times., 1899-01-15

teristics of an alien strain introduced
from time TO time. The result seems 10
have been something like that of breed
ing in among an isolated tribe. and in the
present generation degenerates have re-
suited. The type OF them is indicated by
Lord julius description of the paralytic
duke, present holder of the title:
One can make the excuse of Illness for him
now, and that covers a multitude Of sins. But
when he was in heath-and he lad the superb
what shall siy?-'he riotons health of whale
! he was very hard to bear. Iou have seen him,
and You have observed his mental and moral
elevation He remembers his dogs more distinctly
: than he does his children. In the Almanach de
tiotla he Is classed among princes. but what he
dweils upon most fondly among his public duties
Is the kicking of tenant farmers in the stomach
when they try TO save their crops from being
ruined by the hunt.
This is not a pleasant picture. but there
/ is really no reason why a family of land
owners with traditions Of rough riding
and high living, and nothing else; with
/ out the traditions of scholarship and gen.
/ tie manners practiced for their own sake;
bred in the notion of their innate super
/ iority to the rest of the world merely be-
I cause of their ancient family, should be
anything but degenerate There is nothing
| in the world which will send person or
I family to ruin more quickly than con-
J viction of personal superiority to other
people. 1t is a sort of dry rot, and does
! its work very swiftly when possessed by
! men and women without intellectual in
/ terests. II Frederic had speciality it
was the delineation Of various causes of
| human degeneration. and here he has hit
upon new one and analyzed it subtly
and numerically.
/ There are two other types of character
to be found in this same family. The Torrs
CT the Jewish branch have been saved
! by the introduction Of a strong alien ele-
! ment-the Semitic straiu-Strony enouPn
/ 10 hold its own anywhere. Lord Julius. by
! marriage with woman of extraordinary
| individuality of a totally different type
! from his own, has been. as he expresses
! it, made by his wife; their son COM
| bines ideality and practical wisdom in-
| herited from his mother, with two or three
! less attractive traits which may come from
| the blood Of the Torrs. The third type is
! that Of the TOrr entirely removed from as
! sociation with his kindred, brought up in
! poverty and in foreign land. without
| even the English traditions. and educated
| in the direction of socialism-the Isolated
| individuality of Christian. The combina-
| ticn of these three types of character
makes the plot of the novel. which is
! rather study of character than a story
| of events.
1t may be said that the Torrs in their
| degeneracy are not fair example of Eng
I lish nobility. Frederic does not offer them
! Go ShiA W pOTIrayS tlem and
leaves the reader to draw his own infer
ences. All clergymen are not as ignorant
and conceited as Theron Ware but that
was not Frederic's business. Ware was a
! certain type of clergyman, used as such
SO the TORS are a certain type of English
aristocracy. and they also undoubtedly ex-
ist. American women are marrying Sci
ons OF Just such families every year, and
the spectacle is not agreeable There are
advantages in a caste system for a certain
number OF generations. The problem which
Frederic touches in this novel is whether
II does not inevitably result In degeneracy
II long continued.
Still another theme of the work is un-
folded in the half visionary, half practi-
cal talk of Emanuel Torr. This son of
mingled English and Semitic stock is I'M
like either in the possibilities or devel-
epment OF his nature. There has been
aroused in him the feeling of RESPONSE
bilfty for his dependents. Born to the
control of large estates, he asks himself.
What shall ! do with them" He has
| not the British stolidity which would lead
him 10 live on the income of his property
without further concern, nor has he the
ambition of the parvenu. The streak OF
| idealism in his nature leads him TO at
tempt TO go back to the Old feudal sys-
TEN, adapting il to the conditions of the
nineteenth century. He is the only one of
his family who has the impulse to har-
monize the outworn conditions of feudal
times with existing circumstances and he
attempts to do ii by putting the whole
estate back into the Middle Ages. He es-
tablishes a sort of protectorate over the
diHerent villages of which he is the land
lcrd, making each one. as far as possible.
supporting. He watches over them
all with a sort of paternal care In short
he administers his estates on the princi-
pie that the aristocrat must be the head
and the common man the hands-skilIful
hands. strong hands-but always subordi-
nate to the head. He spells his scheme
with 4 capital and calls it the System.
The kernel OF it all is in this paragraph.
Emanuel saw clearly that humanity could rich,
| itself by retracing its steps and going hack Ia
| The scene of its mistaken choice of road. /,
! had taken the wrong turning when it .orsook
| the path OF coherent and independent orgaUiza
l"i-Ilat marFeiousiy intricate, yet perfectly
ioElcal. system called ieudalisn, in which every
! body, from king to seTt. had service TO render
ana service 10 receive and mutual duty was the
| law OF the entire mechanism.
a magnificent dream, this, Of reviyiug
| ieudalism in the nineteenth century-the
/ dream of good many thinkers Of the
| present day, In one form or another-but
! 1t tailed The reason of its failure is stat
| ed clearly and Concisely by the heroine
! Of the romance, and it is not the least of
| Frederic's artistic daring that he has made
J TINS heroine business woman, and a
| thinking woman, heroine of a different
! type from any that has appeared in the
/ classical novel. She says:
| Emanuel seems to me 10 be a magnificent char.
! actcr with one extraordinary limitation He has
| not an original thought in his head lie merely
'efIles 10 mathematical point Of expansion and
deV'i"Finert the re3dy-nadc ideas which he finds
| accepted al about him What you see in him is
4 triumph Of the Semitic Ia syion for u,orli,,n,
| problem out 10 its ultimate conch,sinp W.
/ YOU consider il, what has he done? Merely dis
| covered, by tremendous labor and enerpy Tho
! sFn"olhest possible working, arrangement OF tI.
social system which his class regards as best for
| itself, and hence for all mankind-tIc system
| Whleh tNa!ts chosen few, and keeps all the rest
| m suhjection. My dear sir. things do moi rj.e
| hIGher than their sJuTce' How did the Tors
come by their estates? BY stealing the birthriybt
! Of thousands of dumb human beasts of L,,r,ic,
! and TIveting tic family collar round their nect.
win no moro regard for their wishes or tbeir
| rights than il they had been SO MANY purti,s mr.
| colts. And what the origin Of the AscarcI
! fortune? The most friphtful and bloodstaincd I'm
man slavery in The poisonous jungles Of the Dutc
/ East IEdles-that, and ancient family business
/ Of international usuIE, every dirty penny in which
/ u E"u followed it far enough, meant the f3yipo
alive Of a peasant, the starvation of his liz
! tie children. These the things which yn,,r
cousin lnhcrits, He j. !inc enough to be ashamed
! Of them. but he is not broad enough to rcuudiate
theln. He makes himself believe that they are
! wrong only in degree lie will admit thai III.
| TORS too brutal toward their serfs tba
/ AscaTcls too selfish with their millions That il
all. And he sets himself proving that with Tho
| night kind OF chief at their head these systems
Of theirs can be made not only respectable bI,t
even profitable TO the slaves well the master