enjoy age without possessing wisdom, and waste their formidableness in injudicious irritations of labor. The wages fund of the United States is for the most part represented by young corporations less unbending, and perhaps more cautious, or at any rate not easily lured into illegal positions or unjust attitudes by a mere love for displays of force.

The prospects of the American labor problem, full of encouragement when viewed alone, draw a special hopefulness from their association with the brilliant future which the materials and conditions of our sociological development hold out to the United States. The few ruder characteristics of a young civilization are fast melting away in the dawn of a maturer epoch for the inhabitants of this continent. Here, at any rate, the "brotherhood of man" is no longer a poetic dream. In Europe, even in a country civilized, as is England, the foreigner still occupies a place in popular conceptions little higher than that filled to old Greek imaginations by the "barbarian" who could not be understood. In this country no man shudders at the sound of a strange tongue, nor starts at the apparition of some wanderer from the shores of the Old World. And this continual entry of new anthropological elements-this settlement in our midst of races the most diverse---this absorption of foreign custom, language, and blood-this process, in fact, of the assimilation and reaction that is everywhere tending to the evolution of a certain measure of physiological uniformity out of a pronounced racial heterogeneousness-all these are so many influences continually engaged in breaking down barriers such as those which separate classes in the Old World, as well as in promoting that form of altruism which is not only one of the highest satisfactions of religious feeling, but which must ever present itself as the aim and end of all perfect civilization. And in saying this, it is by no means the ideal future of the theorists that we have in view. The time may or may not come when individuality shall have grown to be its own lawgiver, and when a practical communism will exist as intolerable of poverty on the one hand as of large accumulations of wealth on the other. In our own view it is enough to look forward to a homogeneous population without distinctions of race; to a society not yet old, but crystallized enough to yield, with healthy conceptions, a settled characteristic literature; to a higher view of international duty fitly co-existent with the new altruism at home than any that has been born from progress in the Old World; and finally, to a spirit that shall not destroy, but tolerate, the mutual necessities of capital and labor in a dual existence of perfect harmony and happy compromise. EDMUND NOBLE.

FOREIGN, RELIGIOUS AND LITERARY.

THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE seems to be the all-absorbing question among the religious publicists of France and Italy. The Italian statesman Minghetti has published a rather remarkable work on this subject, with a striking introduction by Laveleye, of Belgium, who is fast coming to the front as one of the safest, as well as most advanced, thinkers of the day in this line. Minghetti, as deputy and minister of the kingdom of Italy, is peculiarly competent to write a work of this nature, for he is at once philosopher, jurist, economist, canonist, and statesman. His pages on modern science and the relation between science and religion, as well as the relation between religion and civil society, disclose the true philosopher.

Minghetti does not consider the theological faculties as the homes of ignorance, nor theology as an instrument of oppression, and he boldly declares that to neglect these matters is to lower the level of one's studies. And his friend and eulogizer, Laveleye, goes still further in declaring that any separation of these powers should be only civil, as a moral union between the two must always exist, and the separation itself should be but a measure of public right.

On the basis of these studies, Dartigue, in the "Revue Chretienne," takes up the cudgel for France in an important article treating of the solution in its two phases of liberal and radical. He declares that the French are proceeding rapidly in this matter, drawn by an irresistible current, which is increasing day by day, and which will soon acquire a volume that will overcome all resistance. With him the proposed separation is in the logique of ideas, and as ideas govern the world, this logique will, sooner or later, mold the morals and control the laws. It is to-day discussed everywhere--in the press, on the forum, and at the political gatherings. Every real democratic progress, as well as every liberal reform, shakes the edifice of the Concordat, and this, by dint of repetition, will finally lead to its fall. The point made by Dartigue in his discussion is the difference between the liberal solution and the radical one; the latter would destroy all religion, while the former would follow in the footsteps of the United States, Ireland, and, to a certain extent, of Belgium. The French Protestants are strengthened in their convictions by the course of Gladstone in this matter, and the present extensive discussion of the same question in Scotland.

In the French Chambers, which reflect the popular voice, scarcely any serious discussion takes place that does not at least touch on this matter; and while there is at present a majority against separation, this same majority is at the same time so disposed to push the Concordat to the wall as to make its friends inclined to wish its repeal. If the Radicals succeed in this effort the moment will have arrived for energetic action on the part of the Liberals.

THE FESTIVE WEEK is the title given to an account of all the religious anniversaries recently held in Berlin. The activity of the German Christians is certainly beyond all question, and it almost takes one's breath away to undertake to follow all their movements.

The young men's associations, though so recent in origin, have grown marvelously. There are now over a hundred of these, with nearly ninety thousand members. It is proposed to add to these the new feature of a fund for aid in sickness or death, and the reports from the various bodies is very encouraging.

The work of publishing and circulating Christian publications for the masses is a phenomenal success; 71,500 sheets are now issued weekly, more than double that of last year. This enterprise was recently begun amid jeers and doubts, now it is greatly prized and praised, and the money for the work seems to come by faith--no deficiencies are reported. The city mission work of Berlin is also growing greatly. Dr. Stöcker, the court-preacher, gives a great deal of time and energy to the work, and is now enlisting the theological students as teachers in the mission schools. The city mission publication office issues weekly 73,000 sermons, which are distributed largely among those who else would neither see nor hear a sermon in their lives. This mission now reports the erection of an asylum for discharged criminals, where they can be aided in their efforts to lead a new life.

The Protestant Mission for the Heathen held its anniversary before a crowded house. During the year it has done a large work in Africa and China, having baptized in the latter country 1,686, and in China 67. At an overflow meeting in the evening the leading pastors of the capital were present, and the main question discussed was that of missionary activity in the new colonies of Germany.

In a so-called pastoral conference, very largely attended, the eonsistorial councilor led off in the discussion of the burning question of the duel in the German universities. His address was full of historical ma terial, and culminated in the watch-word, "Abolition of the Duel!" He advised his fellow-clergy to decline co-operation in the funeral of any one falling in a duel, as they now mostly do in that of a suicide.

A movement was made to form a pastors' league for the more effectual. working of the various interests in which the Church should be engaged. Some of these were: social reform in legislation for the interests of workingmen; repose for the workingman on the Sabbath; measures against the growing propensity to drink; a higher tax on the manufacture of liquor, and a fine for public drunkenness.

Then came a conference in the interest of prison discipline, with an address on youthful criminals, and a serious admonition for our times. The greatest danger in this case was declared to be the education for crime that they receive within prison walls from contact with old offenders; therefore an earnest appeal was made for separate prisons for the young, and reformatory asylums for them when released. The week closed with the anniversary of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews.

THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE are now emerging from a long obscurity, greatly to the gratification of Oriental scholars. Within the last few decades the various lands of the Orient, especially China and Japan, have rapidly come within the range of our knowledge. But all those portions lying under the iron heel of the Turk have remained closed. The western sections of Asia Minor have been the scene of various ethnological expeditions that have afforded subjects of great interest, but the more eastern regions have not received much attention, and this has been very specially the case with Armenia. This nation has, during four centuries, preserved its intellectual, if not its political, independence, a fact which is worthy of our regard and esteem.

In their little Alpine land the Armenians have been able to preserve a portion of the treasures of classical antiquity, while in Europe the migrations of the masses have, in many instances, destroyed all the inheritance of the past. In spite of Mongolians and Tartars, Greeks and Arabs, Kurds, Turks, and Russians, the Armenians have remained true to the faith and language of their fathers. Those who have so proud a past to show do not easily efface their traditions in the days of darkness; and in their case the Turkish sway seems to have made them only the more loyal to the past. Ruled by a nation so far below them in culture, the Armenians have been the more zealous within themselves; and thus, far from their native land, the monks of the Armenian cloister at Venice have protected and printed the precious relics of the Armenian writers of ancient times, while in their own mountain home a new intellectual life has sprung up that is now producing numerous literary works and sending forth some valuable periodicals.

A recent Bavarian guest among them has given to the Academy of Sciences of Munich a very interesting account of their present activity. They are now studying the principal works of foreign authors in nearly all lines of literature, and are translating the masterpieces of Goethe and Schiller, of Shakespeare and La Fontaine, into their own tongue. Their journalistic activity is quite marvelous, consisting of monthly, weekly, and daily issues, treating of the progress of all modern literature.

They are also founding schools on the model of the German Gymnasia, which are controlled by teachers who have received their training in Germany. A Normal School in Tiflis prepares teachers for the lower schools, and the fact that this work is well done is seen in the announcement that in Russian Armenia no less than eight hundred male and female teachers are employed. Many young Armenians, in their thirst for knowledge, are making great sacrifices to qualify themselves in foreign schoolsmostly, those of France and Germany-for posts of honor and usefulness in their own country; and thus the day seems to be rapidly approaching when this downtrodden and much-belied nationality will lift its head as an intellectual light in the midst of the surrounding darkness of Mohammedan rule, and it may be hoped that the leaven which has been so long hidden in the meal will rise to assert its virtue in favor of Christian civilization. May the time be hastened!

ALCOHOLISM IN DENMARK is just now the ruling question of discussion in that little kingdom. The Order of Good Templars has been established there, and the conflict is being carried on in genuine American style. During the five years of its existence the order has increased to ninety lodges, with about 3,500 members, though some of these are children's lodges. The attention of the public is gained by numerous placards every-where, even, a reporter says, in the railway depots; and the lodges have frequent festive meetings, with music and song. The speeches on these occasions are at times patriotic, and at times assume a religious form, and very often the cause of the order is presented as the cause of God, which shows how thoroughly alike are the Danish and American ideas on this subject.

This religious tendency of the work has caused in some quarters no little opposition, so that a branch is likely to be formed on the basis of "intelligence and science," to all of which there is no special objection if this banner will bring in more converts to the cause. The pledge of this branch will be total abstinence for one year, and not for life, as with the Templars; but even here the principle of total abstinence is regarded as the main pillar of success in spiritual and material warfare. This new order looks especially toward exerting an influence on legislation. And besides these, there are reported also in Denmark a great variety of total abstinence societies of other shades, so that the sum total of active temperance people runs up to about 25,000, which is a large number in so small a country for a cause so new and foreign to European instincts.

In Copenhagen the temperance people are establishing coffee and eating houses, in which the only alcoholic drink is beer, and this is sold only in connection with food. Five of such houses are now in operation, and they are largely patronized by the working classes, so that the capital stock has earned during the year three per cent. dividend. And the Danes say that this is a proof that these advance the cause of temperance, as only ten per cent. of the guests call for beer.

IN FRANCE colonization is the question that ranks all others, and the continual repetition of the matter in all its phases proves how deep a root it has taken on the public mind. In the Chambers nearly every debate slips into it, and the coming elections will very probably hinge on it.

One very decided advantage to be gained by this tendency will be a more extended and accurate knowledge of geography on the part of the nation at large, which is, be it said, not very well posted in this science. The cause of this unceasing furor is doubtless the mortification of the country at the great defeats in the Franco- German war, and the soothing balm which these doubtful victories afford to the pride of the nation. The raid begun some time ago with Tahiti, which had been for a season only a French protectorate, and as such was ruled, it seems, in the interest of Catholicism, notwithstanding the leaning of the natives toward Protestantism. But the Tahitians are now French citizens, and, as such, are at liberty to exercise their own free choice in the matters of religion.