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THE EDITORS' TABLE.

IN his last article upon the Siberian outrages, in the Century Magazine, Mr. George Kennan, speaking of the hanging of three of the survivors of the Yakutsk massacre, relates how one of the sufferers, two hours before the rope was put about his neck, scribbled a hasty farewell note to his comrades, in which he said, "We are not afraid to die, but try-you-to make our deaths count for something write all this to Kennan." "The appeal to me," adds Mr. Kennan, "shall not be in vain. If I live, the whole English-speaking world, at least, shall know all the details of this most atrocious crime." Mr. Kennan has already roused the English-speaking world to the monstrous character of the present Russian régime. By his tireless investigation and exposure of the atrocities in Siberia and in the prisons of Russia itself, he has rendered a service to humanity such as has been rendered in this general field by no man certainly since Howard. It is sure that his voice will not be hushed nor his pen grow rusty. But it is high time, as the report of the latest Siberian horror, which has inspired Mr. Cross's indignant lines, brings home to us anew, that a thousand pens and a thousand tongues should take up these crimes perpetrated in the name of law as they have not yet been taken up. "Is it possible," asks the London Times in its comments upon the Yakutsk tragedy, "that these things can be done with the knowledge of the Czar, who passes for a humane man? Is he so blinded by absolutist theories as to harden his heart against all these tales of sufferings, of stupid repression, and of the cruelty which infuriates the class against which it is directed? If not, he has a magnificent opportunity of, once for all, putting a stop to scenes and systems which disgrace his government and his religion." It is much too late an hour in history for the dungeoning and torturing of men for opinion's sake to continue possible, even in Russia. Russia is not Congo, and she is not Beloochistan. She claims a place in the family of civilized nations. She therefore makes herself amenable to the enlightened public opinion of mankind, and it has become the duty of all men to see to it that such things as we have been reading of in Siberia in these months are stopped. It is the duty of Americans to see to it, to become every one a Kennan in such sort as he may, until even the subject of the Czar may demand those rights which the American would not live without for a day, without having his life or liberty endangered for it. No nation can any longer be a law unto itself in things like these; in such provinces there can be no Monroe doctrine. It may be that governments as such cannot speak here; but government is not now the only organ of national feeling. A Kennan may do more than a king to right a wrong. But the Kennan, like the king, if he is to do his work, must have a roused people behind him.

MR. SALTER speaks of the reform of our city governments, in administration and organization, as among the reforms upon which it would seem

that all good men might agree, irrespective of party. However far away the complete separation of national politics from city affairs, a consummation so devoutly to be wished for and so clearly prescribed by common sense, it is certain that never were so much attention and intelligent study being given to the various problems of municipal government and reform as to-day. The flocking of men to cities, the immense increase of the population of cities as compared with the country, is one of the remarkable and distinguishing facts of this time. It is in our cities that the battle of our civilization is to be chiefly fought in the immediate future. From our cities radiate the strongest influences, and in our cities the greatest dangers centre. It is becoming more and more apparent that no field of politics is more important here to-day than municipal politics. The wise organization and administration of our cities demand the highest political talent. The time has passed in whith adventurers and apprentices can be longer tolerated in our city councils and in the mayor's chair. The time is rapidly coming, if it has not already come, in which service in these places will be as commanding and as inviting for the ablest men in our cities as legislative or executive service for the state or the nation. We shall see Josiah Quincys in the mayor's chair again.

The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Good Citizenship devoted an entire course of lectures a year ago to this general subject of municipal government and reform, and a second similar course, under the society's auspices, is being given at the Old South Meeting House at the present time, before audiences, we are glad to say, twice as large as those of last year. These lectures on municipal matters are, to our thinking, so important, and they have certainly done so much good in Boston, that we give the programmes, in the hope that they may suggest similar courses in other cities.

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Last year's lectures were nine in number, as follows: "The Trustworthy Citizen," by Rev. Charles F. Dole; "The Rise of American Cities," by Prof. Albert B. Hart; "Birmingham: a Study of City Government in England," by Rev. John Cuck"Berlin: a Study of City Government in Germany," by Sylvester Baxter; "The New Ballot System," by Richard H. Dana; "The True School Board," by William A. Mowry; "The Government of Boston," by Henry H. Sprague; "Josiah Quincy, the Great Mayor," by Mellen Chamberlain; "The Possible Boston," by Rev. Edward Everett Hale. The present year's course consists of six lectures, as follows: "Economic Friction and the Problems of Cities," by Prof. E. Benjamin Andrews, President of Brown University; "Modern Systems of City Government," by Prof. Woodrow Wilson; "The Reform of the Caucus," by James M. Olmstead; "The Tenement-House Question," by Robert Treat Paine; "Boston City Government," by Charles W. Ernst; "The Citizen's Duty to the City," by Rev. Philips S. Moxan.

The good influence of these lectures is not limited to the audiences. They are widely noticed in the newspapers, not only of Boston, but of other

cities, and have furnished texts for many useful articles upon municipal reform. Several of the last year's lectures have been printed as magazine articles or in pamphlet form. A general report of the course was published by the Good Citizenship Society. This can be obtained by addressing the Secretary, Dr. C. F. Crehore, P. O. Box 1252, Boston. We shall refer again to this Massachusetts Society for Promoting Good Citizenship. There should be such societies in every state, and there is no more important matter to which they can turn their attention than that of municipal govern

ment.

IN the January number of the Magazine an account was given of the Old South Essays, which constitute so important a feature of the Old South work. Mention was made of the fact that it is the custom of the directors of the Old South work to place upon their list of lecturers each summer one of the first-prize essayists; and the admirable lecture on "Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase," by Mr. Robert Morss Lovett, published in the January number, will be remembered. We publish in the present number one of the first-prize essays for last year. The two subjects proposed for the year were: "The influence of French political thought upon America during the period of the American and French Revolution," and "Washington's interest in the cause of education, with special reference to his project of a National University." The two best essays submitted upon the latter subject were so excellent and so equal in merit that first prizes were awarded to both. Of Miss Stecker's essay something was said in the March number of the Magazine. That essay has been published in pamphlet form, and the directors of the Old South Studies will gladly send a copy to any person writing for it. Miss Ordway, the writer of the essay which appears in our present number, is a graduate of the Boston Girls' High School, class of 1889. A reading of these two essays will give a good idea of the excellent work in history which is being stimulated among the young people of Boston by the Old South prizes.

A CURIOUS mistake occurred in connection with one of the illustrations to the article on the Astor Library, in the last number of the Magazine. The Book of Hours, a page of which was shown in facsimile on page 157, is really not in the Astor Library at all, but in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical Society at Madison. The photograph from which our engraving was made had found its way from Madison into the Astor treasury, and was forwarded by mistake, so similar are many of these illuminated pages in general appearance, instead of a reproduction of a page from one of the many works of this class in the Astor. But our Madison friends, not so rich in monastic manuscripts, immediately recognized their child. "Having but one really good literary relic of this sort," writes Mr. Thwaites, the secretary, naturally do not like to have our thunder stolen"; and Mr. Saunders, it hardly need be said, is not less anxious to have exact credit given. It should be added that the date of this manuscript is 1386, instead of 1350, as printed.

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THE series of articles on the New South, upon the publication of which the NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE has entered, and which it means to make a special feature for a long time to come, is awakening a degree of interest in the South itself, and bringing every day warm letters of approval, which are most gratifying. We shall continue these articles until the remarkable new development and the great opportunities of the South are fully appreciated throughout New England and the North. We trust that in doing this we may also contribute something toward the solution of those social and political problems which have so constant and important a bearing upon the industrial situation. The New England social and political doctrine is well understood, and it is well understood, we think, that it will always be preached very plainly in the NEW ENGLAND MAGAZINE. But we shall always speak the truth, as we understand it, in love; and we are glad to believe that our brethren of the New South perceive this, and, however much some of them may differ from us, are disposed to respect and to desire the outspoken word. The secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association in one of the large Tennessee towns writes us as follows. He speaks, we are sure, for many young men of the South; and it is through the growth and the controlling power of such sentiment as this that the South is to find her true development.

"I am a young man, just entering my thirtysecond year. I therefore belong to the New South'; and I say to you with all earnestness and truthfulness, that we care nothing for any man's honest opinion or conviction, so long as these are tempered with justice. Such an one must recognize us as loyal citizens of this grand republic, and being such, as therefore his brethren. He must realize that our interest in the perpetuation of this nation of ours equals his, and that its welfare is as sacred to us as our own homes. We want men who come South to live to stand upon a broad patriotic platform; we want men who can see great possibilities in any people; men who will enter heart and soul into our endeavors to secure better educational advantages, a better form of government for ourselves, and a more extensive material development. If such a man will come and do this, he may circulate his opinions and convictions as freely as the most blatant ward politician. He will not be harmed or ostracized; on the contrary, he will be admired as a courageous man. He may be a Democrat, Republican, Prohibitionist, Greenbacker, or Woman Suffragist, if it pleases him so to be. All that we of the South ask is that he be honest in his professions of friendship and interest in us.

"Grady's death was a severe blow to us. He was the brilliant representative of the young South. But I thank God we have thousands who are as patriotic, if not as eloquent, as he. I love my country and my country's flag. I love her past and her present; I pray for her future. I detest the merest hint at distinguishing lines between sections. While I have no objections to religious denominations, I dislike a Northern Church and a Southern Church of the same name. Why should you or I be made to feel like aliens in our own country, and with our own people? There is no reason for it."

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COLUMBIA COLLEGE.

By J. Howard Van Amringe, A.M., Ph.D.

HE design of establishing a college in New York was fifty years or more in contemplation before it was carried into effect. Active measures began to be taken in 1746, at which time provision was made by law for raising money by public lotteries. Five years later, in 1751, the proceeds of these lotteries, about seventeen thousand dollars, were vested in trustees. The fact that two-thirds of the trustees of this educational fund were in communion with the Church of England, and some of these were also vestrymen of Trinity Church, excited opposition to the scheme and delayed the procurement of a royal charter. The friends of the enterprise proceeded, however, with the arrangements for opening the college, and elected a president.

The president chosen was the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford, Connecticut. He was fifty-eight years of age at the time. The uncertainty with regard to the charter, and his advancing years, made him hesitate to accept the presidency. As he was assured that the project was likely to come to nothing if he did not, he consented to make a trial, and came to New York in April, 1754. He entered upon the duties of the presidency in the following July, on the 17th of which month he began, in the school-house belonging to Trinity Church, the instruction of the first class of students, eight in number, admitted to the nascent institution.

ernors named in the charter had qualified, Trinity Church, according to a promise previously made, conveyed to them for the college a portion of a grant of land, known as the King's Farme, with the stipulation that its president forever, for the time being, should be a communicant of the Episcopal Church, and that proper selections from the liturgy of that church should be used in the religious services of the college. This stipulation, which was also contained in the royal charter, caused a great deal of angry controversy. Some of the gentlemen named as governors, e.g. Archibald Kennedy and William Livingston, declined to qualify or to serve, and the incipient university was subjected to a great deal of obloquy as a church establishment and a probable supporter of royal prerogative.

The fear of exclusiveness and of toryism was perhaps natural at the time, but, as events proved, was really not well founded.

The charter itself denied to the college the right to exclude any one from its benefits, immunities, or privileges (except the privilege of being president), on account of his particular tenets in matters of religion. One of the first acts of the governors, after qualifying in May, 1755, was to adopt unanimously the proposal of the senior minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, himself one of the governors, asking for an additional charter; which charter was granted, and delivered to the governors at a subsequent meeting in the same month of May, providing: "That the Dutch shall here enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences in Divine Worship and Church Discipline . . . there may Copyright, 1890, by New England Magazine Company, Boston. All rights reserved.

The charter of King's College, the granting of which had been bitterly opposed, finally passed the seals on Thursday, October 31, 1754, from which day the college dates its official existence. After the gov

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