United State railroads (which are common carriers under the Inte. State Commerce Act),' Mr R. L. Borden, the Premier of ti Dominion of Canada, has emphatically denounced the meas as a violation of the existing treaty rights enjoyed Canada,' and further asserted that it must be resisted by the Dominion and the Government of Great Britain' There is no doubt that

this firm attitude uno.. the part of the Canadian Minister considerably infinced the opinions of the U.S. Committee of Congress.

that the prevailing well as upon those verned to a very

It may, however, be pointed out rates upon the Dominion railways of the United States are at present considerable extent by the cost of transportation by the all-water route; with the result that a great part of the through traffic is found anything but profitable. Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, has given it as his opinion that the redistribution of the goods freight from 'jobbing centres' on the Pacific coast has already produced better results; and that, if the use of the Panama Canal has the effect of building-up and of strengthening these coast cities as distributing points, together with the more rapid development of the territory tributary to the coast, which should naturally follow, the railway lines would participate in the advantage.

In another direction also anxiety has been felt regarding some form of reciprocal agreement which may be entered into between the Dominion and the United States, to the exclusion of Great Britain, by reason of the vastly improved facilities which the piercing of the Isthmus will afford to the United States, and which would enable her to offer terms which must prove irresistible to our premier colony.' But the recent disclosure of American political designs and ambitions in regard to the Dominion, for which we have to thank the indiscreet frankness of Mr Taft, renders such an outcome improbable to-day. Whatever fresh treaty arrangements may be entered into between Canada and the United States-and it is not denied that some advantages are likely to be offered to the Dominion which it cannot afford to ignore-the position of the United Kingdom will hardly be seriously prejudiced thereby,

On the other hand, it was pointed out, by critics who are well entitled to express an opinion by reason of their knowledge of the principle governing naval defence, that, while the British navy by its concentration in European waters effectually defends the Dominion from what is probably a more pressing menace to the Empire, the Pacific coast will be left more than ever unprotected against dangers which, if remote, are none the less real, when the Panama Canal is once open to traffic. Although there is reason to believe that during the recent visit of Mr R. L. Borden, the Canadian Premier, to England, Canada's naval plans were freely discussed with His Majesty's Ministers, nothing that transpired has been permitted to leak out; but it is believed the new administration have decided that Canada will contribute in some effective form to Imperial naval defence, while she may even be responsible for a naval unit in the Pacific.

There is no doubt that the Panama Canal will have an important bearing upon the trade of countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, as well as those bordering the Atlantic. A new outlet will be provided for the immense tract of agricultural land in the Canadian NorthWest; much Canadian grain and many of the products of British Columbia, such as timber, fish and fruit, will reach the British market by way of the Panama Canal. Mr Borden has shown signs of being thoroughly conscious of the great problem which awaits the statesmen of the Empire regarding the bringing about of a more thorough and more effective organisation in which British steamship lines are destined to play so important a part. At no time in our commercial career has there been greater need for the study of this problem than the present, when competition has been victorious in some directions and acute in many. We have seen, among many other disappointments, our shipping trade in wool from the South American Republics to London for distribution in Europe gradually leaving us to favour competitive foreign lines to Antwerp or Hamburg. London has long since ceased to be a distributing centre; even Australian wool destined for continental Europe now sometimes goes thither direct in foreign ships without making use of London as an international clearing-house. What is true of the shipping trade in wool is also true of tea and silk from

the Far East, of rubber from Africa and of iron from the United States; in fact, wherever we look, rivalry of a drastic nature has to be met and fought.

British shipping in Latin-American waters will be called upon also to face yet additional competition within the next few months, since a new French company (La Compagnie Sud-Américaine de Navigation) will inaugurate a regular passenger and freight service between Bordeaux and Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Buenos Aires. This new line is the joint enterprise of La Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, La Société Générale de Transports Maritimes, and La Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis. A Russian company is also about to establish a line of steamships between Odessa and Buenos Aires, calling at most of the South American ports. A Belgian line, under the auspices of Messieurs Siebert et Cie, of Bordeaux and Antwerp, and of Messrs Horn and Co., of Hamburg, will start a new service between Antwerp and Brazilian ports in January 1913; a Spanish syndicate, known as La Compañía Transatlántica, commences in February 1913 a competitive service to the principal ports of Brazil, to be extended, probably, to Argentina and Uruguay; while the Portuguese Government has subsidised a new line between Lisbon, Madeira, Azores and the ports of South America. The National Steamship Company of Chile is now augmenting its fleet of steamers so as to compete for traffic between Valparaiso and Baltimore (U.S.A.), the service to start after the opening of the canal.

Among the least obtrusive but none the less assiduous watchers of developments at Panama have been, and are, the Germans. With that admirable thoroughness of purpose and capacity for organisation which characterise them in relation to most business transactions, the Teutons have not failed to make themselves perfectly familiar with every move and phase of affairs on the Isthmus from the day when the North Americans came into virtual possession. Before any action was taken upon the part of a single British steamship company, a body of directors of the North-German Lloyd Line proceeded to Panama and San Francisco, there to study the possibilities of establishing a direct steamship service between Bremen and the Pacific Coast, such service to start at a period which would enable a German steamship to pass

through the canal within a few hours of its official opening. A new and complete service has been now resolved upon; and this will link up the ports of the Fatherland via Cherbourg with Southampton.

It remains to be seen whether British shipping will be able to compete in South American waters against the well-subsidised Germa i marino. Whatever German ships will have to pay in the way of canal tolls will probably be met by additonal subsidies to be granted to them, while British betons will have none. It is believed that no steamers which are not heavily subsidised can afford to pay a higher toll than $1.00 (4s. 2d.) per ton net register; and in the event of the anticipated tax amounting to $25 (58.). in all probability the Panama route would have to be abandoned by other than German subsidised lines in favour of that of the Magellan Straits. Prof. E. R. Johnson, an American authority of high reputation, has declared that to and from places upon the west coast of South America, situated 2500 or more miles south of Panama, the traffic of Europe will use the Straits should the Panama tolls prove to amount to more than 75 cents (3s.) per net ton register, unless other factors shall hold up the traffic to the west coast of South America and through the canal.'

There is, of course, the question of some among the British lines receiving a more liberal subsidy from Government for carrying the mails; should this, however, be arranged, it would hardly afford any more cogent argument in support of a discrimination in tolls, since the subsidies given by the British Government would be contingent then, as now, upon an accelerated mail service being provided, and this would mean an extra expenditure to be met by the companies apart from their payment of the canal tolls. Certain it is that, in face of these handicaps, and of the disconcerting rapid advance made in foreign state-aided shipping, even after making allowances for all improvement that may be effected in our own services, every effort will have to be made by the different interests concerned on the one hand, and by the Government on the other, in order to maintain our threatened supremacy upon the high seas.

Art. 2.-ROMAN HISTORY SINCE MOMMSEN.

1. Gesammelte Schriften von Theodor Mommsen. Seven vols. Berlin: Weidman, 1905–9.

2. Essays. By Henry Francis Pelham. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911.

3. Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero. By W. Warde Fowler. London: Macmillan, 1908.

4. Caesar's Conquest of Gaul. By T. Rice Holmes. Second, revised edition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1911.

5. Geschichte der römischen Kaiser. By A. von Domaszewski. Two vols. Leipzig: Quelle und Meyer, 1909. 6. Roms Kampf um die Weltherrschaft. By J. Kromayer. Leipzig: Teubner, 1912.

7. Grandezza e Decadenza di Roma. By Guglielmo Ferrero. Five vols. Milan: Fratelli Treves, 1902-7. English translation, by A. Zimmern and H. J. Chaytor. Five vols. London: Heinemann, 1907-9.

8. Les vases céramiques ornés de la Gaule Romaine. By Joseph Déchelette. Two vols. Paris: Picard, 1904. 9. The Journal of Roman Studies. Vol. I. Published by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. London, 1911.

WHEN the time comes to sum up the intellectual life of the nineteenth century, it will probably be found that its principal feature was the study of history. The way to this study had been prepared by the scepticism of the preceding century, which had made a critical method possible; its interest was new-created by the growth of national life which the French Revolution and Napoleon in their different ways fostered in Europe. The opportunities for scientific work were enlarged when libraries were presently thrown more widely open, when unprinted documents were made accessible, and the historical value of coins and similar bric-a-brac' became clearer. An historical activity resulted, which is not yet by any means at an end. In this activity the prominent place is taken by Roman history. Here the century saw a real Renaissance, which we all connect with one German writer. Theodor Mommsen, born in 1817, dead in 1903, transformed Roman history in the course of his long life as no scholar or thinker has ever yet transformed any