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hope to escape the duty of supporting foreign poor , as well as our own . The circumstance that sustenance is here provided for all , and that elsewhere it is not , necessarily draws to our shores the failures

and incapables of other countries . The Registrar-General states that every day there land in the United Kingdom 1170 foreigners and aliens . No wonder that our

poor are numerous , and our poor-rates heavy . Whether it be more philanthropic to sustain them than it would be to starve them , need not here be said .

But the philanthropy of Englishmen is not confined within the limits of their own island-home . Does a misfortune befall a people in a distant land—are they suffering from war , or fire , or famine , or plague—it is

at once suggested , from many quarters , that there is a cry for help ; the national spirit is stirred ,. hearts are warmed , pockets are opened , cheques are drawn , and money

flows in from all quarters and all classes . No one pauses to inquire what is the race , or the religion , or the character , or the habits of the sufferers . No matter whether Turks

or Parsees , Jews or Christians—they suffer , and the great heart of England promptly sends them aid . I say England , for that is the brood-nest of the Saxon race , which everywhere exhibits the same sympathy

and solicitude for the distressed . Many evils exist amongst us—evils taking their rise in the long rule of an oligarchy — although the last forty years have seen the

extinction of many more . Game laws , land laws , ignorance , able-bodied pauperism , and some other crying evils remain to be got rid of ; and now that the reins of power have been taken out of the hands of the

oligarchy , we shall get rid of these evils , as the enfranchised classes acquire wisdom and prudence . I have already spoken of the influence which the propagation of Anglo-Saxon

principles has had on the character of war . That it will ultimately suppress war altogether , I do not doubt , for it is as certain as that the sun opens and enlivens the day , that the time will come when the

nations " shall beat their swords into ploughshares , and their spears into pruning-hooks , and nation shall not lift up sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any more " ( Isaiah ii . 4 ) . Nations arc a long

time learning the lesson , and submitting to the principles out of which this blessed state of things is to arise ; but no one who reads history can fail to see , that though wars arc still horrible , they arc not now waged with

the ferocity they once were . Another thing we sec , too ; that is , that amidst these sanguinary contests some of the best and deepest feelings of our nature arc evoked . During the late war between Germany and France ,

the deeds of heroism and beneficence performed by multitudes of both sexes , in the perils of the battle-field , tendingthe wounded and assuaging the sufferings of the dying , will never be forgotten . Wc were sometimes

horrified by reading of devilish atrocities committed by the belligerents on cither side . At Bazeilles , for instance , it was reported that the Germans drove the women back into the burning houses , shot children as

they fled clown the streets , tossed up babies and caught them on the points of their bayonets , and committed other cruelties unknown in civilized countries . Later testimony has happily removed this stigma ,

which was put upon the German troops , as it has also set aside many other stories of cruelty that were put into circulation . In like manner , the treatment of French prisoners by our German kinsmen was reported to be unfeeling , and in many cases most cruel .

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

These statements are now found to have been amongst the stories got up to embitter the French soldier against his German foe , as also to blacken the German character . We knew , at the very time these stories

were circulating in France , that the Queen of Prussia , the Crown Princess , and numerous Prussian ladies of rank and fortune , left their quiet and luxurious homes , and , donning the dress of sisters of charity , or

hospital attendants , devoted their days and nights to visit the sick and wounded , administering such comforts as words of sympathy could convey , and supplying what was needful for those who languished on beds of

suffering , making no difference between friends and foes , but rendering to French and German alike . The blessing of many

who were ready to perish fell upon their ears , and sank into their hearts , so that they wept with those who wept , and rejoiced with those who rejoiced .

A Parisian correspondent of the Times , whose communication appeared in that journal , on the 23 rd of August , last , describes the treatment which the French sick and wounded prisoners received in Germany ,

and from that description I make a short extract or two . It appears that after the capitulation of Metz , the Comte de Damas , Chaplain-General of the French

forces at that place , applied to the then King of Prussia , now Emperor of Germany , for leave to visit the French prisoners , to afford them spiritual consolation , and to obtain for them such alleviations of their lot as were

compatible with their position . The request was immediately granted , and the Comte set off on what he called " his pilgrimage , " armed with the fullest powers . Popular feeling was at the time very bitter in France .

Metzhadfallen . Sedanwasdoomed . Theiron grip of Germany was firm upon the unhappy country , andGambettawas about to prolong the war . It might , consequently , be expected , that the report of the Comte would have

been at once scattered broadcast , if it had in any way tended to confirm the exaggerated statements which were at the time so current , as to the bad treatment of the French prisoners in the German towns to

which they had been sent . On the contrary , the Comte had quite a different tale to tell . There were , at that time , he assures us , about 300 , 000 prisoners in German hands .

At Cologne , there were 17 , 000 , comfortably lodged in brick huts , with raised floors , weather-proof roofs , and good and wellconstructed German stoves . Of those who

were wounded and in hospital , the Comte writes : — " It is difficult for them to content themselves with the ordinary distributions of food . Accordingly , the sisters undertake to make five a dav . At one time it is coffee ,

at another chocolate , or soup , or roast meat . The same labour is renewed every day , with the same ardour , and we left Cologne with our hearts consoled . " At Stettin , there were 17 , 000 prisoners , who unanimously

spoke in the highest terms of the German officers under whom they were placed . At Poscn there were 10 , 000 prisoners , and at Glozau 13 , 700 ; and it seems that in these Polish towns so much svmpathy was shown

to the French , by the population , that tne Prussian officers in charge of the convoy had considerable difficulty in maintaining order . Nevertheless , the Comte reports , all was done that was possible to render the

hard lot of the captives endurable . " These men have met danger bravely , " said the Prussian authorities ; " it were unjust to let

them suffer now . " At Glozau there were some children , followers of the French camp , whom the victorious army had not found it in its heart to leave to starve . " God , "

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

writes the Comte , " has given these little ones a father , in the leader of the Prussian battalion , who looks after them with tender solicitude . This superior officer has ordered the subalterns to look after their education .

He superintends their play . He even chose to distribute toys to them on Christmas night . " Surely , this good old soldier has his reAvard laid up for him ! In general , the Comte goes on , " I am struck with the way

in which the heads of authority look after the soldier . These gentlemen , sometimes very stiff at first , are animated by real solicitude for their inferiors . " At Posen , he found an order recalling him to Berlin . He

was full of uneasiness , lest his mission was about to he stopped ; but it was only a letter from the War Minister , requiring from the prelate , in the name of the king , his word , as a gentleman and a priest , never to

discuss any political or military questions with the prisoners . He said : — " A very easy promise to make , for , in truth , these poor fellows have more need of the bread of the Word of God than of fine phrases

about chassepots or breechloaders , or even about European equilibrium . With this easy condition they were willing to let me collect the prisoners together , wherever I went , and even sent orders to that effect to

the Commanders . " At Glatz , he found a colonel who looked after the French prisoners as if they were Prussian soldiers .

He distributed among them shirts , shoes , and the pieces of cotton and woollen stuff , in which the Prussian soldier wraps his feet ; and he asked the French Gevernment

whether they would not send them cotton vests and drawers . At Ncisse , where he found 14 , 000 prisoners , he was told that the General in command came himself to see

that the men wanted for nothing , and that their rooms were well warmed . And so he concludes his report , with several other striking instances of personal kindness , to which he himself had been an eye-witness .

This , be it remembered , is the testimony of a Frenchman , speaking of the treatment his fellow-citizens received at the hands of the enemy , into whose power they had fallen . In old times , says the Echo , referring to this

report , no prisoners were made . Plato , the most humane of all the Greeks , declares that the man who is coward enough to allow himself to be taken alive , deserves no consideration . If a whole batch of prisoners

was made at a swoop , they were cither butchered at once , or else shipped off as slaves ; while the side which remained in possession of the field wandered over it , and deliberately put the enemy ' s wounded to

death . All this has changed , and when we look at the conduct of the Prussians , who suddenly found themselves obliged to feed , lodge , clothe , and warm more than 300 , 000 prisoners , of whom all were ragged , hungry ,

broken down , and destitute , many wounded sorely , and not a few at the point of death , wc are filled with admiration , and may surely feel gratified to find in them so noble a trait of the Saxon character . The Goths

are represented , in most histories , as a wild and ferocious people , warring as barbarians war , and showing no mercy . In those days war was , indeed , a sanguinary thing ; but it must be borne in mind , that while historians

describe the Goths as the most civilised of the northern tribes , their armies were joined by many barbarous tribes who ran into great and dreadful excesses , the blame of which the Goths have generally borne .

Since the fifth century , 'however , those noble qualities for which even the Romans gave them credit , have exhibited the Goths as a generous people ; and , as Ang lo-Saxons , having no superiors .