A HOPELESS PHILOSOPHY.

"Anarchy; its Methods and Exponents," by Peter Latouche; Everett & Co., London.— This book claims to be an authentic exposition of the methods of Anarchists and the aims of anarchism. The author is not an Anarchist. He is no apologist of anarchism, nor does he take upon himself to denounce it. He is simply the expositor and narrator of its doings. He believes that much misapprehension exists in the public mind in regard to the subject. "Anarchists are supposed to be members of a secret conspiracy for the purpose of arranging the assassination of rulers and Governors, inspired by a blind hatred of those in power, or in revenge for their real or supposed misdeeds." It is not so. It has a philosophical and logical basis, and has commanded the sympathy and adherence of some of the foremost men in science, literature, and art, such as Prince Kropotkin, William Morris, and Count Tolstoy. Books which pretend to lay bare the "secrets" of anarchism, and purport to be written by ex-Anarchists, are impudent impostures. There are no secrets in anarchism, and, it organizes no conspiracy and no Anarchist assassination is ever the outcome of any planned conspiracy. These things are capable of proof by facts which are known to all. Neither police surveillance, knowledge, imprisonments, nor torture has ever forced a confession of or discovered any supposed conspiracy. It is a popular misconception to suppose that Russian terrorists have any connection with Anarchists. If all "conspirators and outrage-mongers" are to be classed as Anarchists then the term is used in a sense wide enough to include those who took part in the early trade union movements and the Irish land agitation, which is clearly ridiculous. That crimes have been committed in the name of anarchism by anarchists is acknowledged; but it is is no more an argument against anarchism than the burnings and torturing done in the name of Christianity and by Christians are an indictment against the Christian religion. Anarchism per se neither countenances conspiracy nor organizes outrage or violence of any description. The police of Europe and America know that so-called Anarchistic crimes are not the outcome of conspiracy, but the individual acts of criminals, who may or may not be connected with Anarchist societies. In itself anarchism is a harmless, Utopian philosophy. It owes its existence to Pierre Joseph Prudhon, who, in 1840, taught that "Property is robbery property holders are thieves." In its logical sequence it means—no government, no law, no system. It defies rational definition, analysis, or exposition. It rules with out law and governs without authority, and says all government, without exception, is oppressive and tyrannous.

—A Class of Dreamers.—

Prudhon's visionary theories spread rapidly in Russia, and Michael Bakunine, giving extreme interpretations to what Prudhon taught, became the founder of revolutionary nihilism. The author traces the growth of anarchism in the various countries of Europe and America, where it is very powerful. He gives interesting biographical sketches of leading Anarchists including Kropotkin, Morris, Tolstoy Louise Michel, Malatesta, and others. The various crimes which have been committed by so-called Anarchists during the last quarter of a century, including the latest outrage in Portugal, are dealt with, as are the causes and the agents by which they were effected. Anarchism of the violent type, has utterly failed to find a foothold in England among Englishmen, though a few for a time coquetted with it, but violence to improve social conditions never appealed to the commonsense of England's working classes. And, as, on the Continent, anarchism is a disease of poverty, repression, and injustice, so when aliens land in England as avowed Anarchists they cease to be such, and settle down into law-abiding money-grubbing citizens. An insane instinct of criminality has certainly characterized some who have embraced anarchism such as Ravachol, Emile Henry, and others, but Santa, Luccheni, Czolgosz, Bresci, and Moral were men of good character. They were dreamers of dreams, intensely emotional even to the borderland of insanity— a common type in the South of Europe. These men, by constantly brooding on what they conceive to be the wrongs of humanity and their own sufferings, become monomaniacs, and commit assassination in much the same manner and through much the same ill-balanced reasoning as others commit suicide." The author condemns strongly the "abominable tortures" meted out to imprisoned Anarchists, believing that such brutality becomes a reason for taking terrible revenges on the rulers and punishers. Spain and Russia have excelled in the cruel art. Mr. Latouche's volume is deeply interesting reading, and throws a wonderful light on a subject which has inspired many nations with terror. How much it may be written with a purpose cannot be estimated. If his statement of the case is reliable, anarchism is little understood. The book contains quite a gallery of portraits, and is specially interesting in view of the special series of articles on the subject which are now being published in the Register.

 The Register 9 May 1908,