CÆSAR'S COLUMN.

A Review by the Editor.

This little book is the last addition to the Political Romance Library, and is well worthy of perusal by all students of social economics. Following in the same line as Edward Bellamy, its author takes a leap into tho end of the next century, and presents us with a vividly-painted picture of the condition of the world at that time. The evident object of the work is to present a direct contrast to the state of perfect contentment depicted in Looking Backwards Bellamy assumes that the present tendency to true social conditions will continue until it leads to the creation of a universal brotherhood, fraught with the elements of the highest human ideal of happiness. Boisgilbert bases his line of thought on a rejection of these premises, and reveals the condition of humanity when the present social conditions have reached a climax. The one is the creator of a fanciful Utopia of contentment, the other of a Hell out-helling all the Scriptural and poetical descriptions of the final residence of the damned.

To which of these forecasts can we give credence? A close study of the premises assumed by both authors can only lead to any satisfactory reply to this query,— is the tendency towards reform powerful enough to counteract the baneful influence of the worship of Mammon, and the decline of our standard of morality ? If it is, then Bellamy is a prophet breathing good-will to all mankind. But if, on the other hand, the almighty dollar is as potent as the author of Cæsar's Column assumes, then the legitimate issue of our present social life must ultimately be the return to barbarism which he has so powerfully described. As far as we can judge, from a close study of the past ten years of human history, the tendency of the age is strongly in the direction of development towards perfect social conditions. Since Thomas Carlyle first began his crusade against the corruption, hypocrisy, and injustice which controlled our social life, there has been a great awakening amongst men in every condition. Rich and poor, great and small, learned and ignorant, have all become conscious of the great problem, and this awakening, fostered as it is by the greatest intellects of modern time, must lead to that complete change in society to which dire necessity directs us.

Cæsar's Column opens with the usual references to the future triumphs of human ingenuity. The arts and sciences, mechanical inventions, and utilization of natural forces, have reached that stage of perfection which only at present exists in the imagination of the dreamer. Everything that we can now conceive of for the perfection of making the best of life is achieved, and there is no new mundane field into which the human intellect can penetrate. The romance, which occupies the most prominent place in the book, is well written, and could satisfy the craving of the fashionable novel-reader for sensationalism. Interwoven with it, however, are some terrible truths, that must make the most trivial reader pause and think.

The first great contention of the writer is, that present social conditions if continued must lead to the complete destruction of all moral perceptions. The only known God will be mammon ; the only worship, sensual gratification ; and the only tie of human sympathy, the desire to co-operate against any intrusion on vested interests. Women in every stage of life will traffic their virtue to the highest bidders. Men will sell every virtue for the increase of their possessions; corruption will control justice. All that is now covertly indulged in, and regarded by our present accommodating codes of morality, as vice, will be dressed in the robes of virtue and paraded before the gaze of a people hopelessly lost. Withal, there will be preserved the outward form of Government, and the administration of justice. A fair exterior will cover a mass of putrid corruption to which no healing remedy can be applied. The story is so arranged as to expose all this, while still sustaining its own direct interest. In one chapter the hero is introduced to a meeting of a secret cabinet in New York, which controls the destinies of the American nation. Its members hold no official positions, but simply by the mighty influence of their weapon, "Bribery," they rule the country in a way that would make the greatest despot of this age regret the inopportuneness of his birth.

The army, the navy, the nominal legislature, the courts of justice, and the press are only institutions working the august will of the cabinet of moneyed princes. There is no conception of honor, no trace of human nobility, no flash of human love, but a world controlled by greed, selfishness, craft, and sensuality.

In another chapter we are introduced to a place of "worship," and are entertained by a parson of the period. The sermon is a repetition of what has been openly seen in every street, "Live for gratification, and pay unceasing homage to the reigning God." In other passages, various phases of what we would, in this day, call "fashionable society," are pourtrayed with a vividness that fascinates the reader. The "canaille," the common people, are hated and despised, and every precaution is taken to prevent the inevitable eruptions of the gathering volcano upon which society is erected.

With equal power the author depicts the condition of the masses of the people. Education is still nominally within the reach of all. The semblance of popular representation is still preserved, but both are only institutions, which aggravate the misery of those for whom they exist. Life is one round of toil and suffering from the cradle to the grave. There is no gaiety, no sign of happiness, no sparkle of hope, no evidence of intelligence. Every man, every child, and every woman not in travail, is merely a wheel in the great machinery of production, and from day to day they perform their little part until physical incapacity condemns them to rejection and starvation. There does not exist in them even a hope of better things. The only semblance of humanity they possess is hatred against those whom they preserve in the enjoyment of luxury. There are no strikes, no social agitations, no attempts to evolve into a better state of society. The situation is accepted as inevitable, and the suffering masses dumbly wait for the coming of the pending conflagration which promises them release or death.

This constant association with injustice and suffering destroys all semblance of humanity, and the same depravity, corruption, and brutishness, which is seen in the higher circles of life, is again revealed, intensified by the absence of all of the screens that wealth can create.

Society is thus pictured as we see it at the present day, only its evils are carried to their furthest limit. Two great divisions exist. The one, comprising a minority, has absolute control over all means for the production of wealth. The other, the majority, exists only to preserve the idlers in a state of affluence, and knows nothing of the faintest happiness in life. We have not reached this extremity so powerfully forecast in this book, but undoubtedly the continuation of the existing order of things must bring us to it ultimately. One of the finest passages in the book is that which describes the mass meeting of workmen in the underground cellar. A great concourse of hopeless, determined men are assembled, and addresses, suggesting various remedies, are delivered. Forbearance, appeals for mercy, evolution into higher things, are all suggested, but with out any heartfelt response. A Christian minister teaches the doctrine of patience and necessity, with which we, in these days, are tolerably familiar, and has a very uncomplimentary reception. Only one sentiment finds universal favour, and that is summarised in the word, "destruction."

There is no remedy, no compromise, and the only salvation lies in a revolution, and a triumph of the spirit of vengeance. A vast secret organisation, including the whole of the world's sufferers, is in existence, stealthily it is extending its power, Committees of Management are in the very camp of the enemy, and day by day the net of destruction is being woven around the only half-awakened victims of the coming struggle. The end comes, by one great act of bribery on the part of the supreme committee of the avengers. The greatest means of resistance in possession of the despots of America is enlisted in the rebellion, and the reign of terror begins. Destruction is the watchword, civilisation is destroyed, and humanity drifts back into barbarism. A monument is raised by Cæsar Lomelini, the leader of the revolution, built of the bodies of a quarter of a million of the people's oppressors cemented together. On it is the inscription, "Erected by the Brotherhood of Destruction, in commemoration of the death and burial of modern civilisation." All the good people in the story, of course, are comfortably provided for. They escape in an air ship, and, finally, settling in a mountainous region, located in Central Africa, live long and die happy.

The book, of course, flavours of exaggeration, but only sufficiently to emphasise the great work it contains. In America there is undoubtedly a tendency towards a moneyed autocracy, which is even more dangerous than the influence of aristocracy as seen in Europe. With the latter a semblance of humanity is preserved, while the former destroys the only hope of a peaceful solution of social difficulties. For when bribery controls a country, those who are most concerned in a change in social conditions become traitors to their own interests. The glamour of the gold destroys the manhood of all to whom it is offered, and thus, amongst the people themselves, the confidence necessary to united action is destroyed. In Europe, however, this modern enemy to progress is not yet so potent, and there is, with its absence, as much, if not a greater, chance of reform than is seen in America with its boasted democracy.

Cæser's Column will accomplish a good work by directing attention to the dark side of the future's possibilities, and we recommend all our readers to obtain a copy of the work.

Bowral Free Press and Berrima District Intelligencer (NSW), 2 December 1891, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118287870