Much as our officials praise the administration of the Indian Empire, I think it quite possible with a few years of disinterested tutelage to weld the Philippines into a nation, more united, freer, happier, richer and better educated, than the finest state in that vast possession. What is wanted is The Man, no stubborn and tactless general "spoiling for a fight," harsh, peremptory, overbearing, but a civilian of the highest rank, or a naval officer, one of America's very best, full of sympathy, tact and patience, yet firm as Stonewall Jackson. He must have a gracious presence, and "magnetism" in the highest degree, for he must rule by personal influence, by inspiring confidence and affection. Not otherwise did Rajah Brooke obtain his election to the sovereignty of Sarawak; Sir Andrew Clarke pacify the Malay Peninsula; nor is it otherwise that Hugh Clifford is leading the Malays of North Borneo to peaceful pursuits. The man, when found, must be invested with absolute power, and be backed up by all the forces of the Republic. The British Government gave America an example of what to avoid when it sacrificed Governor Eyre, of Jamaica, to a shrieking gang of pseudo-philanthropists, when, in a great emergency, whilst the honour of white women and the lives of men were at the mercy of a mob of negroes, he omitted some legal technicality before hanging one of the cowardly instigators. However, I do not think America will go back on her sons like that. Great Britain has produced some men who could have taken up the burden of the Philippines. It happens that the three I shall cite were all soldiers, but their extraordinary magnetic qualities by no means proceeded from their profession. The God-like man who died at Delhi, the beloved of John Lawrence, would have made an ideal ruler: the people would have worshipped him. The hero who died at Khartoum could have ruled the Philippines, or any Asiatic or African country, and the people would have loved him. To quote one who is still with us, Lord Cromer has coped with difficulties of a different kind, yet, perhaps, as great as those of the Philippines, and in a few years has changed the face of the land of Pharaoh, and lightened the lot of millions. This has been done by the assistance of a few engineers, administrators, judges and soldiers. He and all of them have displayed the most unfailing tact and patience, indomitable courage and fortitude, and each has put honour and duty before all. Men like John Nicholson, Charles Gordon and Evelyn Baring, are rare, but their peers doubtless exist amongst Americans of the good old colonial stock, and it is the President's business to find them, and send them out to protect and govern America's great dependency.