excellent and well-endowed colleges, capable of giving a good education both in arts and in theology, and well provided with exhibitions for students; but the Fellows were lazy, thought more of eating and drinking than of study, and many of them were 'mere papists at heart.' If the attention of the civil authorities was called to the lamentable fact, they blamed the bishops, who declared that they could do nothing without an Act of Parliament; and the national council had too much secular business to find time for ecclesiastical reforms. Contemporary English evidence confirms the picture drawn by Bucer.

The Archbishop kept Bucer with him at Lambeth for several months. Meanwhile he was appointed to the chair of theology at Cambridge by a royal letter, which commended him to the university as a man of profounde lernyng and of godly life and conversation,' and was in residence there in November-in time to be at the deathbed of his colleague Fagius, who did not long survive his coming to England. The University received him cordially and conferred on him the degree of D.D. At his installation Bucer delivered an inaugural lecture, in which he pleaded that degrees should be won by study and learning and not bought, as was often the case in Germany. He began his lectures on the Epistle to the Ephesians on January 10, 1550, and engaged in more than one public disputation, defending the doctrines of the Reformation against opponents.

Bucer did not long enjoy the hospitality of England, the friendship of the King and the Archbishop, and the esteem of the University. He had been, all his life, a tireless worker, and had come to England a worn-out man. At his age it was difficult to find comfort in his new surroundings, where food and manner of living were different from what he had been accustomed to. This frail body of mine,' he says, 'has been from childhood utterly unable to bear the cold.' The damp chill of a Cambridge winter, the absence of the great German stoves, tried him unspeakably. All the organs of his body seem to have been affected. Every kindness was shown to him. He was asked not to lecture and devoted himself to writing the De Regno Christi,' his last work. It was barely finished when he felt himself dying. He passed away peacefully on February 28, 1551, mourned

by all Englishmen with whom he had come in contact, whether friends or foes. The King noted in his Journal: 'Feb. 28. The learned man, Bucer, died at Cambridge, who was two days after buried in St Mary's Church, all the University with the whole town bringing him to the grave to the number of 3000 persons. Also there was an oration of Mr Haddon made very elegantly at his death; and a sermon of Dr Parker. After that Mr Redman made a third sermon, which three sermons made the people wonderfully to lament his death. Lastly all the learned men of the University made their epitaphs in his praise, laying them on his grave.'

That Martin Bucer exercised considerable influence, direct and indirect, on the English Reformation is universally admitted, but it is difficult to determine its extent. His writings had been read, known, and feared there, so early as 1529. As the movement for an English Reformation gathered strength, they had been highly esteemed. His controversy with Stephen Gardiner about the celibate life had added greatly to his reputation, for it was generally recognised that in learning, at least, the German divine was superior to the English episcopal statesman. Cranmer and other reformers, lay and clerical, had frequent correspondence with him. His reputation as a liturgist was well known. He had drafted the Ordnung und Inhalt deutscher Messe' for Strassburg, which had been largely used elsewhere in Germany. What was more, he, with help from Melanchthon, had compiled the Consultation' or plan of reformation prepared for Hermann von Wied, the evangelical Archbishop of Cologne. The book had been translated into English in 1547; and its liturgical portions had been largely used in the construction of the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. After Bucer's arrival in England, Cranmer had asked him to set down in writing his opinions on the use of Vestments; and Bucer had presented him with his treatise 'De re vestiaria in sacris,' in which he declared that the wearing or nonwearing of clerical vestments did not belong to the essentials of religion, and was a matter to be decided by each church for itself. Bucer was also formally consulted about the revision of the Prayer Book. His answer, the 'Censura,' was long, tedious and disjointed; but it contains

many suggestions which were adopted. He died before the Second Prayer Book was finished and authorised, and it is impossible to say what he would have thought about it. Many of his suggestions in the 'Censura' had been adopted; but it is hard to believe that he would have approved of the very radical change made in the form of words used in the administration of the Last Supper. The formula inserted in the Elizabethan Prayer Book expresses his views much more clearly. It is scarcely too much to say that the whole Elizabethan settlement of the religious question in England would have greatly recommended itself to this man, who believed so thoroughly in wise compromise, and had laboured all his life to persuade those who agreed on essentials not to quarrel and separate on what were minor matters. This opinion is confirmed by the unseemly private rejoicings at the death of Bucer, indulged in by some of the extreme partisans of advanced Zwinglian views.

But Bucer's influence on the English Reformation must have been more powerful and gone much deeper than evidence can show. Everything we know about his life and work proves that he moved men far more by personal intercourse than by public utterance and literary effort. All who were in contact with him privately came under the spell of his personality. Cranmer felt it and he had long private intercourse with him. Laymen like Sir John Cheke speak with something like reverence of 'his earnestness in religion, fatherliness in life, and authority in knowledge.' The historian of the University declares that 'No professor certainly ever taught at Cambridge for so brief a period and yet left behind him so deep an impression as did Martin Bucer of his services, virtues and attainments.' The influence of such a man must have gone much deeper than all records can prove, and Cambridge may well unite with Strassburg in doing honour to his memory.

THOMAS M. LINDSAY.

Art. 7.-INTER-IMPERIAL TELEGRAPHY.

1. Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Cable Communications. [Cd. 958], 1902.

2. Report of House of Commons Committee on the International Radio-Telegraphic Convention. [Cd. 246], 1907. 3. Imperial Telegraphic Communication. By Charles Bright, F.R.S.E., M.Inst.C.E. Westminster : King, 1911. 4. The Imperial Conference. By Richard Jebb. Two vols. London: Longmans, 1911.

5. Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Agreement. [217] July 31, 1913.

A PERFECT and completely organised system of telegraphic communication is, in these days, a matter of supreme importance to the welfare and security of any large and populous state. To the British Empire, owing to the enormous distances which separate its different units, such a means of cohesion and easy access is more essential than to any other. The greater the space which separates the shores of Great Britain from those of her daughterlands and dependencies, and these again from each other, the more necessary does the telegraph become, the less do the railway and the steamship suffice to bridge the gap. And yet, owing to the fact that the urgency of this need is not at once obvious, and does not, in quiet times, force itself on the attention of the man in the street, it has not been discussed or pressed upon the public with the vigour which its intrinsic importance deserves. It is indeed to be feared that nothing short of a great crisis in our Imperial fortunes-a serious war, for instance-will rouse the public to a sense of what, in this respect, the safety of the Empire demands. The struggle with the Boer republics warned us, indeed, of the necessity of keeping in close touch not only with 'our far-flung battle line,' but with all the lands whence we drew supplies and men; but the warning was soon forgotten. Next time the lesson may be more dearly learned.

Another reason why there has been a tendency to shelve the question is that the establishment of such communication is a very expensive process. But interimperial telegraphy should not be regarded merely from the financial standpoint; we are not to ask simply

whether it will 'pay.' The inland telegraph system of the United Kingdom, unlike the postal service, is conducted at a loss; but that loss is justified by the advantages accruing to the public. And this consideration applies, in a far greater degree, to the case of telegraphic communication between the different branches of the Empire. Within the United Kingdom, the telegraph is principally useful to individuals or bodies of individuals; inter-imperial telegraphy serves national, Imperial and strategic ends, whilst also acting as a powerful help to inter-imperial trade. Efficient and reliable telegraphic communication with the rest of the Empire ought, indeed, to be recognised as a strategic and political necessity, and might suitably find a place in our Navy, or General Defence, Estimates. The desirability of an Imperial Council, or some such central body, to discuss Imperial affairs in common, becomes more marked every day; but, until this is an accomplished fact, we need all the more a satisfactory system of Imperial telegraphic communication. As the Postmaster-General (Mr Herbert Samuel) has himself stated, 'the problem of empire is in no small measure a problem of communication'; and other members of the Ministry have spoken of cable communication as the proper alternative to Imperial Preference, for binding together the Empire and encouraging inter-imperial trade. In practice, however, the policy most favoured so far has been to urge low cable rates on the one hand and wireless' on the other, rather than a development of our cable system on an Imperial basis. A vast empire demands a great organisation; and we should surely take active steps to encourage the different sections of the British race to trade together more, to talk together more, and even know each other better.

6

The prevailing want of activity in these matters is due to lack of genuine concern throughout the country with respect to Imperial questions. Yet, apart from political and strategic considerations, our trade with the oversea Dominions, and its development by cheap and far-reaching telegraphy, are matters of supreme importance to the Empire as a whole, and, therefore, to Great Britain above all. Anything which is used by the State for the purposes of the country, her welfare and defence, should be considered from that point of view, rather than