10 NOVEMBER 1923, Page 26

THE FORTNIGHTLY.

A triple tribute of great interest is paid to the late Lord Morley. Mr. Massingham writes on "Morley the Humanist," emphasizing his dislike of war but, oddly enough, referring to his "concentration on India" as "a sign of• withdrawal into minor eddies." Mr. T. H. S. Escott draws upon his wonderful memory for some reminiscences of John Morley in the 'sixties, when he was an active journalist. Dr. J. P. Lilley recalls Morley's long association with the Montrose Burghs which returned him after his defeat at Newcastle and found him at times a helpful as well as an eloquent representative. The review -also reprints, from its files' of 1867, a noteworthy article by Morley denouncing anonymous journalism : the case which he presents is far from conclusive, but it may be noted that the current tendency is adverse to anonymity, so that Morley's view has gained ground in England. "Curio," writing on the Imperial Conference and the practical impossibility of imposing food-taxes, remarks : "The Chamberlainites in 1903 had behind them the impelling urgency of an honest belief that the Empire would fall to pieces if Preference were withheld. We all know nciNV—and I was a Preferentialist in 1993—that they were wrong. The Empire is still going strong." Nothing could be truer as a statement of the position. " Curio " himself would advise a slow and gradual extension of the existing Preferences. Mr. Maxwell Macartney describes the new Turkish Grand Assembly, in no very hopeful spirit, and Mr. Kenneth Ledward explains the significance of the recent Spanish revolution: -Mr. Darrell Figgis, in an article. on "Ireland and the Privy Council," contends that no Free Stater has a right of appeal to the Privy Council ; by a technical argument he tries to show that the " Treaty ' clause, securing such a right, is meaningless. Mr. L. F. Easterbrook maintains that a remedy for "Our Emptying Villages" may be found in a speedy multiplication of small holdings. Mr. Baughan's thoughtful estimate of Mr. Shaw's pentalogy, "Back to Methuselah," is well worth reading.