10 AUGUST 1945

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A CRISIS OF CIVILISATION

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I N Mr. Churchill's statement about the atomic bomb issued by Mr. Attlee on Sunday exultation at having anticipated the enemy gave way to awe. Mr. Churchill spoke of this...

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Australia's Population

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Mr. Arthur Calwell, who is now Australian Minister for Immigra- tion, has lost no time in grappling with a problem of first importance for Australia's future. The war has...

NEWS OF THE WEEK

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R USSIA'S declaration of war on Japan was not unexpected. What is most interesting is the timing of it. According to M. Molotov, a request that Russia should join her two...

The Treatment of Germans

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Announcements issued by Field-Marshal Montgomery in the British zone and General Eisenhower in the American show that the second stage in the treatment of the German people is...

Unrest and U.N.R.R.A.

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It is not inappropriate that Mr. Bevin's first public speech as / Foreign Secretary should have been addressed to a meeting of the Council of U.N.R.R.A., and his declaration...

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THE PATTERN OF EUROPE

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rp HE negotiators at Potsdam. have presented the world with a J. much fuller account of their decisions than at one time seemed likely, and from it the picture of the post-war...

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HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT

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M R. ATTLEE has completed his administration with laud- able promptitude, and his appointments are exposed to public contemplation and comment. There has been, and will be, no...

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I mentioned last week Lady Oxford's habit of invariably writing

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her letters in pencil. G. W. E. Russell, the author of Collections and Recollections, and several other similar volumes of essays, apparently had the same habit, and confessed...

A number of correspondents have written expressing warm approval of

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the idea of a national shilling tribute to Mr. Churchill, and there is no doubt, I think, that if some responsible body of persons—of course of all parties—would sponsor it and...

_I It is not surprising, in view of the constitution

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of the present Parliament, that the question of an increase in the payment made to Members should be raised as a matter of some urgency. Actually it is a very difficult problem,...

A SPECTATOR

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'S NOTEBOOK S 0 man's highest scientific achievement is the discovery of means for effecting man's annihilation. That, of course, is an obvious comment, and perhaps hardly...

The question whether King John did or did not sign

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Magna Carta has aroused more interest than many greater matters are apt to. My critics have attracted defenders into the field. One declares that John did sign, for the...

An American paper has committed itself to the prediction, or

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the surmise, that Professor Laski will be Lord Halifax's successor as Ambassador in Washington. The suggestion appears to exaggerate a little the Prime Minister's gratification...

Anyone who doubted Pierre Laval's astuteness will have retained few

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of the doubts after reading the evidence the former Prime Minister has been giving at the Main trial. He clearly did what he liked with the Court, and was able to put a...

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THE PRIME MINISTER

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By FRANCIS WILLIAMS I F I were asked to compare Clement Attlee's qualifications for the Premiership with those of Prime Ministers of the past, I would choose one with whom he...

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THE SECRET OF THE ATOM

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By PROFESSOR HERBER'F DINGLE LL matter is composed of atoms—tiny systems of particles each maintaining a separate existence in every portion of solid, liquid or gas that exists....

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INDIA AND ENGLAND

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By A. E. FOOT, Headmaster of the Doon School, Debra Dun. T HERE are three hurdles to be crossed before people in England can achieve any satisfactory understanding of Indian...

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THE COST OF A CABBAGE

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By H. D. WALSTON -W E have apparently become reconciled In the enormous cost of processing and marketing the food that we eat. It does not seem to worry us unduly that food for...

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I have often reflected That in the whole of history

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no generation can have suffered quite so much as the German generation which is contemporary with my own. Albrecht Bernstorff, for instance, was old enough to have known the...

Such sarcastic comments were repeated, and were not at all

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wel- come either to the Reichskanzler or to Joachim von Ribbentrop. Bernstorff on his recall to Berlin was employed for a short time in the Wilhelmstrassc, whete he was kept...

I have in my possession a little manual which Albrecht

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,Bernstorff compiled for the instruction and guidance of German Rhodes scholars who were about to go up to Oxford. It supplies in a prudent form all. the practical information...

These prophetic and illuminating comments were written as long ago

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as 1912. Throughout his life Albrecht Bernstorff strove to convince his countrymen that the British theory of the relation of the individual to the community was a saner...

MARGINAL COMMENT

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By HAROLD NICOLSON T HE news has recently been received from Germany that Albrecht Bemstorff, who for ten years was Counsellor of the German Embassy in London, was executed by...

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THE THEATRE

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Kiss and Tell." At the Phcenix.—" Me and My Girl" At the Victoria Palace. Tins frail, light-hearted comedy is not decidedly worse than others which have been recently...

THE CINEMA

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The True Glory." At Warner's and the Odeon.—" Broken Dykes." Generally released. " Week - End at the Waldorf." At the Empire. THE combined team of British and American Service...

GRAMOPHONE NOTES

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EASILY the most important of the August 'recordings is that by Sir Thomas Beecham and the London Philharmonic Orchestra of Haydn's Symphony No. 97 in C major (H.M.V. DB 6222-4)....

THE BLIND GIRL

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THEY tell me the leaves are green, the small trees pliant. -" See how they sway" they say—then pause and fidget, and I can feel the ripples of their awkwardness breaking...

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LABOUR AND BRETTON WOODS" SIR, —The outcome of the general election

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has left with the Labour Party the responsibility of deciding whether this country shall or shall not ratify the Bretton Woods Agreement—an issue associated directly with our...

EDUCATION IN THE COLONIES

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Snt,—In the comments in your issue of July 27th under the heading "Education in the Colonies," you describe the issue that divided the majority and the minority of the Elliot...

SIR,—Many of us would be grateful if you could please

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explain one point in the Cambridge University voting. The table of details in The Times of August xst shows that on the first count Dr. Pickthorn had a surplus of 2,838 votes...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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HOW P.R. WORKS Snt;—I am enclosing an extract from to-day's Times headed "How P.R. Works!' It deals with the details of the polling for two members for ' Cambridge University,...

THE NEW CHAPTER

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SIR, —In your leading article "The New Chapter," you refer to the "limited degree" to which Mr. Ernest Sevin possesses a working know- ledge of international affair's. But is...

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WHY IT HAPPENED

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Sts,—Mr. Kenneth Lindsay's forceful analysis of " causes " makes good reading ; but I rather think that the determining motives of millions of electors were less ideologistic...

ETHIOPIA AND THE ITALIAN COLONIES

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Snt,—Professor Bentwich does not like my suggestions for the disposal of Eritrea ; but he also very seriously misrepresents them. In respect of the flattish semi-desert Muslim...

Snt,—It appears that Mr. Bentwich is over-simplifying his case when

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he criticises the solutions put forward by Brigadier Longrigg as anti-. Ethiopian and Imperialist. I have discussed the problem of the Alto Piano of Eritrea with several...

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

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SIR,—As a recently retired Head of a Grammar School Preparatory Department, may I reply to Miss Wilmshurst's very practical letter with the records of some twenty-five years'...

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COUNTRY LIFE I SPENT an afternoon this July in going

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over the first of the rural colleges (new style) situated within the aura of Cambridge. A party of us went there from a neighbouring county for the sake of imitation: such...

" FRATERNISATION "

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Stit,—I write to challenge the implication in "Serving Officer's" letter that to frequent brothels is to " be human." Surely " human " nature, as contrasted with " animal "...

In My Garden The strange heresy, or creed, that the

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gardener should dispense with the spade or fork is again coming to the fore ; and when it is preached by so technical, sane and suggestive a paper as the Field it cannot be...

A Vanishing Bird Not long since, a tired — land-rail or corn-crake

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descended into St. James's Park before proceeding on its migration. The event was the more sur- prising as the bird grows sadly tare. It is one of the victims of the new farming...

Honied Sources The bees have been providing a good quantum

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of honey. The sun which makes them desirous of gathering pollen and nectar, and the damp which makes the sweetness in flowers available, have been vouchsafed in reasonable...

LORD SAMUEL'S EPIGRAM

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SIR,—In The Spectator of July 20th Lord Samuel's epigrammatic phrase on Campbell-Bannerman is quoted with appreciation: "His premiership was common-sense enthroned." I wonder...

RED CLYDESIDE ?

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SIR,—There is a general impression in England that Glasgow is a city of the extreme left-wing in politics, and the term "Red Clydeside" is fre- quently applied to it. An...

Postage on this issue: Inlana, id.; Overseas, td.

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Page 16

Light on German History

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The Course of German History By A. J. P. Taylor. (Hamish Hamilton. 12s. 6d.) HITHERTO, as Mr. Taylor implies in his preface, English writing on German history has been...

BOOKS OF THE DAY

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Semi-Realism Democratic Realism. By A. C. Hill. (Cape. 7s. 6d.) THIS is a book which combines the useful and the maddening in about equal proportions. With Mr. Hill's object it...

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Returning to Shelley

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Shelley and the Romantic Revolution. By F. A. Lea. .(Routledge 12s. bd.) MR. LEA, a professed admirer of Mr. Middleton Murry, has done for Shelley very much what Mr. Murry did...

The Farm-Worker's Future

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Wages on the Farm. By David Eccles. (Signpost. Is.) Wages on the Farm is an able exposition of the Conservative Partv's agricultural policy. It begins with an exceedingly good...

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Fiction

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8s. 6d.) Smiley. By Moore Raymond. (Sylvan Press. 10s. 6d.) MISS KYLIE TENNANT has rather a weakness for practical young women and shiftless middle-aged men. In Time Enough...

A Constructive Housing Poliey

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Building and Planning. By G D. H. Cole (Cassell. 10s. 6d.) Ma. COLE has a gift for explaining difficult political-economic subjects in pleasant readable English. Bagehot once...

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COMPANY MEETING

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HUDSON'S BAY CO. THE 276th annual general Court of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay was held on August 7th in London. The following...

SOLUTION TO CROSSWORD No. 333

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'N 44,RT I N Al U M, 5k ir LIIN A 2 E A 1E r Nt iE iw :311.1: 1 t: I 0 Ic' SOLUTION ON AUGUST 24th The Winner of Crossword No. 333 is E. P. MARQUIS, ESQ., 3, Loraine...

"THE SPECTATOR" CROSSWORD No. 335

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FINANCE AND INVESTMENT

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By CUSTO. IT was not to be expected that the advent of a Socialist Govern- ment with an effective working majority would leave the stock markets unscathed. Investors, and more,...

Shorter Notices Our Horses. By Lionel Edwards—The Story ot China.

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By Tsu Chi. (Puffin Picture Books. 9d. each.) MR. LIONEL EDWARDS is both author and artist of this new and excellent Puffin book on Horses. Not only are the different breeds...