14 JANUARY 1893

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The French Ministry resigned on Tuesday, but was almost at

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once reconstituted under M. Ribot, the final appointments being gazetted on Thursday. M. Ribot is Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, Vice-Admiral Rieunier is Minister...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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O N Monday, M. Bei:haat, Minister of Public Works during the Ministry which consented to the Panama Lottery Loan, and the introducer of the measure, was arrested and lodged in...

On Thursday, Count Caprivi made a very important speech before

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the Army Bills Committee. After declaring that the present ferment in France has increased the danger of the situation, he dwelt upon the great military strength of Russia and...

The German Emperor has telegraphed his approval of a letter,

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in which Herr Gehlerb supports the Army Bills as "a matter of life and death to Germany," thus showing that, even if Count Caprivi were to be goerid of, the Bills would not be...

Mr. Gladstone has returned from the South of France in

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ex- cellent health, and the Cabinet Councils have been resumed and will now, no doubt, come thick and fast. The Speaker of last week deals with the difficult points in the...

NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS.

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With the "SPECTATOR" of Saturday, January 28, wilt be issued, gratis, a SPECIAL LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, the outside pages of which will be devoted to Advertisements. To secure...

*** The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript, in any

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ease.

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It turns out that the North Carolina lynching affray reported

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in all the papers last week, and upon which we commented in our last issue, never took place. According to a Reuter's tele- gram in Monday's papers, "reporters who were sent to...

It was officially announced on Saturday last that, "in con-

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sequence of the not altogether satisfactory relations now existing between her Majesty's Government and that of Morocco, it has been decided to send a special envoy on a...

The election for West Derby resulted, of course, in the

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return of Mr. Walter Long, the Conservative, who lost his seat in Wiltshire chiefly in consequence of Mr. C. Hobhouse's success in persuading the Wiltshire labourers that the...

Mr. Haliburton's theory that there are dwarfs in the Atlas—

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a theory which was greeted with an acrimony of dissent which could hardly have been more severe had it been in favour of free dynamite—has received very substantial support from...

Mr. Carson, M.P., points out, in a striking letter to

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Monday's , Times, that we must not infer from the outcry of the Irish Home-rulers against the recent dynamite outrage in Dublin, that if the criminals were detected, and were...

In the meantime, we are not sorry to see the

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Irish Government taking some pains to increase the number of Roman Catholic Magistrates and permanent officials. Probably a great mistake has been made in excluding Colonel...

M. Pion, the leader of the Republican Catholics in France,

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has written an important letter justifying the votes of his group. He denies that a general election would prove a danger to Parliamentarism, because "true Parliamentarism is...

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A telegram from Sidney in Thursday's Times announces that the

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Legislative Assembly of New South Wales adopted on Wednesday a series of resolutions in favour of Australasian. Federation. They approved the main principles of the draft Bill...

Nothing seems to us more helpless and absurd than the

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way in which British Churchmen write to the Times (for example, last Monday's Times) to complain of "the way in which auricular confession is being forced upon the people by the...

The festivities connected with the wedding of Princess Marie of

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Edinburgh and Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern, the heir to the Roumanian Throne, which have been taking place at Sigmaringen—the cradle of the race which gave first a King to...

On Monday was published a;:correspondence in regard to Railway Rates

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between the Board of Trade and the railways. Mr. Mundella, through Sir Courtney Boyle, tells the com- panies that the Board of Trade has received a great many complaints as to...

Bank Rate, 3 per cent.

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New Consols (21) were on Friday 97-14.981i.

The court-martial on Admiral Fairfax for negligence con- nected with

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the stranding of the Howe,' ended at Devonport on Saturday. After listening to a speech from the prisoner's "friend," Mr. Bousfield, Q.C., M.P., and a subsequent three hours'...

According to a Vienna telegram in Wednesday's Times, The situation

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in Montenegro gives cause for anxiety. There had been a series of bad harvests, but this year the crops were better, and thereupon the Prince called upon the peas- antry to...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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FRANCE AND THE NEW CRISIS. C OUNT CAPRIVI'S allusions before the Army Bills Committee to " the dangerous state of ferment" that exists in France, and his virtual declaration...

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PREMATURE POLITICAL PRECAUTION. T HE strong Parliamentary minority are already begin-

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ning to fidget, very prematurely we think, as to the course they should take, when Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule Bill shall have been produced and defeated. They are very anxious,...

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THE POLICY OF PROCRASTINATION. I F the Speaker interprets truly the

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mind, of the Govern- ment,—which we doubt, partly because we do not believe that their policy is finally settled,—its policy in regard to Ireland is to be founded on the maxim...

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THE FUTURE OF THE LABOUR PARTY.

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T HEproceedings of the Miners' Conference at Birming- ham this week confirm us in an opinion which we had previously expressed, that there is in this country no common basis for...

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THE NEW MISSION TO MOROCCO.

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W E have not the slightest wish to censure the Govern- ment for their decision to send a new Mission to Morocco. That they would be bound to do so sooner or later was evident...

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EMOTIONAL CHARITY AND ARCHBISHOP BENSON. N OWHERE is reaction more visible

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than in the popular conception of charity. Twenty years ago, the Charity Organisation Society was all the fashion. Newspapers were filled with stories setting out the mischief...

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THE REAL WONDER IN THE NEW MESMERISM, W E have no

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doubt that the doctors,—who, like the Times' correspondent and Dr. Kingsbury, whose letters appeared in last Monday's Times, refer the greater number of the phenomena of "the...

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THE HORSE OF MODERN FICTION.

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TT will be remembered that, when Don Quixote dismounted at the inn which he took to be a castle, after his first day's ride as knight-errant, he "recommended Rosinante ' to the...

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AUTHORS ON STRIKE.

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I T was Mr. Walter Besant who started the idea. In this month's number of the Author, he said that there was no reason why a Union of Authors should not be formed ; but then, he...

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

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THE MARMOSET. rro THZ EDITOR OF THA srionsron. - 1 Sin, — Those who have followed with any degree of interest my suggestions and experiences in the matter of feeding the...

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ART.

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MR. BURNE-JONES. THOSE who dislike Mr. Burne.Jones's painting are in no want of reasons for their dislike, some of them good, some of them good enough to serve. There is the...

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B 00 K S.

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PROFESSOR JOWETT'S "PLATO." WITIf the appearance of these five singularly handsome Tolurues—in their form and typography a credit even to the Clarendon Press—the Master of...

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NICHOLAS FERRAR.*

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THE anonymous author of a " Life " of Nicholas Ferrer apologises for adding yet another volume to the five "Lives of the saintly hero of Little Gidding that already exist. In,...

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MR. BARING-GOULD'S "TRAGEDY OF THE CIESARS." *

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IN one respect, Mr. Baring-Gould'a two volumes may be praised without reserve. The illustrations, consisting wholly of portraits reproduced from statues, busts, coins, and gems,...

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THE REALM OF THE HABSBURGS.*

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THERE is a singular dearth of good books in. English about Austria-Hungary, and, though in many respects it is the most interesting of the great States of Europe, the average...

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MR. GOSSE'S ROMANCE.* Tan is, we believe, Mr. Gosse's first

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raid into the field of fiction, and he has achieved a large measure of success. There is power in this romance, the power of a skilful craftsman who has an eye for colour and...

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A. TREASURY OF DATES.*

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IT seems in accordance with Philosopher Square's "eternal fitness of things" that a review of a ":Dictionary of Dates" should open with a date not to be found in its pages....

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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Temple Bar makes an excellent start in 1893. The January number contains the first instalments of two new serial stories, ."Diana Tempest" and "Graham's Romance," which promise...

The Monthly Packet, now published by A. D. Lines and

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Co., maintains its fairly high literary level. The most prominent paper in the January number is Miss Helen Zimmern's "Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi," an interesting study in...

The Antiquary (Elliot Stock), although it is expressly declared to

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be "a magazine devoted to the study of the past," has now become so interesting that the ordinary—if he happens also to be extraordinarily curious—reader will find a vast deal...

The Newbery House Magazine threatens to become—at least, for laymen—a

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trifle too dull and heavy. At all events, we have found in the January number only two things to interest us,—a well-written sketch of the Italian priest-patriot, Ugo Bassi, and...

The January number of the Argosy is barely an average

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one. The minor stories are rather slight. There is really no end to "The Artist's Romance," and, for that matter, very little in the way of a beginning ; and "The Strange Story...

The outstanding featuro of Atalanta for 1893, to whose incor-

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poration with The Victorian Magazine we recently alluded, is Mr. R. L. Stevenson's new story of "David Balfour." It is a sequel to " Kidnapped ; " indeed, the basis of it is the...

Both the Law Quarterly Review (Stevens and Sons), and the

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Law Magazine and Review (Stevens and Haynes), thoroughly sus- tain their high reputation as organs of the legal profession, in which, however, well-informed laymen will find...

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The Entr'acte Annual for 1893 is , as usual, a pleasant

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mixture of jollity and pathos, illustrated by Mr. Alfred Bryan in his broadly effective style. As an example of a simple story agree- ably told, we can heartily recommend Mr....

Public Finance. By C. F. Bastable, LL.D. (Macmillan.)—We cannot give

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more than a very brief and perfunctory notice of this elaborate work. That it will find its place as the standard English work on the subject, we cannot doubt, so impartial is...

Observations on the Emancipation of Industry. By George Venue Crosbie.

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(Elliot Stock.)—Mr. Crosbie makes some remarks in his introduction which seem to point to confiscation. We spent twenty millions, he says, to get rid of West Indian slavery ;...

The jcw at Home. By Joseph Pennell. (W. Heinemann.)—Mr. Pennell

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saw a good deal of the Jew in Austria, and something of him in Russia. In neither place did he like him. In fact, he regards him much as his countrymen at home regard the China-...

The Hell of Dante Alighicri. Edited, with Translation and Notes,

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by Arthur John Butler. (Macmillan and Co.)—Mr. Butler prints the Italian text (for the collation of which he owns himself considerably indebted to Dr. Moore) with his...

The Portfolio, 1892. (Seeley and Co.)—The Portfolio remains, for purely

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artistic qualities, at the head of the periodicals which devote themselves to the subject of art. While not attempting to vie with some of its contemporaries in variety of...

Of annual volumes we have received The Josernal of Education

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(A. Rice), "a Monthly Record and Review" of education in its practical and literary aspects, giving as usual an intelligent account and trustworthy appreciation (always...

Paces and Places. By Henry W. Lucy. (Henry and Co.)—We

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do not know that "Wit and Humour" is the best description to give of all the contents of this volume, but that it contains some excellent reading there can be no doubt whatever....

The Gentlewoman at Home. By Mrs. Talbot Coke. (Henry and

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Co.)—Mrs. Talbot Coke instructs and advises her readers about many things of domestic interest. She ranges from the building of a house to the adorning of a table. (As to the...