14 JULY 1888

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Yesterday week, Mr. Parnell made a statement in the House

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of Commons with relation to the case of the Times in the trial of "O'Donnell v. Walter and another." His statement came to very little except positive denial that any of the...

The Emperor of Germany leaves for Kiel to-day, but will,

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it is rumoured, call at Copenhagen on his way.to St. Petersburg. No further indications of his precise purpose have been given; but it is rumoured persistently that he hopes to...

The week has been full of correspondence by the Irish

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Party on the O'Donnell libel case. There have been a letter and a still fuller statement by Mr. O'Donnell himself, a news agency statement by Mr. Parnell, a speech by Mr....

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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G ENERAL BOULANGER is losing ground, more espe- cially in Paris, and feels it. He has been compelled to remain inactive, which is dangerous in France; and his sup- porters, who...

On the other hand, Mr. O'Donnell states that it was

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both his own wish and his counsel's that he should go into the witness- box at once, and prove by his evidence that he was so identified in policy with the leaders of the Irish...

* * The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript, in

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any case.

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On Thursday, Mr. Parnell asked the First Lord of the

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Treasury whether the Government would appoint "a Select Committee, with power to send for persons, papers, and records, and to examine witnesses on oath, and report as to the...

This quarrel, which ought to have been confined to medical

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papers or to Charlottenburg, bids fair to develop into a European scandal. All sorts of stories are circulated as to a quarrel between the Emperor William and his mother, and it...

If Mr. Parnell had but added that the presence of

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South African representatives at Westminster, who would no more permit the United Kingdom to interfere in ordinary South African local politics than China would allow it to...

The Government of Germany have permitted the publica- tion of

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a report from those German doctors who objected to Sir Morel Mackenzie's treatment. They accuse the English specialist of resisting operations which were necessary, and, as we...

Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who is said, on Mr. Parnell's authority,

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to be getting £40,000 a year out of the South African diamond-fields, has sent Mr. Parnell a cheque for 25,000 for the promotion of the Irish Home-rule movement, —promising...

The London clauses of the County Government Bill are passing

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with unexpected ease. The opposition has, in fact, been confined to two points,—the selection of Aldermen, which the Liberals resist, and the control of the police, which they...

Lord Salisbury's little Bills for the reform of the House

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of Lords are both dead, stillborn. The Bill for the expurgation of the House by enabling the Crown to cancel the writs of summons in the ease of black sheep was withdrawn on...

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The Princess Christian writes an interesting appeal to Wednesday's Times

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for funds to place "The British Nurses' Association" on a sound footing. The object of the Associa- tion is to unite all competent British nurses for their mutual help and...

Lord Salisbury on Friday week made a statement of .extreme

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interest to all who are watching the progress of British settlement in South and East Africa. That progress -depends in no slight degree upon the freedom of the Zambesi. 'The...

We are clearly in for another little war in Zululand,

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Dinizulu having been joined by the chiefs on the coast, by - numbers of Zulus from Natal, and, it is reported, by some fifteen white men. He has altogether some 4,000 men in the...

The Canadians in London and their friends celebrated the "

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majority " of the Dominion on Thursday, by a dinner at the Hotel Metropole. The Act of Federation came into operation twenty-one years ago. Ever since that date, the Act has...

The Duke of Argyll found no opponent on Thursday, when

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he moved his vote of confidence in the Irish policy of the Government. He made a very amusing speech, in which he criticised sharply Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule Bill and his view...

Bank Rate, 21 per cent. New Consols (2f) were on

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Friday 991 to 991xd.

We regret to see it stated that the three surviving

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sisters of the late John Leech, the admirable artist in whom several generations of Englishmen and Englishwomen have found delight, are reduced by advancing age, and the...

An interesting letter was addressed to Thursday's Times by four

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gentlemen who have themselves carefully examined into the grievances which have caused the strike amongst Bryant and May's match-girls,—two of them writing from Toynbee Hall...

Mr. Fenwick on Friday week raised the question of the

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payment of Members, by a motion that her Majesty's Govern- ment should consider the expediency of that practice. His argument was, in brief, that the practice was old, that most...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE GOVERNMENT'S OFFER TO MR. PARNELL. W HATE V ER else may be said on the subject of the offer made by the Government to Mr. Parnell, this at least must be said,—that it is...

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THE NEW HOUSE OF CARDS.

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handsome contribution to Irish Home-Rule funds. 1 1-1 9thich Mr. Rhodes has sent to Mr. Parnell, on the understanding that Irishmen are not to be excluded from the Imperial...

THE NEW ORGANISATION OF LONDON.

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W E entirely agree that the easy passing of the London clauses of the County Government Bill makes a revolution in the government of the Metropolis ; but we do not sae why that...

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THE PAYMENT OF MEMBERS.

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T HE debate on Friday week on the payment of Members will neither raise the character of the House of Commons nor greatly instruct the country. Most of those who spoke lost...

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THE BUSINESS OF THE SESSION. T HE hope that the new

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Rules of Procedure would appreciably accelerate the pace of the Parliamentary machine has proved entirely without foundation. Parlia- ment has been made master of its own time,...

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THE NEW GERMAN LAW FOR THE AGED.

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I T is worth while to watch carefully what are called the Socialistic laws now being proposed in Germany. We may learn something from German action, for the Govern- ment is...

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lTNSECTARIANISM AND THE ROYAL HOLLOWAY COLLEGE.

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T HE debate last week on the administration of the Royal Holloway College would be easier to follow if a definition of the term " unsectarian " had first been arrived. at....

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POETIC CHARM.

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M R. E. R. RUSSELL, the editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, whose critical essays often evince a delicate subtlety as well as a keen insight, has just printed a paper on Matthew...

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THE PERISHABILITY OF TITLES.

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W E shall be interested, when Mr. Wallace brings on his motion for the abolition of hereditary titles, to see what his plan for abolishing them will be. We can easily imagine...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE WELSH LAND QUESTION. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sta,—May I, in reference to your article on this subject, point out that it would be unfair to identify the land...

IRISH POLICY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." . 1 ' SIEL — I believe you are right. The Ayr Burghs election cer- tainly does vividly suggest the probability that Mr. Gladstone will carry...

THE OATHS BILL.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] the Spectator of July 7th, you say that "it is perhaps a superstition to hold that there is any difference between perjury and mere...

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CURIOSITIES OF TROUT-FISHING. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sis,—I

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rand the amusing article on this subject (in the of June 23rd) with much interest. You appear, how- ever, to be misinformed in making the statement that "sport among the trout,...

" TRUCK " IN SHETLAND. [To TH2 EDITOR OF THE

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"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In no part of Great Britain has that poison-tree called the "truck system" found a more congenial soil or brought forth bitterer fruit than in these...

"THE DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY."

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I must beg to protest against your grossly unfair remarks on my slight sketch of Catherine Davies. Your reviewer's "half-column full...

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BOOKS.

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MR. WEMYSS REID'S LIFE OF MR. FORSTER.* [FIRST NOTICE.] Tras book is a very admirable piece of work which will justly gain for Mr. Wemyss Reid a still higher reputation than...

THE CALLING OF THOMAS DE QUINCEY'S FATHER.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, — With regard to the statement of your reviewer, in the 'Spectator of June 30th, regarding the calling of Thomas de Quincey's father,...

POE T] Y.

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SONNETS IN MY LIBRARY.—II. CRASHAW'S TOEMS. I. AMONG earth's poets certain known of few Pass into deathlessness o'er death's frontiers, 17npraised, unprized, unlaurell'd...

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THE BADMINTON LIBRARY'S "CRICKET?' THis admirable volume is the latest

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addition to "The Bad- minton Library," arid the Duke of Beaufort may well be proud of it. We should do it some injustice if we praised it relatively • Cricket. By A. G. Steel...

TROPICAL AFRICA.*

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BUT for the suspicion aroused by the penultimate chapter of this book, of which we have a précis in the last sentence of the preface—" Recent events on Lake Nyassa have...

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MR. W. G. PALGRAVE'S "ULYSSES."* THE literary merits of the

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papers reprinted in this volume are sufficient of themselves to make it well worth reading. For if Mr. Palgrave occasionally chooses to indulge in affecta- tion, and to speak of...

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MR. HOLYOAKE'S NEW BOOK.*

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TRAVERSING some of the by-paths which )2e left untouched in his History of Co - operation, Mr. Holyeake has succeeded in making various interesting discoveries. He has brought...

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THE ITALIAN LAICE-COITNTRY.* IT is no doubt with a truly

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benevolent and charitable intention that our enterprising publishers, for whose fitting recompense in a future world the British author continually prays, choose the first days...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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Two volumes of the "Statesmen Series" (W. H. Allen and Co.) are before 1113,-0' Connell, by J. A. Hamilton, and Beaconsfield, by T. E. Kebbel. The difficulty in writing of such...

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The Character and Times of Thomas Cromwell : a Sixteenth-

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Century Crttivism. By Arthur Galton. (Cornish, Birmingham.) —A careful and, we think, on the whole a just account of Cromwell, of his Royal master, of Anne Boleyn, and sundry...

a. reprint from "The Universal Instructor." Surely this was unnecessary

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; have we not enough of these small cramming text- books ? They are simply abridged editions of other and better works.

.Toy Cometh in the Morning. By Algernon Gissing. 2 vols.

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(Hurst and Blackett.)—A wicked uncle keeps his blind niece shut up in a lonely manor-house, her only companion being the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. These are...

Among the Cannibals of New Guinea. By the Rev. S.

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McFarlane, LL.D. (London Missionary Society.)—One can hardly speak in too high praise of this book. It is exactly what it should be, a plain, candid, straightforward story of...

The Story of the Psalters. By Henry Alexander Glass. (Began

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Paul, Trench, and Co.)—The various metrical versions of the Psalms that have been published in Great Britain and America between 1549 and 1885 are the subject of this book. Of...

Astronomy for Amateurs. Edited by J. A. Westwood Oliver. (Longmans

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and Co.)—This volumEi contains contributions by some Astronomy for Amateurs. Edited by J. A. Westwood Oliver. (Longmans and Co.)—This volumEi contains contributions by some...

volume is confined to prose, and contains between fifty and

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sixty extracts. Five are from Charles Dickens, three from Mrs. Juliana, Horatio. Ewing, and as many from Sir Walter Scott. Others are represented by single specimens. It will be...

and the love of Nature. It contains a number of

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curious and interesting notes on both subjects. Here, for instance, is some- thing about the cuckoo. The ancients thought that in winter it changed into a hawk. They are, in...

Richard Lepsius : a Biography. By Georg Ebers. Translated by

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Zoe Dana Underhill. (W. S. Gottesberger, New York.)—The bio- graphy of one of the greatest of modern Egyptologists has been appropriately assigned to a writer who has done...