15 DECEMBER 1888

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NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE Standard of Friday published an important piece of intelligence, which will be differently regarded by different minds. Osman Digna has forwarded to the Governor , of...

The Russian journalists—and therefore, it is supposed, the Russian Foreign

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Office 7 —are seriously angry because the Shah has signed a treaty with England opening the Karun, a river in South Persia, with a navigable course of a hundred and fifty miles,...

On Wednesday, the President of the Royal Commission inquiring into

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Parnellism and Crime bewailed in touching lan- guage the fate which had befallen himself and his colleagues. After having sat four days a week ever since October 22nd, they had...

Mr. Bright's condition has not, on the whole, changed for

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the worse. A very bad shivering fit which he had on Sunday gave rise to the most serious alarm ; but since he had it, the condition of his lungs has improved, and his sleep has...

The Panama scare in Paris is not over yet. The

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lottery loan was reopened on Monday, and the most desperate efforts were made to ensure success, M. de Lesseps even weeping for joy before his subscribers, because four hundred...

M. de Freycinet on Tuesday swept his gigantic military Budget

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through the Chamber, including its extra military credit of £21,000,000 for the fortifications and the replacing of the old rifles with the Lebel rifle, practically without...

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

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case.

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The Parliamentary week has been chiefly wasted over the Estimates,

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progress being delayed by " discussion " on minor Scotch affairs and on the Irish police. The character of this latter discussion may be judged from the fact that on Tuesday Dr....

Firing on both sides still goes on at Suakin, but

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active operations are delayed for a moment. It would seem that during General Grenfell's cavalry reconnaisance of the enemy's entrenchments, he discovered certain facts which...

Mr. Goschen made perhaps the best speech of the year

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in the Town Hall at Birmingham on Wednesday. We have contrasted its policy with that of Mr. Morley's speech at Clerkenwell in another column, and have pointed out some of its...

Lord Charles Beresford on Thursday raised a serious debate upon

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the condition of the Navy, arguing that we had scarcely sufficient battle-ships to fight France, and no reserve whatever of such vessels. He made a good point by showing that...

Mr. John Morley, in his speech at Foresters' Hall, Clerken-

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well, on Wednesday, began with an attack on Lord Salisbury for his Suakin policy, for his East African policy, and for his indiscretion in calling the defeated Holborn...

Mr. Goschen ascribed much of the waste of time in

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the House of Commons to the frequent absence of the leader of the Opposition, and the not infrequent absence of his chief lieutenants from their places. The truth is, that they...

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We have received three or four letters complaining that we

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have not noticed Lord Salisbury's blunder at Edinburgh in calling Mr. Dadabhai Nourojee a "black" man. It is not our business to report speeches, and we avoided comment de-...

Lord Hartington has withdrawn from the National Liberal Club, in

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consequence of its daily increasing identification with the Gladstonians and Home-rulers. Probably most of the many Unionist members will have to follow his example, for the...

The Report of the Committee appointed to consider the attempt

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made to serve a summons on Mr. Sheehy, M.P., within the precincts of the House of Commons, was presented on Thursday, and stated that the action of Serjeant Sullivan was a...

The telegrams received on Friday announce that " the Russian

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Grand Duke Alexander has arrived at Agra." This is the first time a Russian Prince, or, indeed, any great Russian, has openly visited India ; and it will be curious to note the...

It is reported from Rome that Monsignor Persico has almost

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completed his report to the Pope, and that he regards his mission to Ireland as having produced less effect than it otherwise would, owing to the false impression of the people...

The electors of the Var, hitherto considered followers of M.

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Clemenceau, on Sunday elected " General " Cluseret, the Communist leader, at the second ballot. At least, fourteen thousand of them did, for sixty-seven thousand declined to go...

Politicians in the United States are again discussing the possible

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absorption of Canada. This time the question has been raised by a Republican Member of Congress, who has in- troduced in the House of Representatives a resolution asking the...

Bank Rate, 5 per cent.

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New Consols (24) were on Friday 961 to 96k.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE RIVAL LIBERALISMS. T HE Duke of Norfolk, in taking the chair on Wed- nesday at the Birmingham Town Hall, expressed his satisfaction that the sense of duty and patriotism had...

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l'ILE FIRST CONSEQUENCE OF HOME-RULE.

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"VT R. BRYCE, in the exhaustive and impartial book which he has just published about " The American Commonwealth," describes one important effect of the State system with...

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RUSSIA AND PERSIA.

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T HERE is no proof whatever that the Czar, who in matters of foreign policy is " Russia," has decided to attack Persia, or to exercise upon its Court a diplomatic pressure of...

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THE LADIES' DURBAR. T HE Durbar of seven hundred ladies held

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by Lady Dufferin in Calcutta on Tuesday week, a Durbar from which all men were excluded, even the Viceroy, and in which every Indian idea of the proprieties was fully satisfied,...

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THE EXERCISE OF ECCLESIASTICAL PATRONAGE. T HERE is something certainly remarkable

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about the fact that in a time when it is generally assumed, and assumed on good evidence, that the Church is penetrated by the principles of what is called the Broad Church,...

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AN IMPROVED CENSUS.

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I T is of the utmost importance not only that the nation should know its numbers accurately, but that it should be fully and correctly informed as to the industrial con-...

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GENERAL BOOTH'S PROPOSAL. G ENERAL BOOTH is every much in earnest,

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and has a remarkable capacity for organisation ; and, like all persons in whom these two qualities are united, he chafes at the comparatively limited opportunities with which...

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WHY HYMNS ARE SO SELDOM GOOD.

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T HELady-Principal of Cheltenham College has just published a very interesting little collection of hymns which she calls " The School Hymnal (supplementary to Church Hymns),"*...

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THE " ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA."

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T HE new edition of the " Encyclopedia Britannica," just completed in twenty-four volumes, must have been a great pecuniary success. Mr. Black, to whose enterprise the...

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THE SALMON-KIND : SOME FRANK HERESIES.

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I T is well known by all men acquainted with the grouse, that if you wish your .moor to prosper, you must not allow the birds to multiply as rapidly as they would if you left...

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WHEN TO FIRE.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." 1 SIR,—Mr. Balfour's view of the proper way to use " the whiff of grapeshot" is certainly the First Napoleon's. " It is false," says...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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AN APOLOGY FOR OBSTRUCTION. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—Living in the absolute and enforced retirement occa- sioned by old age and infirmity, and agreeing...

CLOSED CATHEDRALS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " • ] SIR,—In justice to " the dragon of the golden gate " who grimly guards the arcade leading to the Lady Chapel in Exeter Cathedral, let me add my...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]

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Sin,—The letter of the Dean of Lincoln in the Spectator of December 8th, reminds me that immediately after the pub- lication of Lord Carnarvon's appeal to the Archbishop of...

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In one of your articles of December 8th, I find an obiter 'dictum in favour of conceding denominational education if demanded by a...

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TRUSTEES AND " SETTLEES."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —Referring to your article on the subject of "Trustees" in the Spectator of November 24th, if a word is wanted to replace the legal...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "]

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SIR,—True it is that in the Cape Colony there are "Boards of Executors" and "Trust Companies," authorised by law to undertake the duties of executors and trustees for reward;...

ASTRONOMY AND THEOLOGY.

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[To THE EDFIOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—For years I have been privately trying to call attention to the fact which for the first time I see noted in a letter addressed to you...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—Being aware that the

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astronomical argument against Christianity has bad recently much weight with men of cul- ture and scientific thought, I read with great interest your article in the Spectator of...

THE RECENT WEATHER.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—As evidence of the extraordinary mildness of the season, I send you a list of flowers actually in bloom this day in my garden. All are...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. " ]

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SIR,—I thoroughly agree with you and your correspondents, as opposed to Mr. Frederic Harrison, that all which astronomy has taught us about the vastness of the universe, has no...

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A WORD IN DEFENCE OF SHEEP.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTAT011."] Sin—A writer in the current number of the Cornhill Magazine affirms that " there is no stupider animal in all creation " than a sheep ;...

HOME OF REST FOR HORSES.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I once again beg your kind insertion of a Christmas appeal on behalf of the Home of Rest for Horses, which is now honoured by...

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BOOKS.

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THE BOOK OF ISAIAH.* Tars is a very attractive book. Mr. George Adam Smith has evidently such a mastery of the scholarship of his subject, that it would be a sheer impertinence...

POETRY.

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TO AN OPTIMIST. DIM eyes, clear-sighted only for the distance, Fond fancy poring on those hills of blue, Blamest thou me, bent only on resistance To ills of nearer view ? You...

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WELLINGTON'S CONVERSATIONS.*

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MANY persons have recorded the talk of Wellington more or less fully, and Mr. Lathom Browne has made an interesting and copious compilation, drawn from various sources, and has...

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GEORGE CRABBE.*

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THE Rev. George Crabbe, who published his father's Life in 1834, did not leave much for a future biographer to do. Nevertheless, Mr. Kebbel has contrived to glean some in-...

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GLEANINGS IN SCIENCE.*

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ITNDEll this title, Dr. Molloy publishes a series of popular lectures on scientific subjects, nearly all of which were originally delivered before the Royal Dublin Society....

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SIR HENRY MAINE ON INTERNATIONAL LAW.* Tats book contains the

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lectures delivered by Sir Henry Maine during his short tenure of the Whewell Professorship at Cambridge, the manuscript having been prepared for publica- tion by Mr. Frederic...

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PRACTICABLE SOCIALISM.*

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AT a time when the discussion of the increasingly difficult problem of the social and corporate life of nations is coming ever more and more to the front, when on the one hand...

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" THE COMPLEAT ANGLER," EDITION DE LUXE.*

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A HAPPY chance, which seems, however, to have been just a little manipulated, enables Mr. Marston to number these sumptuous volumes as the hundredth edition of The Compleat...

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Thy Heart's Desire. By Sarah Doudney. (Isbister.)—The different fortunes of

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the three girls which are narrated in this volume afford some attractive reading. Miss Doudney always shows skill and careful work in the construction of her stories, and her...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

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GIFT-BOOKS. In a Jesuit Net. By H. C. Coape. (Religious Tract Society.)— Mr. Coape writes interesting stories, and his style is graphic and picturesque. No one who reads his...

Geraldine's Husband. By Mary Macleod. (Jerrold and Sons.) —Miss Macleod

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has told an old story over again with a certain amount of originality, and in a very graceful manner. Geraldine's husband married her under false pretensions,—false, and yet not...

The Vicar of Redcross. By Sarah Doudney. (Houlston and Sons.)

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—This romance is of a distinctly melancholy nature. By means of mistakes and misunderstandings, Miss Doudney has managed at some time or other to get all her characters into...

Our Boy. By Jessie M. Barker. (Roper and Drowley.)—This is

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a story of a somewhat ordinary type. It contains nothing very pleasant and nothing very unpleasant. A young man has the misfortune to have a drunkard for his father. Owing to...

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Dulcibel's Day - Dreams. By Emma Marshall. (J. Nisbet and Co.) —This

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story has the definite aim of showing what opportunities of doing good may be lost by dreaming of great things, and scorning the little duties which occur in daily life. This is...

"In All Our Doings." By Grace Stebbing. (John F. Shaw.)—

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Miss Stabbing gives to her tale the second title of "The Golden Links of the Collects." With much ingenuity, more perhaps than is consistent with the spontaneity which a story...

A Christmas Posy. By Mrs. Molesworth. (Macmillan and Co.) —Mrs.

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Molesworth has put together in this volume eight short stories, told with her wonted grace and command of pathos. It would be difficult to say which of the eight is the best....

Thomas Goodman. (Marcus Ward and Co.)—The book is printed on

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dead-white paper without face,—a great improvement on the polished and dazzling material which is often used, and of which publishers on the other side of the Atlantic are...

The Story of the Mermaiden. Adapted from the German of

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Hans Andersen, by E. Ashe. Illustrated by Laura Troubridge. (Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—Miss Ashe has done her task of versi- fying the story with fair success. We must own to a...

Wonderful Escapes. Revised from the French of F. Bernard, and

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Original Chapters added. By Richard Whiteing. (Cassell and Co.)—Here we have collected forty-four tales of "wonderful escapes," beginning with Aristomenes the Measenian, with...

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Eileen's Dream : a Fairy-Tale. By Elsie Fullerton. (J. Bumpus.)

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—It is a genuine pleasure to get a fresh fairy-story from the author of "The Tale of a Sunbeam," especially such a charming one as this. In it Eileen, a clever and imaginative...

Log-Book Notes through Life. By Elizabeth A. Little. (Regan Paul,

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Trench, and Co.)—This is an exceedingly clever and successful attempt, by means of poetry and art—neither being too difficult to understand—to bring out in all respects the...

When I'm a Man ; or, Little Saint Christopher. By

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Alice Weber. (Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—This is a story, which has not a little both of fun and of pathos in it, of the adventures of a little boy, Christopher, and a young...

Ernest Fairfield, by the Rev. A. N. Malan (Frederick Warne),

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is a short story of school-life, by a practised hand at the writing of books for boys. It tells the adventures and misfortunes of an impulsive, warm-hearted, but essentially...