already a stale one. Suffice it here to say that the Conservatives changed a majority of 77 to a minority of 101, that Labour raised its representation from 145 to 192, and the...

T HAT most unsatisfactory of consolations—the right of " I told you so ! "—is the only one which the Spectator can feel at the result of the elections. Mr. Baldwin has succeeded...

Great War, a defeat without a victory, so also the individual results arc more notable for those candidates whom they excluded from the House than for those whom they admitted....

the Conservative : of Cabinet Ministers they have lost Sir Montague Barlow, Minister of Labour, and Sir Robert Sanders, Minister of Agriculture. Of these it must, perhaps, be...

these words :- " Mr. Baldwin is in a tragic predicament. To prove this, the situation in which he finds himself has only to be described. He has, to begin with, united the...

November /9,/66 per issue.

fronted with the alternative of a speedy dissolution, the Socialists decided to vote for the Bill, which gives the new Government dictatorial powers for two months, subject to...

miners are resuming work and have agreed to work an extra hour a day, while the German railwaymen are returning to their posts. The political situation, however, remains...

Congress on Thursday, December 6th, that for America " our main problems are domestic problems." In touching on foreign affairs he promised nothing. definite in the way of help...

those of the eight women who have been elected. That Lady Astor, Mrs. Wintringham and Mrs. Philipson would be returned clice more to Parlia- ment was not unexpected, but that...

elec- tion. The politicians of the country have been faced during the past week with a baffling situation. The crux of the matter has been, of course, whether Mr. Baldwin should...

the reparations controversy. He announced on Tuesday that, . as America was an important creditor of both Germany and the Allies, and " in view of the importance of the economic...

on Monday that he would not ask any more favours of it, but would prorogue the House forthwith. The dictator, by virtue of Parlia- mentary Acts, has plenary powers till June...

Obregon, is again in a state of revolution. The Government may be described as one of advanced Socialism, but the opposition to it centres in Vera Cruz, which has long been -...

all good Oxford and Cambridge men keep if they can. The many thousands who went with the King to Twickenham on Tuesday were rewarded with the spectacle of a hard fought game in...

the Sultan-Caliph of all power and make Turkey The decision of the Turkish Nationalists at Angora to divest the Sultan-Caliph of all power and make Turkey a Republic with...

the eminent surgeon. He was seventy years of age. Trevcs was born in Dorchester, and was first educated at the very unconventional school set up there by William Barnes, the...

July 5, 1923 ; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 10011 ; Thursday week, .1001; a year ago, 99g.

THE ELECTIONS AN.D THEIR LESSON. W E faced the elections with many fears and hopes. Unfortunately, it was the fears, not the hopes, that proved well founded. The Unionist...

BY LADY ASTOR, M.P. O NE sometimes wonders whether any new contribution can be made by anyone on any side to the dis- cussion of the drink question ; so much ink has been...

mortals, are inviolable ; they may be resisted for a time by man, but ultimately they are bound to prevail. King Canute, at the instigation of his advisers, attempted to defy...

BY PHILIP MORRELL. THE DEFEAT OF SUBSIDIES. AT OW that the struggle of the election is over, the . old problem of the state of agriculture has acquired . perhaps a new...

F VERY year since the War the Spectator has had an article on toys and Christmas presents, having been inspired to this effort by the sense of beauty, constructive honesty and...

ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD. By EVELYN WRENCH. T HE comments in the Dominion and American Press concerning last week's election arc very varied. In all parts of the Empire the...

VINCENT VAN GOGH. Tin; painting of Van Gogh is the example that one would bring forward to confute the theory that claims painting to be a purely visual art ; for no painter...

candidate, Earl Winterton, the letter you suggested in the Spectator of November 24th, and enclose his reply :— DEAR Mits. MCLAREN,—It is impossible for me to reply to all the...

me from General Clifton Brown, the Conservative candidate for South Berkshire, in answer to my inquiry whether he was in favour of the system of a Referendum, is as follows :-...

THE REFERENDUM AND " PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION." [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Everyone who values really " Democratic Government " should unfeignedly rejoice at the...

to Sir Charles Wilson, Unionist can- didate for Central Leeds, and he has replied to us that he is in favour of the Referendum becoming part of the Con- stitution and will do...

health at present, so sent the question suggested in a recent issue of the Spectator to Sir Park Goff and Sir Charles Starmer, two of the candidates for the Cleve- land...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, — I sent your question with regard to the Referendum to Sir Edwin F. Stockton, Conservative candidate for the Exchange Division of...

Srn,—You may like to have the enclosed from Sir Chas. Cayzer, the Unionist candidate here, to add to your collection of supporters of the Referendum :— DEAR SIR,—In reply to...

Conservative candidate in Kennington, expressed his agreement with Referendum.— I am, Sir, &c., E. RICE. Martindale, 15 Mcw'yn Road, Brixton, S.W.

SIR,—In putting your question as to support of a Referendum Bill to the candidates for the Rye Division of Sussex, I substituted the words " one-third or other substantial min-...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Without prejudice to your advocacy of a healthy expan- sion of the legal tender paper currency—an advocacy with which I am in cordial...

replies from our two can- didates (Knutsford Division) when your question on the . Referendum was put to them. Asked the question at Prestbury (Cheshire) on November 30th,...

inquiry whether if elected lie would support a Referendum or Poll of the People (especially for Mr. Baldwin's Protection scheme), Sir Charles W. C. Oman writes : " I think the...

to keep a record of the views of candidates as to the Referendum, I enclose two replies which I have received from the Liberal and Conservative can- didates in this Holderness...

on the Referendum in written form to Mr. T. E. Harvey, who has been elected M.P. for Dewsbury, on December 5th. His reply to my question, and to another inquirer about the...

SIR,—I gave each of the three candidates for the Borough of Northampton a written question with regard to the Refer- endum in the words used in the Spectator. Mr. Collier...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—The most striking result of the election is the large number of Members returned by minority votes. Something must be done about this,...

enclose the answer given to me by the Attorney- General to your question on the Referendum :- DEAR SIR,—I have your letter. I think myself that it would be a good thing to...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—There are to-day two real political parties, the one consisting of those who believe in individual initiative with its reasonable reward,...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In connexion with the controversy on the Capital Levy, I think it should be pointed out that, just in so far as we already have such a...

'THE FIELD. RECURRING suns that rise and blaze and die ; Grass-ruffling winds or tempests that trees tear; And that eternal arch of changing sky At which I do for ever stare...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I want to thank you very sincerely for your goodness in giving prominence to our appeal for Christmas parcels for people of the middle...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—I was so deeply touched with the generous and sponta- neous way in which Londoners honoured my seventy-fifth birthday that I felt I should...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, We have on a verandah a wind-bell—one of those small collections of different-sized and coloured pieces of glass hung on threads which...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, With the dissolution of Mr. Baldwin's Government closes one of the most ignoble periods of English political history. The Governments and...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Tariff Reform and Imperial Preference are again on tapis. It may not be out of time or place to say that the farmers of Western Canada, or...

TO the #pectator FOR THE No. 4,981.] WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEHBER 15, 1923. [ T ,M I TIAND A. Fadl un joRATTs.

Incedis per ignes suppositos cineri doloso is a convenient tag for the occasion. It is not a purely personal matter to recall how once a family friend sent me a guinea to reward...

LONDON : DECEMBER 15th, 1923.

Wx seem destined to be perpetually congratulating a section of our publishers upon their contributions not merely to good literature but to good literature displayed as it ought...

FrrzGtaassi has a charm which endears him to the heart . , if not the head, of many of' us, even more than Lamb. There is a freshness, a dewiness about him as of some early...

FOLK-LORE AND FAIRY TALES. I WAS reading The Giant's Cliff, a fairy tale I discovered this year for the first time :- " He came into a great hall, and in the centre of it was a...

Now and then Miss Fyleman and Mr. Punch between them have held back the gossamer curtain that parts us from fairy realms, and we have heard the horns of Elfland. But now with...

LAST year was published an exceedingly attractive book entitled " Doctor Dolittle, being the history of his peculiar life at home, and astonishing adventures in foreign parts....

The Girl Guides' Book' is welcomed by a few words from Lady Baden Powell, the Chief Guide, and her praise is well merited by this second volume of stories of adventure, chap-...

MESSRS. THosiAs DE LA RUE issue, as usual, an excellent selection of Onoto Diaries, each containing, besides the diary itself, several preliminary pages of useful lists and...

Fetter L.ure, I.C. 4 , and published by TItolt.t , SAIINDEB-* tor the - SPECTATOR (Wilted), at their Office, IS York Street, Covent (nudely London, W .0, 2, Saturday, December...

THIS is a very brilliant as well as a very important book. Like all that Mr. Keynes writes, it is full of matter, and also full of wit. Whether Mr. Keynes is wise to be so...

THIS WEEK'S BOOKS. THE Christmas lull in the production of books has set in. We have received very few this week and nothing of par- ticular importance. The largest volume...

A ROMANTIC REALIST. TuE Rover of Mr. Conrad's story is Master-Gunner Peyrol, whom we meet first at the age of fifty-eight in the aet of bringing into Toulon Harbour a battered...

[BY OUR CITY EDITOR.] AFTER THE ELECTION. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Inasmuch as the General Election has utterly confounded all expectations on the Stock...

Rajah educated in England. The effects of his upbringing are not those usually depicted by writers of Anglo-Indian fiction, but leave the Rajah with a confirmed belief in the...

(Dent. 4s. 6d. net.) The Forge in the Forest is a thrilling story—thrilling in the manner of Stevenson, with whom the author has a decided kinship, though his work is entirely...

is a somewhat depressing theme, and Mr. Maxwell alienates his readers by beginning his novel with an account of the senility of his two principal characters. It may, however, be...

century, now so popular in fiction. The Torch is a weekly newspaper, and the vicissitudes which befall both paper and staff are entertainingly described.

6d.) 14Ir. Marsh is an author who deserves commendation, if only for his industry and his honourable ambition. In conception and treatment After Harvest is distinctly above the...

The novels of Mrs. Francis have so secure a place in our country fiction that it seems impertinent to blame and almost invidious to praise. Therefore it is with timidity that...

In one direction,, at all events, there has been a real slump during the past week, namely, in what were known as " election majorities." I think there must have been few...