F political parties could live on thunderbolts, how prosperous would be the condition of the Liberals P On Wednesday I the newspapers published a letter dated December 8th from...

on Wednesday, and thus was the first prominent member of the Opposition to deal with the crisis. Nothing could have been in better taste or more tactful than Sir Edward Grey's...

before these pages are in our readers' hands it will have met and the "leadership question" will have been raised. In all probability, however, a severe moral closure will be...

made a long and able speech to the Reichstag on Monday intended • review the whole situation. He did not, however, mention France, and only alluded incidentally to Russia as a...

backs up Sir William Harcourt in every particular, and licaks with special indignation of the charge that Sir William Harcourt would not work with one of his late colleagues. "I...

ladies of the Diplomatic Body in the hitherto secluded Palace. Every honour was paid them ; they were welcomed by the highest Mandarins, presents of pearl rings were made to...

Rescript was not prompted entirely by his own mind. He had, no doubt, been greatly struck by a book published by M. Blokh, a wealthy banker of St. Petersburg, intended to prove...

and the Opposition, which is clerical and reactionary, seems to be coming to a head. The Clericals have succeeded by steady obstruction in making legislation impossible, and...

week been beating time. The ten Generals at the War Office, with General Jamont at their head, have waited upon President Faure to complain of the outrages upon the Army ; but...

for it, because they feared war, which with modern arma- ments would be a people's war in a most terrible sense, and because the Triple Alliance still remained, and would...

published, and shows that Spain cedes to the United States Porto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, or Guahan, the principal island in the Ladrones. Any subjects of Spain resident...

Berlin repudiating the idea that a rapprocheme n t between France and Germany is at present possible. T he French Government contents itself with a simple den i al o ugh the...

of a Volunteer regiment (2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers), laid great stress upon the importance of good shooting. The fire of our soldiers in the recent Frontier War in India had...

Saturday, at the age of fifty-seven. He came to ondon from Glasgow as a young man, did useful work on the daily Press, and actually served as a war corre- spondent in the...

Saturday, owned to a " missionary " motive in his choice of a subject, declaring, and probably rightly, that Burns was still little more than a name to hundreds, even of those...

to he British Chamber of Commerce in Paris was ill-advised, or on Monday he delivered another at the Young Men's 3hristian Association, in which he carefully disclaimed all un-...

Society on Tuesday last, in which he dealt with the development of the Congo State, and the lessons it taught to commercial expansion. " The real peril of our com- mercial...

the exact words used by Cobden when he poke of spending £100,000,000 on the Navy. The passage ecnrs in Cobden's speech at Rochdale on June 26th, 1861 :— I have said it in the...

New Consols (2!) were on Friday, 1101.

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT'S RESIGNATION. T HE dangers and difficulties that must beset those who try to build upon a foundation of paradoxes are well illustrated by the situation in...

of how good for this country it would be to ally ourselves with this or that Power. Frankly, we do not feel any very great enthusiasm on the subject, except in the case of the...

""liV E take it that the real use of Herr von Billow as Foreign Secretary of the German Empire is to make the ideas of his erratic though able master appear in the Reichstag as...

W ITH the century genius appears to be dying out. That is perhaps too brusque a sentence, requiring some qualifications, but it conveys what is substantially the truth. There is...

S IR EDWARD FRY may claim the credit of having discovered, in the uninteresting windings of some bankruptcy proceedings, the largest Christmas-box on record. The giver had, no...

M ANY of our friends are belittling France too much. It is natural, for there are many causes in France, both moral and political, of irritation to Englishmen, and many signs in...

Tyson, the mammoth millionaire of Sydney, which appeared in the Times of Monday, the 12th inst. It is the biography, written evidently by one who knows the facts well, of a man...

T N a letter to the Times dealing with some assertions of Lord Grimtborpe, Canon MacColl tells a rather good story which, as Carlyle would have said, is "significant of much."...

P EDIGREE among our domestic animals is an un- doubted sign of worth, and each year its claims receive more practical recognition, both in this country, and by the great prices...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." J SIR, — There can be no objection on the part of Catholics to including the Queen's College, Belfast, in any measure of University reform...

"CHARLES LAMB AND THE LLOYDS." (TO TIII EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR: J STE,■••I have just been reading the history of my mother's family (entitled as above) by Mr. E. V. Lucas,...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 SI E, — The world has not yet finished with l'Afaire Dreyfus, and the following incident may interest some of your readers who concern...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THR "SPECTATOR. " ] Snt,—In your article on the above subject in the Spectator of December 3rd, you state that "the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, at any...

OTHER SIDE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] SIE, — The London County Council has only power to do that which Parliament has by Act expressly given it permission to...

Ere TIM EDITOR OP THE " 13PROTATOR:9 Sta,—I cannot help thinking that the words "Protestant," `Protestantism," have suffered from the influence of that curious law of English...

SIR,—The word " Protestant" bears in these days a meaning very different from what it bore in the days of Laud. In his days there were not the countless sects of Protestants...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE •Srsorieros.-1 SIE,—The Spectator has been my welcome companion on Sunday afternoons for several years, and in the course of this time I have read many...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " Spsorwros."] Sin,—In the interesting article in the Spectator of Decem- ber 10th on the above subject, it seems to me that the writer is inclined to...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " BrBerkroa.-] Six.—To the very seasonable letter of "Presbyter" on this subject in the Spectator of December lfith, permit me to add two important facts....

what English Pro- testantism did once mean, the absolute rejection of the usurped authority of the Bishops of Rome, possibly even "foolish young curates would see no objection...

YES, we've taken Santiago. It cost a lively scrap; But scrappin's what we come here for, So we don't care a rap. We've dug our share of trenches And graves to plant our dead,...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—No genuine protest is ineffectual. The most pessimistic of philanthropists might take this comfort to his soul on reading the...

[TO TEN EDITOR OP TIM " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I think it is in Traill's "History of the Isle of Man" (a work commended and quoted by Sir Walter Scott) that there is a description...

[TO TIM EDITOR OF THN "SFNCTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent "S. G.," in the Spectator for December 3rd, suggests the subjoined "bull" as the subject for an epigram. Is the...

ORION. Lo ! with glittering sword And gleaming baldric The midnight Hunter, Star-clad Orion, Stands o'er the eastern hill, Lord of the darkling earth And shimmering sky. Fair,...

RHODESIA AND ITS GOVERNMENT.* WE do not hesitate to say that, however fully a man may think himself informed on South African affairs, he will do well to study Mr. Thomson's...

[CONCLUDING NOTICE.] THE result of Bismarck's accession to the position of Minister. President was that King William, who had doubted much as to how far it would be safe to...

THERE are many libraries of sport, and it may not be imme- diately apparent why women, who share the sports of men, should not be content to share also the instruction that...

IN Ave Roma Immortalis, Mr. Marion Crawford has written what is certain to prove a popular guide-book. It is of the literature which " stimulates " rather than informs ; and the...

IT is related of the great doctor who passed away last Sunday that his only intellectual recreation when he was in the full flood-tide of his practice was the reading of...

Gould. Illustrated by F. Bligh Bond. (Methuen and Co.)— Mr. Baring-Gould's antiquarian gossip about old English homes and their dependencies is very pleasant, and Mr. Bligh...

and Co.) —This "romance of the days of King Alfred" will be found sufficiently interesting reading. It begins with the familiar story of the book that tempted Alfred to learn....

the supervision of F. B. Schell. Vol. I. (H. Marshall and Son.)—This is a very handsome volume. The nar- rative and description are well written, and the illustrations plentiful...

GIFT-BOOKS. A very dainty little series is that of the Christmas Stories from "Household Words" and " All the Year Round," edited by Charles Dickens (Chapman and Hall). In some...

and Co.)—This is a volume not of fiction but of fact. It contains some twenty sketches of actual experiences of life at sea, of shipwreck and battle, and the ordinary risks...

Co.)—Mr. Saintsbury writes an introduction for this series of photographs. He does not tell us much beyond what we all know, that Oxford has much changed within the last thirty...

and Brothers.)—This is one of the best stories of the kind that we have read this year. Archibald Baskerville has served as a mid- shipman with Paul Jones, and has been taken...

(R.T.S.), is a pretty little story of a sister's devotion. The prodigal, perhaps, gets off too easily ; but so it is with prodigals, and who can venture to complain ?

Co.)— Miss Winchester does not keep up, or, we should rather say, does not always keep up, to her best level in this story. There are passages in which she is quite equal to...

Depository.)—There is much in this story of the Mac. cabees to interest readers ; but we think that children, for whom especially the book is written, will become confused by...

course, the least experienced of readers will not be long in guessing that " Meg-gy " is really "Peggy." She is obviously of another breed from her supposed cousins. But who is...

Co.) — This is verse of a kind that both stirs and touches the heart. We feel sure that few could read without feeling how the blood goes quicker, and how the tears rise to the...

Miss Douglas tells us in this volume some highly interesting life stories, those of Florence Nightingale, Bishop Hannington, General Gordon, Christopher Columbus (whose...

and Sons.)—This is a very well written tale, with omnia vincit amor for its moral. For indeed it is love that is the " kernel of life." (Surely "bright" is not exactly the right...

(Elliot Stock.) —Here are rhymes about arithmetic, geography, geometry (surely a little too soon), and English history, relieved by rhymes about amusements. Miss Evelyn Beale...

Marston, and Co. 6s.)—This is the third edition of Mr. Little's book. Ten years have passed since the second edition was published, and many things have happened in China, and...

(Methuen and Co. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Bennett went out, fresh from lectur- ing and examining, to act as war correspondent for the Westminster Gazette. Part of this volume has,...

a book as could be found. And it is carefully kept up to date. We are writing this on December 5th, and we find in the appendix of " Occurrences during Printing " mention of...

6d.)—Mr. Conybeare in his clear and concise history of the Dreyfus case quotes a letter which appeared in the SiOele newspaper, signed" Un Diplomate," addressed from Berne,...