T HE situation at home has been rendered much clearer than it was when we wrote last week by the declarations of policy by the leaders on both sides. The electors know now...

in the Albert Hall yesterday week. The last time, he declared, the Liberals reckoned without their host. They were not going to make that mistake again. Their supreme task was...

from the reform of the House of Lords or from resort to the Referendum, but he doubted the wisdom of turning the House of Lords into a second House of Commons, and nulling it...

The claim of the Government simply amounted to this : "that the House of Commons, no matter how or when elected, is to be the uncontrolled master of the fortunes of every class...

character. It looked beyond March 31st next, and sought to provide the sinews of war for the initiation and prosecution of a long and costly social campaign. It had been...

case.

by M. Cruppi, the Minister of Commerce in the Clemenceau Cabinet, discussing the work done hitherto by the Commission for reforming French judicial procedure. The changes...

a manner which suggests that it has observed recently in France how strong a position a powerful Cabinet holds when it makes every important act of policy a question of...

by a libel action brought by forty-nine Members of the Croatian Diet against Dr. Friedjung, the Austrian historian. In an article in the News Frele Prase published on March 25th...

been seriously ill for several days, and had undergone a desperate operation which produced only a temporary improve- ment. He was born in 1835, and succeeded to the throne on...

Irish League was held on Tuesday in Dublin. The pro- ceedings were private, but a report was issued to the news- papers. The following resolution was adopted on the motion of...

at ance apparent that the majority in the Chamber had cooled down considerably on Sunday. After a discussion it was declared by a handsome majority that the Cabinet was within...

brought in the New York Times against Dr. Cook, the Polar explorer. The accusations are made by two men named Loose and Diankle, the former a retired ship's captain and the...

rhetorical repetition of the original accusations. An attempt was made, however, to discredit M. Supilo, one of the most important of the plaintiffs, by producing a witness who...

might consider that the necessity had arisen. But it is so clear that it easily might arise that it would be lunacy on our part to disregard the possibility. There is no reason...

has been publishing in the Daily Mail a series of vigorous and very strongly worded articles on the challenge to Great Britain involved in the rise of a great German Navy. Mr....

Free Church demonstration in the Albert- Hall on Thursday. He said that he was there not as a Liberal Minister but as a quiet and retiring Free Churchman. In this capacity he...

the originator and first editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, who was also associated with the direction of the Gornhill Magazine after Thackeray's death, and in more recent years...

Dec. 9th. Consols (2i) were on Friday 82k—Friday week 82k. Bank Rate, 41 per cent., changed from 5 per cent. Dec. 9th. Consols (2i) were on Friday 82k—Friday week 82k.

that the great increase in national expenditure was due to the Navy and old-age pensions. After arguing that this expenditure was necessary, he went on to consider the means...

defence of the House of Lords as an institution, and of its action in referring the Budget to the people. He began by defending the hereditary principle, which was established...

may note those of Mr. Lyttelton and Mr. Walter Long. Mr. Lyttelton, speaking at Slough on Monday, dwelt on the studied refusal of the present Government to countenance the...

THE MEANING OF MR. ASQVITH'S SPEECH. S INCE we wrote last week an entirely new situation has been created by Mr. Asquith's declaration of policy at the Albert Hall. Here is the...

T HERE are many signs that the German financiers interested in the Baghdad Railway are trying to launch their scheme afresh, and of course in a new form. It is therefore...

W E do not know whether the German Chancellor will consider it a compliment when we say that his recent speeches in the Reichstag have more Parliamentary interest than those of...

IV ATEVER may be the result of the General Election, one effect of the preliminaries is certain. The Lords will have become known to the electors not merely as a House, but as...

it is not found among gross people." If it were not that Johnson's paradoxes have often more behind them than our axioms, one would be disposed to quote Wordsworth's "Simon Lee"...

T O most people the word merely conveys something quite unpronounceable, but hearing it I have a vision of a walled city of some twenty-five thousand inhabitants, set in a...

W HEN you name a great river—or what we term a great river in England—it is like mentioning some illus- trious man. You perceive, in swift retrospect, the whole notable course...

THE OLDEST STORY IN THE WORLD. [To THE EIETOZ OF TEA "SPECTATOE."1 SIE,—I think that your readers may be interested in the accompanying new translation of an Egyptian story,...

THE DUTY OF UNIONIST FREE-TRADERS. [TO TER EDITOZ Or THZ "SPTCTAT011."1 am glad that two such sturdy and experienced Liberal Unionists as Mr. Henry Hobhouse and Sir Frederick...

[To VIZ EDITOR OF TER e spaarAvos...1 Sru, — The late Mr. Herbert Spencer in his "Man versus the State " asserts that since the reign of Henry II. up to a date about thirty...

have Unionist Free- traders give their cheerful (sic) support to Liberal candi- dates opposed to Tariff Reform (see Spectator, December 11th). But now that Mr. Asquith has...

Frederick Pollock in your issue of December 11th is likely to carry great weight with many who, like myself, are, as students of our laws and Constitution, admirers of the work...

am no politician, and I am not learned in political economy, but when I find a man whom I have hitherto regarded as not merely sane but wise definitely declaring his preference...

venture to think that it is important that " Reform of the House of Lords " should constitute one of the planks of the Unionist platform at the forthcoming General Election, and...

a Unionist Free-trader, be allowed to express my concurrence with the view of Mr. Hobhouse and Sir Frederick Pollock as regards the action to be taken by Conservative and...

at the bottom of a letter made me read. I too would support Lord Hugh Cecil if I had a vote. But if I understand Sir Frederick aright, he would support the opponent of a Tariff...

[TO THU EDITOR OS THE " Simon a."] SIR,—I have to thank you for complying in your issue of November 6th with my request for an article on the effect of the introduction of...

[To Taz EDITOR Or THE "SPscrierox."] SIB,—If you were in Lancashire, and knevi from direct contact with her staple industry the extraordinary extent and ramifications of the...

[TO THE EDITOR 07 THE "SPECTATOR.") fear that Mr. Balfour's manifesto gives the country insufficient assurance that if the Unionist Party should be returned to power the reform...

[To THE EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOIL."1 Sin,—In the forty-seven years in which I have been a reader of the Spectator I have never read such a monstrous state- ment in it as that...

SIS,—You are quite right when you say that "it is very unsatisfactory that the House of Lords only acts when a Liberal Ministry is in power," &c. (Spectator, December 11th); and...

[To TILE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —You appear, like the Times, to regret the changed attitude of German opinion in regard to the Congo during the last few weeks. You...

[To THE EDITOR or ma "Sr-Berms:1 Sra,—Would it not be a handsome return to make to the so-called Liberal Free-traders who have poured contempt on the Unionist Free-traders if...

[TO TEE EDITOR OF TH " Snecr.teroz."] Sin,—European readers who wish well to Indian Moslems will no doubt appraise Mr. Blunt's Diary at its proper value, and form their own...

[To THE EDITOR OF VIE " Sp.scrAroz.1 SIR,—If London is behind Manchester and Liverpool in the matter of teaching Russian and Oriental languages (see Spectator, December 11th),...

SIR,—Miss Markham writes from personal experience, cer- tainly not of the movement as a whole. It is not for me to defend the idea; I merely correct her more obvious errors....

[To TEE EDITOE or Tam "Spaarkroz."] SIR,—Women in general will be grateful for your unqualified disapproval of Girl Scouts. But is it not an anxious sign of the times if the...

[To THE EDITOR OP TER " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—The interesting article on "Literary Associations of Cheddar Gorge" in last week's Spectator is altogether at fault in the initial...

pro rim EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIE, — Without taking any part in the noisome inquiry into the "Byron mystery," I will call attention to the genera/ and praiseworthy...

rro THE EDITOE OF TER " spiscrrros."1 Bra,— Some of us in Bristol as we watch the solemn grandeur of our beautiful Gorge being quickly and noisily taken away under our very...

[To Tar Erma or TEE " BricrAroz.") Sin,—You will, I trust, pardon an old diplomatic melomane for venturing to offer from his suburban St. Helena an appendix to your notice...

LTo THE EDITOR OF THE ••SrE'crwros.-] SIR,—May I add a few lines of heartfelt thanks to the Spectator for the stand it has taken with reference to poisonous literature? I think...

Lye THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] Suk,—The Municipality of Seville are cotnetnplating an act of vandalism which, if it cannot be prevented, should at least be made known to...

or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are mark,ect "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the mode of...

CHRISTMAS IS COMING. As I look from my window at dawning of day,. On his cocoanut up in the tree A little tom-tit goes swinging away, As happy as happy can be. The blackbirds...

AS OTHERS SEE US.* To - the writer who takes a foreign country for his subject two courses are open. His book may be a serious study of the way in which the common problems...

EARLY in this year Mr. A. C. Bradley, sometime Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford, published his Oxford Lectures on Poetry, and in a note to the lecture...

much value critical monographs upon living authors. There is not only a want of perspective, but there is usually a reticence—the reticence of good manners, the oppression, as...

'Tars book contains analyses of many of the "secret remedies" which one sees advertised in the daily papers, on hoardings, in leaflets, and elsewhere. Probably every obild with...

Ms. PRESTON-THOMAS. gives us in these pages a pleasant glimpse behind the scenes of the bureaucracy. "I have sometimes wondered," he writes (p. 3(13), "at the extraordinary...

ELIZABETH STIIielLT, daughter of jamee I., sister of Chistleert, wife of Frederic, Elector Palatine and King of Bohemia, mother of Prince Rupert and of Sophia, Electress of...

Mu'. PARKER empresses in his - preface . a modest doubt whether' hisibook -will be attractive - to the general public. Atuolfrof it, no doubt, deals with archaeology of a...

THE VALLEY OF THE PRINCES4 PICICTHALL returns in his new volume to the scene of his first and most striking noveL Although the name of the seaport at which the action mostly...

Ain. litcDolorma, does well to discuss the question : Did John Colet found a new school or refound an old one ? But it is not a question of much importance. It is enough to know...

Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Dawson in his new novel preaches what is, in effect, the doctrine of works, for he holds that the power of completing what may be called material labour...

The Children's Hour. Nine volumes. (Houghton, Mifflin, and Co.)—The title of this series is taken, of course, from Longfellow's poem:— " Between the dark and the daylight, when...

[Under this lieadin we not:ce such Books of the week as hays not been reserved for review in other forms.] Facts of Radical Misgovernment and the Home Rule Question Down to...

Stewart. (A. Constable and Co. 6s.)—Eleven short stories which will please, in various degrees and various ways. " His Soul to Keep" is perhaps the most characteristic of the...

January number of the Cornhill appears in a new white and yellow cover to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of its first publication. But the celebration is not merely...

Beeching. (Hodder and Stoughton. ls.)—Canon Beeching publishes here hvo :sermons preached by him in Westminster Abbey during his October residence. He urges in them a moderate...

"Masters of Literature" (G. Bell and Sons, 3s. 6d. per vol.) The plan is to make a selection of representative passages, and to preface these with a biographical and critical...

(A. ' Constable and Co. Is. net.)—The subject of this book is sufficiently indicated by its title. It supplies the mother with directions for the management of a child from...

Paisley. 3s. 6d.)—" With variations," Mr. Moffat adds to his description of his career. He did not, indeed, go straight on from the beginning. He worked in a printing office...

Homes, has been received from the publishers (Country Life). The price is £2 25. net The volume is equal to its predecessors;, more we ;need not say. There is no country which...

Ralli introduces his subject by giving us an account of the circumstances which have brought about the. sanctity of Mecca, and of the incidents of the pilgrimages. The list of...

Irish Verse, 1729 - 1909. Edited by John Cooke. (11bdges, Figgis, and Co., Dublin. 7s. 6d. net.)—There are five hundred and twenty-six poems collected in this volume, together...

Brothers. 6s. net.)—Mr. Serviss, representing, as he does, the latest development of astronomical knowledge, disposes of some favourite notions, while he gives us other things...