18 FEBRUARY 1899

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There was something pathetic about the position of ,i. Faure,

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a second-rate Lord Mayor at the head of a first-class military State. He had never succeeded as a Minister when in 1895 he was elected, as the man who had made fewest enemies,...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE unexpected event, which always happens in France, has arrived. On Thursday night the President, M. Faure, died of the Dreyfus case. His constitution was im- paired, his...

It is silly to try to predict what eight hundred

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and eighty Frenchmen, all wild with excitement, and sharply hurried by the situation, may possibly do, but it is impossible not to think for a moment about M. Faure's successor....

M. Dupuy, as was expected, carried his Bill transferring the

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right of hearing appeals for revision from the Criminal Division of the Court of Cassation to the full Court. The debate, however, which came off on Friday week, was unex-...

The lima' Paris correspondent attaches immense importance to the "

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League of the Fatherland," which has now obtained many thousand signatures. Its promoters have organised it to protect the Army and appease dispntes, but it is under- stood to...

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

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case.

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Mr. Balfonr's reply pointed out that the argument from the

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American analogy—in America vacant land is taxed—was not sound, because in America the system was wholly different. There the rate falls upon the whole capital value of all...

It was Mr. Stephens, we think, the Vice-President of the

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Confederate States, who, after defeat, advised his followers, if anybody asked about the negroes, to "swear they never saw one." Herr von Billow, the Foreign Minister of...

The Revolution may come in Spain, but it will not

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be through Don Carlos. The different forces upon which he, or rather his advisers, relied have all, it is said, failed him. The Army has not responded heartily to his advances;...

Lord Charles Beresford has allowed the final result of his

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recent travels in China to ooze out. We have discussed his plan elsewhere, but may mention here tbat he advocates an alliance of Great Britain, Germany, America, and Japan to...

The American Senate has passed a Resolution declaring that the

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United States has not annexed the Philippines, but will protect and govern its people until such time as they can govern themselves. The States will then retire on such terms as...

In the House of Commons. on Friday. February 10th, Mr.

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E. C. Morton moved an amendment to the Address raising the subject of the ownership, tenure, and taxation of land in towns. What the debate chiefly turned upon was the escape of...

Americans are always comparing their climate with that of England,

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but we fancy that they take their bad weather in tumblers at a time, while we take it in teaspoonfuls. While we have weeks of disagreeable warmth they have ten days of the heat...

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The Registrar-General's weekly bulletin of vital statistics makes it only

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too clear that influenza is on the increase. The deaths directly attributed to this cause stood at 20, 21, and 22 for the preceding three weeks, but rose last week to 50; while...

Lord Russell of Killowen, speaking at the opening of a

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technical school at Kingston on Saturday last, made some very sound remarks on honest trading in its relation to company promoting and the taking of illicit commissions. He...

On Tuesday and Wednesday the House of Commons dis- cussed

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the question whether Cabinet Ministers ought to be directors of companies. We have dealt with this matter elsewhere, and will only point out here an example of the in-...

On Monday Mr. Labouchere moved an amendment to the Address

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in favour of only allowing the House of Lords to re- ject a Bill once. If the same Bill were passed by the Commons in the next Session it should become law without the consent...

On Thursday Mr. John Redmond moved an amendment to the

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Address declaring the creation of an independent Irish Parliament to be " the most urgent of all questions of domestic policy." Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman met these tactics in...

Mr. Balfour in reply pointed out that the proposal would

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place everything in the State at the mercy of the House of Commons, including the people, to whom no appeal would be allowed. [Mr. Balfour here was unconsciously using the very...

Bank Bate, 8 per cent.

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New Console (21) were en Friday, 111f.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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LORD CHARLES BERESFORD'S PLAN. L ORD CHARLES BERESFORD has published in the rough his plan for the settlement of the Far East; and there are reasons, apart from his personality,...

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MR. BALFOUR AND COMMON-SENSE.

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R. BALFOUR'S position in the country rests on so solid a foundation that it hardly wants raising, but if it did his leadership during the debate on the Address, and the speeches...

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STALEMATE IN FRANCE. T HE long-drawn struggle over the Dreyfus case,

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that little cloud no bigger than a man's hand which now envelopes the whole European sky, seems this week to be advancing towards a stalemate. Passions, as we believe, are too...

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DIRECTORS IN PARTJAMTINT.

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T HE question whether a Member of Parliament ought to be a director of an-industrial company is rather more complicated than it looks. It is quite clear, on the one hand, that...

THE EXPANSION OF THE EMPIRE.

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W E owe a special debt of gratitude to Sir Robert Giffen for his most able, and also most interesting, paper on " The Relative Growth of the Component Parts of the Empire." The...

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LORDS AND COMMONS.

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M R. LAWSON WALTON is a bold and original speaker. He has the courage to abandon a position which he knows he cannot maintain. The majority of the Members who took part in...

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WHOLESALE CONVERSION.

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p EOPLE in Earope_ have ceased to think of the possi- bility of wholesale conversion, by which we mean a change of religions faith among the majority of an entire nation. No one...

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SUSPICION.

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T HE public life of France at the present moment is poisoned by a vague but general suspicion. As it was in 1794, when, as Carlyle said, they conjugated the verb "to suspect"—"...

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PEACOCKS.

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T HE beautiful examples of the gradation of ornament in feathers, and of the evolution of the "peacock eye," shown at the Natural History Museum, are selected from the plumage...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE " WHITE MAN'S BURDEN." [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The following inscription on a tombstone in the old burying-ground of the Macleods of Drynoch, Isle of...

[To TEE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

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Sin,—Without attempting to discuss your general argument as to the " white man's burden," I should like to say a few words on "the grand fact," which you proclaim, "that on the...

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THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH. To TEE EDITOR Or THE

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" SPECTATOR '1 SIB, —In the heat and tension of the present crisis, when party enthusiasm tends to make us forgetful of something far greater—Christian charity—may I call...

CONFESSION AND COMPREHENSION.

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[To THE EDITOR, OP TER " SPECTATCHt."] SIR,—With reference to the controversy as to the "discreet minister of God's word" and his ghostly counsel and advice, spoken of in the...

MR. LLEWELYN DAVIES AND DISESTABLISH- MENT.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —Mr. Llewelyn Davies says :—" For the English people to disestablish the Church would be to throw away one of the noblest and most...

AN AMERICAN ON EXPANSION.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Will you allow a native American to say a word in response to " Audi Alteram Partem " (in the Spectator of February 11th)? I profess to...

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SIR ROBERT PEEL.

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LTO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1 SIB,—I have read with interest your first notice of "Sir Robert Peel" in the Spectator of February 11th, and, re- ferring to the...

INDEXES AND ANTHOLOGIES.

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[To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR." . 1 SIR,—Will you allow me, after much long-suffering, to appeal to the editors of future poetical anthologies, even though I move their...

THE NEW FOREST.

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pro TEE EDITOR OF THE " SmTATorc."..1 SIR,—Your correspondent " Natfura" (is it a lady ?) writes about the New Forest wild and whirling words which would be very telling if the...

THE JERBOA.

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I TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") . SIR,—The interesting account of a tame jerboa which you printed in the Spectator of February 11th put me in mind of Horace Walpole's...

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BURROWING BIRDS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sul,—The article on " Burrowing Birds" in the Spectator of February 4th is very interesting, but I am afraid I cannot agree with everything...

QUAILS : AN INTERNATIONAL QUESTION.

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[TO TIM EDITOR 01 THE "SPECTATOR."] SLE.—The subject of the flight of the quail, touched on lucidly in the Spectator of January 21st, will be better under- stood when we know...

THACKERAY AS A CAREFUL' STUDENT.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In a review of "A French Volunteer of the War of Independence," the reviewer says that "some of the Chevalier's (De Pontgiband) notes...

FACES.

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[To THE EDITOR 01 THI "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your interesting article on the above subject in the Spectator of February 4th you remark on the power of the mind or soul to mould...

COLOURS OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

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[To THE EDITOR 01 THE • 8necTATon.'1 SIR,—In the interesting paper on the above subject in the Spectator of February 11th, the able writer remarks :— " Though black is the...

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"THE TEMPLE CLASSICS."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THY " SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—In an otherwise favourable review of "The Temple Classics," appearing in the Spectator of February 11th, your critic emphasises the...

POETRY.

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THE WESTERN PIONEER. I CAN hear the willows whispering, 'way down the Arctic slope, Every shivering little leaflet grey with fear; There's no colour in the heavens, and on...

VOLUNTEERS SERVING ABROAD.

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[To THE EDITOR OY THZ " SPECTATOR:1 SIR, —I should be glad if you could find space in your columns to inform me whether the war authorities have ever considered the question of...

BOOKS.

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GREEK RELIGION.• WE expect in a work of this nature something of high excellence from the distinguished Greek scholar who is equally at home with Plato and Sophocles, and we...

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SIR ROBERT PEEL.* [CONCLUDING NOTICE.] PEEL'S first care, after completing

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his Government, was to put the pecuniary affairs of the country on a better footing. To do so was no easy task, for his predecessors had proved themselves to be thoroughly...

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A MEMOIR OF SUSAN FERRIER.*

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Miss FERRIER'S letters, though by far the largest, are by no means the best part of this Memoir, which, though it contains much that is interesting, might well have been reduced...

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IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.*

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Mn. MAC DONAGH'S pages are decidedly amusing throughout, and that is saying a great deal for a jest-book. Perhaps the reason is that his collection of stories contains, besides...

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NOVELS OF THE WEEK.*

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THE bilingualism of Wales is a serious stumbling-block in the way of contemporary writers of fiction in the Principality. If they decide on addressing the larger constituency,...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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LePlril Protestant. (Librairie Saint.Joseph, Paris.)—If any evi- dence be necessary to prove the fanatical spirit of modern France, it is abundantly supplied by M. Renauld's...

Music: how it Came to Be what it Is. By

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Hannah Smith. (John Murray. 6s.)—This is an interesting and well-arranged little book, the author of which, we judge, from internal evidence, is an American. It is not...

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The Brain-Afachiste: its Power and Weakness. By Albert Wilson, M.D.

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(J. and A. Churchill. 4s. 6d.)—It is a strange fact that the mass of people are quite ignorant about the most important part of their bodies,—the brain. Even highly educated...

History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages.

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By Ferdinand Gregorovius. Translated from the Fourth German Edition by Annie Hamilton. Vol. VI., Parts I. and II (George Bell and Sons. 4s. 6d. net each part.)—We gladly welcome...

Foreign Courts and Foreign Homes. By A. M. F. (Longmans

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and Co. 6s.)—This is a little book which provokes us somewhat by a suggestion of good material, in a measure, wasted. "A. M. F." has lived among interesting people and close to...

A History of the English Poor Law. By Sir George

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Nicholls, K.C.B. New Edition, containing the Revisions made by the author and a Biography by H. G. Willink. 2 vols. (P. S. King and Son. 30s.)—This new edition of a work which...

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English Cathedrals Illustrated. By Francis Bond, M.A. (G. Newnes. 6s.)—This

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volume is an attempt, says the author, "to make the study of the English cathedrals more interesting." It is an easily portable conspectus of the whole subject. Furnished with...

Round the World on a Wheel. By John Foster Fraser.

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(Methue n and Co. Gs.)—This is the story of a genuine globe-encircling ride. The author and his two companions did not cross the desert with a caravan of camels carrying their...

To Messrs. Seeley's series of " Cheap School-Books," edited by

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the Rev. A. J. Church, a third set of Latin Exercises (Seeley and Co., ls.), compiled by the editor, has now been added. The present in- stalment, which is designed for the use...

The Conduct of Wesr, by Lieutenant-General Von der Goltz, translated

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by Major G. F. Leverson (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., 10s. 6d.), is a volume in the " Virolseley Series," appearing under the editorship of Captain Walter H. James. The author...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Under this Heading tte intend to notice such Boobs of the tusk as have no been reserved for review in other forms.] Theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (T. and T. Clark....

Tom Tug and Others. (Seeley and Co. 6s.)—Close and sym-

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pathetic observation, linked to a pleasant sense of humour and a lively style, lend attractiveness to Mrs. Dew-Smith's " sketches in a domestic menagerie." ' Tom Tug,' a most...

The Politician's Hand - book, by H. Whates (Vacher and Sons, 6s.),

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is a digest of the Blue-books, and other Parliamentary papers and Government documents generally, that have appeared during the past year,—a great boon, we fancy, to...

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ARCHZOLOGY AND Scaoos-Boors.—The Temple of Deir el Bahari. Part III.

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By Edouard Neville. (Egypt Explora- tion Fund.) — This third part contains some peculiarly interesting reproductions of sculptures from the Temple. Plates LW.-LXVI. picture...

The London Water - Supply. By Richard Sisley, M.D. (Scientific Press. 21s.)—Dr.

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Sisley remarks, with perfect truth, that certain editors treat the question of the London water-supply "from a political point of view." Two Radical journals in particular did...

Boors or REFERENcE. — Dictionary of the World's Press. By

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Henry Sell. (167 Fleet Street. 2 vols. 7s. 6d., or 4s. per vol.) —This work has overflowed in this its nineteenth annual issue into a second volume. Vol. I. contains informa-...

The "Perverse Widow." Compiled by Arthur W. Crawley- Boevey, M.A.

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(Longmans and Co. 42s. net.)—This is an elaborate genealogical study, which touches on literature in the fact that the subject of it is the lady who is supposed to have been the...

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The Navy League Map. (W. and A. K. Johnston. 31s.

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6d.)—The map published by Messrs. Johnston for the Navy League is an excellent piece of work. It is clearly printed and boldly coloured, and shows at a glance the place of the...

REPRINTS AND Naw EDITIONS. —Medical Works Of - the POET- teenth Century. By

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the Rez,„grofesaor G. Henslow. (Chapman and. Hall. alctiV. 3 of Tike-Tatler, edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George A. Aitken (Duckworth and Co., bQs.)—In the charming...