20 APRIL 1918

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On the main battle-front east of Amiens the enemy has

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been com- paratively inactive throughout the week. On Friday week be attacked and captured Hangard, on the river Luce twelve miles east of Amiens, but the French retook the...

On Friday week the Germans again failed to push us

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back on the critical southern flank, where our positions north of Festubert, though lost for a moment, were retaken and afterwards improved. Nor could the enemy progress beyond...

The answer to our question which the nine signatories would

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of course give, if they were perfectly plain-spoken and perfectly candid 'with themselves, is that the dominant Southern Irish will not allow the application of the Federal...

The Navy on Monday reminded the enemy that we still

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have the full command of the sea by undertaking " a sweep " of the Kattegat, between Denmark and Sweden. Ten armed German trawlers were sunk by gunfire. Our patrols had no...

The general position, as we write on Thursday, is that

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the enemy has been firmly held on the south and west of his new front of attack in Flanders, but on the north-east he has advanced to the foot of the fairly high hills, from the...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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UES DA Y'S newspapers contained a letter signed by nine Unionist Members of Parliament advocating Home Rule— provided that the measure shall be capable of application to the...

The retirement from Neuve Eglise was followed on Monday by

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a very heavy attack, delivered by three picked German divisions, on our positions between the village and Bailleul, three miles to the west, which were held by six British...

Sir Douglas Haig announced on Wednesday that, in consequence of

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the enemy's advance on the Lys front, the troops holding our forward positions east of Ypres had been withdrawn to a new line. This retirement, completed by Monday night,...

On Wednesday the enemy tried to follow up his advantage

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west of Bailleul. He attacked on a front of fifteen miles from the Nieppe Wood, which covers Hazebrouck, to Wytschaete. He was, however, repulsed at every point with heavy...

We have only one criticism to make. It must take

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the form of a question. Why, we ask the nine signatories, is North-East Ulster to be the only part of the United Kingdom to which Federal- km is not to be applied ? If Wales is...

The battle of Flanders, which began on April 0th, still

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continues to rage fiercely. Our withdrawal from Armentieres on April 10th enabled the enemy's Sixth and Fourth Armies to join hands and enlarge their new salient, On Thursday...

THE PAPER SHORTAGE.

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TO OUR READERS.—The shortage of paper has obliged us to adopt the policy, already adopted by many of our contemporaries, of refusing to allow the " Spectator " to be " on sale...

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The Report shows that this compromise—if an evasion of the

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difficulty deserves the name—was reached as the result of the Prime Minister's letter of February 25th, outlining a possible settlement in which various •controversial matters...

When the House on Monday took up the clause permitting

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the Government by Order in Council to remould the Appeal Tribunals to their heart's desire, there was strong criticism of such arbitrary powers. Mr. Hayes Fisher then made a...

It is somewhat disappointing to learn that last week eleven

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large merchantmen and three small vessels were sunk by mine or sub- marine. Ten were attacked without success. In the two previous weeks we had lost only nine large ships....

When the clause enabling the Government to apply ,Conscription to

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Ireland by Order in Council came before the House on Friday week, Mr. Henderson asked for a pledge that the Order should not be issued until a Home Rule Bill was passed. Mr....

The House of Commons, before going into Committee on the

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new Military Service Bill, accepted a time-limit of five days for the re- maining stages, and by sitting on Friday week and last Saturday contrived to pass the.Bill on Tuesday....

Four Zeppelins crossed the East Coast late on Friday week.

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One reached the Midlands and another nearly reached the North- West Coast. The airships kept at a great height and dropped most of their bombe in the open country. Five persons...

It was announced on Sunday last in Paris that General

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Foch had been appointed by the British and French Governments to be Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in France, " with the widest powers, in order that he may act, and...

Mr. Boner Law, replying on the debate, said that talk

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about liberty had not helped Russia against the brute- force of German armies. The Government _needed men, and had a moral right to take them from Ireland. In Canada, Quebec had...

The Report of the Irish Convention was published in last

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Saturday's papers. We comment on it elsewhere. Here we need only say that the Report is mainly a narrative of the proceedings, with the Home Rule scheme adopted by the Majority,...

Major-General Sykes has replaced Major-General Trenchard as Chief of the

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Air Staff. It was stated in the House on Monday that Major-General Trenchard, who was appointed in January last, " took a view as to the powers and duties of the Chief of the...

In regard to Ireland, Sir Edward Carson supported -Mr. Healy's

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demand for information as to how the Appeal Tribunals would be' constituted. Sir Edward Carson said that he was •beginning to have grave doubts as to whether the Government...

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Mr. Lloyd George, in concluding the debate, said that under

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any system of Home Rule the defence of the country must be the sole concern of the Imperial Parliament. The Irish question must be settled to show America that we were doing...

The text of the autograph letter from the Emperor of

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Austria, communicated with the Emperor's authority by his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon, to the French Prime Minister on March 31st, 1917, nullifies the Emperor's...

Bank rate, 5 per cent., changed from 5} per cent.

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April 5,1917.

A .suggestion in the Times on Tuesday that Mr. Austen Chamber-

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lam might enter the War Cabinet led the same day to the opening of a most discreditable attack upon him in the Northcliffe—or Government--Press. The Daily Mail, following the...

It was announced on Thursday that Lord Milner had replaced

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Lord Derby at the War Office, and that Lord Derby would go to Paris as Ambassador on a special mission, in succession to Lord Bertie. It was further announced that Mr. Austen...

Paul Bolo, the renegade Frenchman, who had been convicted of

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receiving large sums from Germany in order to influence the French Press in favour of peace, was shot at Vincennes on Wednes- day morning. The execution had been postponed for...

It was announced on Tuesday that Count Czernin had resigned,

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and that his resignation had been accepted. A Vienna telegram to the Berlin Lokalanzeiger suggested that he had resigned because the Emperor's letter to Prince Sixtus was...

Germany has again illustrated her insolently preposterous claim to rank

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as the protector of the rights of small nations in the case of Livonia and Esthonia, These Baltic Provinces were expressly left within the territory of Russia by her Peace...

The House of Lords on Wednesday read the Military Service

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Bill a second time without a division. Lord Salisbury said that he did not believe that Labour was favourable to the Irish Nationalists, and urged that it was more important to...

Of course Vienna has officially explained that the letter, as

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published by the French Government, was falsified ; that it was a purely private, personal letter from one brother-in-law to another— the first happened to be an Emperor, and...

When the Bill was considered on the Report stage on

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Tuesday, Mr. Dillon predicted a general resistance to Conscription in Ireland, but hinted that an immediate grant of Home Rule would remove Nationalist distrust of the...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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A QUESTION OF NERVES. N OW that we have reached another critical moment in the great German offensive, it is of the utmost import- ance that, as a people, we should remain...

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IRELAND AND . CONSCRIPTION.

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" Dana la politique til faut ne prendre rien au tragique, et taut au MIER% W HEN they are considering the application of Conscrip- tion to Ireland, the British people, if they...

" ONCE BIT, TWICE SHY." A RE there any Unionists left

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in the House of Commons, any men who believe that it is essential to the welfare of the Empire to keep the central State of our great free com- munity of nations safe, united,...

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EXCLUSION.

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W E have given our reasons in the article which precedes this for deeming little better than insane the Govern- ment who could choose such a moment as the present for giving the...

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THE TAXATION OF LUXURIES.

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1 1 11E new French Luxury Tax has only been in operation a few weeks, but already it is announced that the tax is working well and bringing in even more revenue than was...

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THE DIGNITY OF PRICE.

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T HE mere bread and butter" should be—temporarily- alter ed. ed. Since white bread became priceless and butter a luxury, it has lost its restrictive significance.. An income...

THE OFFICER FROM THE PRIVATE'S POINT OF VIEW.

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N OT only with regard to the sphere of military affairs, but in every walk of life, it may with truth be said that he who courts popularity rarely secures it, and when he has...

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POLITICAL CAMOUFLAGE.

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[To THE EnITON OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR, — National Service embraces many occupations to - day, and its value covers a wide field. I do not profess to be in a position...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs arc often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] VOLUNTEERS AND THE NEW...

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HOLY WEEK IN SCOTLAND.

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[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, — Save for the Catholics and Episcopalians who intrude upon a regime that England escaped in the middle of the seventeenth century,...

ADMIRAL MAHAN ON IRELAND.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.") Ste..—At the present time, when Irish regiments are fighting so splendidly for the Empire, there can be few who would not wel- come any...

GREAT BRITAIN AND AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

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[To TILE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR, — I was extremely glad to read in the Spectator of April 6th that you "regard the defeat of Austria as no less vital and neces- sary...

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THE DANGER OF UNCONTROLLED ZIONISM. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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" SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—Mr. M. Brodrick may like to know that an Association has recently been formed by members of the Jewish religion in this country, under the name of the...

HOME RULE.

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[TO TUE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—There is a difference between the position of Nationalists and Unionists with respect to the setting up of Home Rule now which seems...

GERMAN BRUTALITY TO PRISONERS.

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[To THE EDITOR OP TEE " SPECTATOR. " ] Zia,—The Report of Mr. Justice Younger's Committee on the German treatment of British prisoners behind the Western Front raises yet once...

TOWARDS CHRISTIAN UNITY.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—With the vision of a reunited Christendom somewhere on the horizon a certain important and representative Committee is preparing the...

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BOOKS.

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THE STORY OF SERBIA.* MR. LAFFAN'S excellent little book on Serbian history has grown out of the lectures which he gave in the early months of 1917 to the scattered companies...

POETRY.

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THE LUCKY ONES. I COM) understand your sorrow for the living— Why should you be grieving for those that are dead? How do we know that they are not the lucky ones, Those young...

SUGAR BEET AS FOOD.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—About two months ago I wrote to the Minister of Food at the Head Office asking him to send me particulars of the best way to utilize...

THE ELIZABETH GARRETT ANDERSON HOSPITAL. (To THE EDITOR OF THE

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"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—At a time like the present, when important changes are impending in our system of national education, I should like to call the attention of your readers to...

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THE GATE OF REMEMBRANCE.* THIS is an exceedingly curious, entertaining,

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and above all puzzling book. It is written by Mr. Bligh Bond, the Director of the Exca- vations at Glastonbury Abbey, and his friend " J. A." The two men in question were very...

THE HERRING.t

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Ma. SAMUEL'S unpretentious and interesting book in praise of the herring appears at a time when., by order of the Food Controller, the British public has to take a very direct...

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THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.*

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" THERE is nothing,' a great man once observed to me, ' less difficult than to be fair, but nothing more difficult than to appear so.' In my endeavour not only to be fair, but...

PORTUGUESE PORTRAITS - f.

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MR. AUBREY BELL, who has written so name and so well about Portuguese literature, has now produced a set of miniatures of heroes of our old Ally's golden age. The other day,...

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FICTION.

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THE ISLAND MYSTERY.* NOVELS nowadays may be roughly divided into three claseee- war novels, non-war novels, and eve-of-the-war novels. This belongs to the third class ; the...

The Making of a Modern Army. By Rent Radiguet. Translated

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by H. P. Du Ballet. (Putnam. 6s. net.)—General Radiguet, one of the French officers who are giving the new American armies the benefit of their experience of modem war,...

book long out of print contains some new matter, especially

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two chapters by Mr. F. H. Allan on the effects of the war upon Scottish banking. The Bank of Scotland was incorporated by the Scottish Parliament in 1695, at the same time as...

The New East, edited by Mr. J. W. Robertson-Scott in

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Tokyo (London ; W. Dawson Publishing Co.; 13s. a year), has in its March issue an interesting review of Japanese Press comments on the war, and an account by Mr. David Fraser of...

READABLE NOVELS.—Mulberry Springs. By Margaret Storrs Turner. (T. Fisher Unwin.

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6s.)—The opening chapters of this book, in which a charming, irresponsible artist leaves his beautiful grown-up daughter to shift for herself in the world, give promise of a...

The sixth volume issued by the Walpole Society to its

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members contains some valuable contributions to the history of English art. Mr. Finberg writes on two exquisite portraits, probably of Lord Bristol and Lord Pembroke, by...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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(Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] The Edinburgh Review for April, a very readable number, contains a most instructive and sympathetic...

Memorials of a Yorkshire Parish. By J. S. Fletcher. (J.

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Lane. 7s. 6d. net.)--This history of Darrington, near Pontefract, on the Great North Road, shows how attractive a village chronicle may be made by a good writer who cares to...

My Mission to London, 1912 - 1914. By Prince Lichnowaky. (Cassell and

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Co. 6d. net.)—This complete translation of Prince Lichnowsky's startling memoirs should be read with care by every one. It is the most crushing indictment of German policy that...

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German Rule in Africa. By Evans Lewin. (T. Fisher Unwin.

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3d. net.)—Mr. Lewin's account of the abominations of German rule in the African colonies is based for the most part on German evidence. The few German missionaries who were...

Raising and Training of the New Armies. By Captain Basil

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Williams. (Constable and Co. 5s. net.)—The wonderful story which " Ian Hay " tells imaginatively in The First Hundred Thousand is here set down in plain prose and continued to...