20 MARCH 1920

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The counter-revolution began last Saturday in Berlin. Dr. Kapp, a

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well-known Pan-German, and General Lfittwitz, a commander of the " Defence Force," had demanded a change of Ministry. The Coalition Government refused to resign, and ordered the...

Mr. Asquith's decision to move the rejection of the Home

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Rule Bill in the House of Commons is as striking an example as one could quote of applying a threadbare formula. Not that we should object to the failure of the present Home...

stances we must repeat the question we asked last week

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: What are the troops doing ? We know that there are many officers of ability in Ireland, and they could doubtless carry out the necessary work of protection with discretion and...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE chief event of the week has been the outbreak of a military counter-revolution in Prussia. As we write on Thursday morning it is reported that Dr. Kapp, the insur- gent...

There have been many bewildering rumours during the week about

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a proposed fusion of the Unionists and Coalition Liberals. We had no sooner been told that the Unionists were enthusiastic to have Mr. Lloyd George as their future leader than...

We sincerely hope that a debate will be arranged in

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Parliament as soon as possible upon the state of Ireland as distinct, or as far as possible distinct, from the question of applying Homo Rule to Ireland. This is a matter of...

*** The Editor cannot accept responsibility for any articles or

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letters submitted to him, but when stamped and addressed envelopes are sent he will do his best to return contributions in case of rejection.

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From the point of view of Home Rulers hew surely

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is the beginning of a new and wonderful era. But does Mr. Asquith treat it as such ? Not at all. He moves the rejection of the Bill. No doubt it is in his judgment a very...

Poi:mare, freed from the cares of the Presidency, has liberated

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his soul, in the Revue dee Dear Monek,s, in. a scathing criticism of the. methods of the Allied Supreme, Council. M. Foineare declares that the Allied Premiere, inceesantly...

The South African General Election was held on March 10th.

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The results, so far as they were known up to Thursday morning, showed a large increase in the Nationalist strength and a still larger accession to the Labour Party, chiefly in...

imported wheat, up to a maximum of 952. a quarter.

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As it is highly improbable that our imported wheat will fall below 100s. a quarter, the Prime Minister's statement im- plied that the controlled price would be raised by about...

Lord Bryce raised the question of Turkey in the. House

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of Lords on Thursday week and drew from Lord Curzon an import- ant statement. Lord Curzon said that the Turks were deliberately trying to make the execution of the Peace Treaty...

the French garrison, with the survivors, evacuated the town.

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Here is a typical extract from the correspondent's diary for February 7th :- "To-day the girls of the - Rescue_Home were all killed. There were about eighty of them. To add to...

The Morning Post of last Saturday published a letter from

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Sir Edward Carson in which he pointed out that the Timm had, charged him with suffering "a terrible and humiliating defeat" because the Ulster Council had decided to support a....

Constantinople was occupied by Allied troops under General Milne on

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Tuesday. On the previous night some of the Turkish plotters had been arrested. Resistance was offered at only one point, where two British soldiers and nine Turks were killed in...

The plebiscite taken by the Allies. in Central Slesvig on

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Sunday last showed an overwhelming German majority. In Flensborg three German votes were cast against each Danish vote. In the whole district the German voters outnumbered the...

M. Millerand has introduced a Bill authorizing the resumption of

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diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican. This is a strange reversal of the anti-clerical policy which the.Republic adopted some twenty years ago, but the French...

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On Tuesday in the House of Commons Mr. Chamberlain explained

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his Civil Service Estimates of 557 millions. He said that the figure had been reduced by three-fifths. What further item could be left out ? The truth was that the Government...

Take examples of the senseless slaughter. It is the nuptial

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feathers of egrets in which the traders deal, and this means that the feathers have to be torn from the mother birds while the young are still in the nests. The young birds are...

The reply of Messrs. Coats to the strictures of the

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Standing Committee on Trusts deserves consideration. They In effect accuse the Committee of making a mistake in the figures dealing with the firm's Income Tax. They say that...

The Miners' Federation, having failed to obtain the approval of

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the Trade Union Congress for " direct action " to secure the " nationalization " of the mines, decided on Thursday week to adopt new tactics. On the plea that the Government had...

The most striking speech in the debate was that of

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Sir Robert Horne. He examined the present economic conditions in a really enlightening review, and his answer to Mr. Asquith's doctrine on Monday that " inflation had nothing to...

The Navy Estimates for 1920-21 amount to £84,000,000, as compared

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with £157,000,000 for the current year. Mr. Long in a Memorandum published on Tuesday showed that £19,000,000 was required to meet liabilities in connexion with the war, and...

The Report of the Departmental Committee on Industrial Assurance, published

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on Thursday, confirmed a widespread belief that the industrial assurance companies and collecting societies are working on a bad system which promotes extrava- gance and waste....

We hope that the meeting of the Royal Society for

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the Protec- tion of Birds on Tuesday did something to strengthen the hands of those who are working for a Plumage Bill. As Mr. H. J. Massingham told us in the last of his...

The debate in the House of Commons on Monday on

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high prices did not help very much. Mr. McCurdy played variations on the perfectly true theme that the first and fundamental cause of the rise in prices is the actual lack of...

Bank rate, 6 per cent.,changed from 5 per cent. Nov.

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6,1919. 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 874 ; Tnursda:r week, 88k; a year ago, 95.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE GERMAN COUNTER-REVOLUTION. T HE promoters of the counter-revolution which began in Berlin last Saturday have done their country a great deal of harm. Whatever may be the...

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THE INCOME TAX PROPOSALS. T HE Report of the Royal Commission

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on the Income Tax, which was issued as a Blue Book on Wednesday evening, may be described as an essay in the simplification of a siniple tax. It is impossible to conceive a tax...

THE PROBLEM OF SOUTH AFRICA.

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T HE results of the General Election in South Africa are worth careful watching. for the future relations of the political parties in South Africa are now being determined, and...

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COMMERCE AND THE ARTS : THE " LONDON FAIR AND

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MARKET." W HEN a popular novelist writes a book he writes it with an eye to the tastes of his readers, but the publisher—at least the old-fashioned publisher—does not design...

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FINANCE—PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.

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LTo THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."i SIR,—I regret to find that the restraint which I felt ii necessary to employ when referring last week to the im• provement in the national...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] TFIFI POSITION IN IRELAND....

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FRANCO-BRITISH RELATIONS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. 'I Sus —I have before me an article in t'Action Francaise of March 8th commenting on the subject of the attitude in England to the Reparation...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent from

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the West of Ireland exactly describes the state of things as at present obtaining in Co. Cork. It is incredible, and certainly reflects disgrace on our Government. Raids, more...

[To THE EDITOR. or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sia,—In your very-much-to-the-point

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article on the above you say : " What, we should like to know, are the soldiers doing ? . . . If the tr000ps in Ireland are not there to keep order, what are they there for ? "...

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—It is astonishing

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to find the Spectator upholding inaccuracies of translation. A paper that prides itself upon the meticulous nicety of its diction ought to be the last to throw stones. Why deny...

THE BIBLE IN CHURCH: TRADITION AND REVISION. [To THE ED/TOR

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OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I have read, and I have little doubt that many of my generation have read, with the greatest interest the corre- spondence in the Times and the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—All lovers of

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good English and all seekers after " edification" will thank you for your article on the Revised Version of the New Testament. The N.T. in R.V. is so meticulously literal that...

SIR AUCKLAND GEDDES.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—You object to the appointment of Sir Auckland Geddes to the British Embassy at Washington on the . ground that he "spent a large part of...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—One simple reason

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why the reading of the Revised Version is becoming " more and more prevalent," which the writer of the above-named article deprecates, is that the clergy are learning to value...

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NAUTICAL SOLECISMS.

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[TO THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.' SIL—Lord Fisher in one of his recent books draws attention to the small numbers of statues of great seamen that embellish (?) London and...

PROFIT—RATE PER CENT.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.' Sia,—Having read his letter in the Spectator of March 13th, may I be permitted to assure Mr. Pixie that were I to sell for .t1 an article...

HOURS OF EMPLOYMENT (NO. 2) BILL.

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[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR!"] Sia,—It may be of interest to your readers to have pointed out to them the effect which the above Bill, which will shortly come before...

MONTENEGRO.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR,—Under the above title you published in your issue of March 13th a letter from Mr. Alex. Devine, in which he points out that Montenegro,...

WESTERN HISTORY FOR EASTERN BOYS AND GIRLS. [To THE EDITOR

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OP THE " SPECTATOR."' SIR, —A work which sets forth the vital periods of European history in a manner suitable for children in Syria is Cesare Balbo's Summary of the History of...

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A LONDON WHEATEAR.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sia,—I was strolling along ploughland in the suburb where I live (in the south and some six miles from Charing Cross) on the 19th of this...

EDUCATION BY SIGHT-SEEING.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sni,—A novel experiment in educational sight-seeing has just been made in Birmingham under the auspices of the Juvenile Organization...

CLASSICS FOR THE AMATEUR.

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[To TM EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I regret my error in speaking of Jowett's translation of Thucydides as earlier than Crawley's, but I had not the least intention of...

A TEMPORARY HONORARY SECRETARY WANTED.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR "] SIR,—The Westminster Branch of the Children's Country Holiday Fund is at present without an honorary secretary. If any of your readers...

THE PALESTINE CROCODILE.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." ] SIR,—With regard to Mr. E. J. Thompson's article on the above subject in your issue of February 14th, I am told that crocodiles have not...

• ST. ALPHONSUS

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sm.,—In your review of The Roman Mischief - Maker you allude to St. Alphonsus Liguori as " the eighteenth-century Jesuit." If the other...

" A DOCTOR IN SUSSEX."

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The poesy from a sampler quoted in your interesting review of Sussex in Bygone Days (Dr. Blaker's reminiscences) in your issue of...

THE SERBONL&N BOG.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—May I suggest that the authority for the description of the Serbonian Bog is Diodorue and not Herodotus, and that it is grievous to...

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A NEW KIND OF LIBRARY.

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[To THE Enema or THE " Specraroa.:"l liner—Plans have been laid to start in the East End a library, which was long used by both officers and men of the B.E.F. at Havre, under...

POETRY.

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VALEDICTORY. Foiewsti., friend Thomas: now you go the way Appointed unto cats as unto men: Those yellow eyes, that patch of fuzzy grey, Wo shall not see again. You slow your...

THE EINSTEIN HYPOTHESIS [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOB."]

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SIR,—The lines in- which " the lone inventor by his demon haunted" is so dexterously sketched by Prior will be familiar enough to many Johnians, as from the Ode which he wrote...

THE THEATRE.

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" JOHN FERGUSON " AT THE LYRIC, IIAM.MERSMITH- GRANGE the name of John Ferguson to What's in a Threat P or The Brother's Revenge, call the Fergusons the Meadowsweets (giving us...

t112 Siptttator

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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. Including postage to any part of the Yearly. United Kingdom OVERSEAS POSTAGE. Inoluding postage to any of the British Dominions and Colonies and India...

NOTICE.—When " Correspondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's

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name or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked " Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the Views therein expressed or with the...

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BOOKS.

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RED TERROR AND GREEN.* Mn. DAWSON'S little book on the evolution of the Simi Fein movement deserves to be widely read here and in America. It shows that the Nationalists of the...

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THE ALLIES AND SLBERIA.*

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Cowries. WARD'S amount of his experiences in Siberia in 1918-19 with the 25th Middlesex is very welcome because it is obviously honest and sincere. He says that he wrote it from...

RECOLLECTIONS OF LADY GEORGIANA PEEL* LADY GEOBGIANA PEEL'S engaging book

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of Recollections ought to attract readers of many and varied tastes. It is the fashion in these days to depreciate the Victorian age, but there are signs that this fashion is...

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A COMPLETE BEACONSFIELD *

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THE progressive veering round of taste through a phase of barbaric formlessness towards a revival of Victorian ideals brings as an almost inevitable corollary the reissue of...

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TANKS.*

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Two books upon Tanks have preceded Colonel Fuller's Tanks in the Great War—Major Williams-Ellia's, which is for the general reader, and Sir Albert Stern's, which is presumably...

MR. CHESTERTON ON DIVORCE.* Tire position of the batsman who

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refuses his traditional weapon and plays with a broomstick is a chivalrous one. Mr. Chesterton has defended the institution of marriage against the advocates of divorce, and has...

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PATHWAYS TO CHRISTIAN UNITY.*

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TRLS is one of those religious works, of which there are so many, which, thoughtful and well intentioned as they are, leave us in doubt what the writers would be at. For there...

POETS AND POETRY.

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MR. HARVEY'S VERSE.* MR. HARVEY has drunk at the same well as Mr. Harold Monro, whose delightful pieces of realism and pseudo-realism, " The Dog " and " Man Carrying a Bale,"...

READABLE NOVELS.--Shepherd's Warning. By Eric Lead- bitter. (Allen and Unwin.

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7s. net.)—A most idyllic and charming country story on Mr. Eric Leadbitter's usual lines. The tragedy of the helplessness of age has seldom been more faithfully rendered than in...

FICTION.

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THE SWORD OF LOVE4 Tug vogue of historical romance has been affected by the tremendous realities of the last six years. But already there are signs of a return to old and...

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SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Notice is this column does not necessarily preclude subsequeid review.] Of the Imitation of Christ. By Thomas ii Kempis. The Edith Cavell Edition. (H. Milford. 2s. 6d....

The Bulletin for 1919 of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,

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contains, amongst much interesting matter, an illustrated account of the new flagstaff which was erected on October 18th last. This remarkable present from British, Columbia is...

By Elizabeth Mott. (Hutchinson. 4s. net.) Clouds and the Sun.

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By Eliot Crawshay-Williams. (Allen and Unwin. 2s. 6d. net.)—The poet did not hold with the war," and therefore his thoughts are troubled.—The Gate of Bronze. By T. W. Earp....

The Geographical Journal for March contains a most inter- esting

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paper on Southern Najd by Mr. H. St. J. B. Philby, of the Indian Civil Service, the only living European who has crossed Southern Arabia from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea....

The Black Sheep of the Balkans. By Leland Buxton. (Nisbet.

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4s. 6d. net.)—It is the habit of Englishmen to sympathize with the weaker side and the defeated party, irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the case. The interest excited by...

It is difficult to imagine anything more admirably practical than

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the handbook on Nursery Schools which has just been published by Messrs. Bale, Sons, and Danielsson (5s. net). It contains the official Reports and recommendations, so that the...

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Flag and Fleet. By William Wood. (Macmillan. 3s. net,)— This

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very readable sketch of.the history of the British Navy up to the final scuttling of the interned High Sea Fleet at Scapa has been written by a Canadian author for Canadian...

The Black Letter Days in the Prayer Book Calendar. By

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George Worley. (Cope and Fenwick. 4s. net.)—Few Church- men know the stories of all the lesser saints in the English Calendar, so that Mr. Worley's modest compilation will...

The Life and Work of Sir Hiram Maxim. By P.

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Fleury Mottelay. (Lane. 7s. 6d. net.)—This little book contains a brief Memoir, an appreciative Introduction by Lord Moulton, and chapters of a technical nature on Sir Hiram...

The New Germany. By George Young. (Constable. Ss. net.)—The temper

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of this curious book, by a Daily News corre- spondent, may be judged from the following sentence : " In the Jehad we have just fought against Germany, the low material object of...

Three Crops a Year : Romance of the " Wonder

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Plot." By W. G. Moore and Alfred Smith. (Romance Publishing Com- pany, 53 Sydenham Park, S.E. 26. 2s. 6d, net.)—Mr. Moore in 1917 began to cultivate a small piece of waste land...

Army General and Commercial. College, Cologne Notes Past sad Present.

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(W. H. Smith and Son, and Wyman and Sons. ls. 6d.)—The mere title of this attractive publication arrests attention. The British Army is not only on the Rhine, but is so well...

David Williams, Founder of the Royal Literary. Fund. By E.

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V. Lucas. (Murray. 2s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Lucas's attractive memoir of. David Williams is here reprinted from the Quarterly Review and followed by a pleasant survey of the oratory at...

We may call attention to an attractive pamphlet, issued by

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the Village Centres Council at 31 Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C. 2, which contains the first Annual Report on the Enham Village Centre, near Andover. At this centre a hundred and...

A Short History of Celtic Philosophy. By IL M. Pim.

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(Dundalk : W. Tempest. 7s. 6d. net)—Part of this work consists of an exposition, brief and necessarily incomplete but sound within its limits, of the philosophic work of John...