25 FEBRUARY 1899

Page 1

The State funeral of President Faure went off on Thurs -

The Spectator

day excellently well. The pageant„ with its long pro- cession of all the eminent persons in France and repre- sentatives of all Europe, from the Elysee to Notre Dame, the vast...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

The Spectator

A NEW President of the French Republic has been elected without trouble or confusion. The two Chambers met at 1 p.m. on Saturday last at Versailles, and it was evident from the...

We have given elsewhere our impression of M. Loubet, and

The Spectator

need only add here that he keeps on M. Dupuy as Premier for the present, that he permits him to go on with his Bill superseding the Criminal Chamber in favour of the whole Court...

The insurrection in Luzon is obviously serious. Aguinaldo has issued

The Spectator

a proclamation stating that the Filipinos prefer even Spaniards to Americans, and plainly ordering a massacre of the latter, and on Wednesday the insurgents endeavoured to act...

The Pretenders were nowhere during the election. They were, in

The Spectator

fact, disconcerted by the rapidity with which the devolution of executive power was effected. The Bonapartists announced in the Congress that they should not vote, and twenty...

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

The Spectator

case.

Page 2

On Saturday the House of Commons debated Mr. Field's amendment

The Spectator

advocating the purchase of Irish railways by the State in order to get rid of their admitted inefficiency. Mr. Gerald Balfour with good reason—and here he was supported by Mr....

The protracted crisis in Hungary is over for the day.

The Spectator

Baron Banffy has resigned, as was predicted by the Times correspondent some weeks ago, but his successor, M. Koloman Szell, is still not firm in the saddle. He is supported by...

Arbitration seems to be a difficult mode of settling inter-

The Spectator

national disputes. The "British and American Joint High Commission" for settling everything in dispute between the United States and Canada has adjourned its sittings to August...

The controversy over the remains of the Mabdi, and as

The Spectator

to whether all or only part of those remains were thrown into the Nile, strikes us as somewhat absurd. When bodies are daily dissected, skeletons freely sold, and pieces of...

England and France are once more jarring. The Govern- ment

The Spectator

of Paris, moved by some occult influence, recently demanded of the Sultan of Oman, who rules from Muscat the whole southern coast of Arabia, that he should lease them a...

There have been sensational rumours during the week of revival

The Spectator

of the Khalifa's power and of an advance in force on Omdurman, but they rest on no solid foundation. The facts, as stated in the House on Thursday, are that on February 5th...

The debate on the distress in the West was continued

The Spectator

on Monday night, when Mr. Lecky pointed out that it was not the Government or the landlords who were to blame for the distress, but the Atlantic Ocean. The peasants of the West...

Page 3

In the House of Lords on Monday last Lord James

The Spectator

of Hereford introduced the Government Bill dealing with the subject of moneylending. Under the Bill every person who is a moneylender will be registered, so that he will not be...

The Daily News on Thursday published a summary of the

The Spectator

new volume of Bismarckiana issued by Herr von Poschinger. These reminiscences show the Chancellor to have been the most intrepid trencherman of modern times. His voracity, of...

The Italian Ambassador, who presided at a dinner of the

The Spectator

Italian Chamber of Commerce in London on Wednesday evening, delivered an interesting, and even surprising, speech on the present financial situation in Italy. Though admitting...

On Thursday Mr. Balfour introduced the London Local Government Bill

The Spectator

into the House of Commons. The main fact about the Bill is that it does not touch either the City or the County Council, but is devoted solely to the improvement and...

On Tuesday Mr. Lewis invited the House of Commons to

The Spectator

declare that the Bishops should no longer sit in the House of Lords. Lord Hugh Cecil, who replied, while he displayed real width of view as well as power, not only argued that...

On the same evening Mr. Davitt made what is now

The Spectator

a "common form" attack on the Government in regard to the poverty of the West of Ireland, and produced the equally " common form " proposal for a remedy in the shape of...

Grave fears have been entertained throughout the week for the

The Spectator

safety of Mr. Rudyard Kipling. Mr. Kipling, who is in New York, exposed himself during the recent blizzard, and was struck down with a sharp attack of influenza. The latest...

Bank Rate, 3 per cent.

The Spectator

New Consols (24) were on Friday, 1111.

Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The Spectator

M. LOTTBET. T HE majority in the French Assembly have cliosen a President as a weak English Premier chooses a Bishop. They have looked about for a " safe " man, and, as they...

NONCONFORMISTS AND THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

The Spectator

I T is a matter of sincere congratulation that Lord Hugh Cecil by the seriousness and good-sense of his speech on the question of the Bishops and the House of Lords was able to...

Page 5

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. T HE shout of a reporter in the gallery,

The Spectator

which during the election to the French Presidency shattered for an instant the decorous monotony of the proceedings, ex- pressed, we incline to believe, a great political...

Page 6

RAILWAYS AND COMPETITION.

The Spectator

1 HE question of competition among railways and of the public benefits conferred by that competition has been brought into considerable prominence during the past week. The...

Page 7

THE BILL AGAINST MONEYLENDERS.

The Spectator

E have a strong impression that Parliament will pass half the Bill against moneylenders described on Monday by Lord James, but under stress of discussion will ultimately reject...

Page 8

THE CONGESTION OF LONDON.

The Spectator

S IR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEY is a bold man. In his attack upon the cabs he had the masses behind him. It is the classes that use them, and it is the masses that are inconvenienced...

Page 9

THE VALUE OF CEREMONIAL.

The Spectator

M LOUBET is determined, it is said, not to imitate his • predecessor in seeking to assume an artificial dignity, but to live among his friends, and especially among Senators and...

Page 10

DETRACTION AND ADULATION.

The Spectator

T HERE are two injuries to which mankind in general, but especially public men, are exposed which are exactly opposite in character, but both of which exercise an evil...

Page 11

THE FASCINATION OF ANIMALS.

The Spectator

C OMMENTING on the instance of apparent fascination in a peacock stalked by a leopard, described in the Spectator of February 18th, a correspondent says :—" About five miles...

Page 12

[To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-1 venture to

The Spectator

doubt whether Mr. Evelyn Ashley's "soothing syrup," to quote the phrase he uses in his letter advocating the transfer of public land in the Forest for sewage disposal and other...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

The Spectator

THE NEW FOREST. [To THE EDITOR OF THE .4 SPECTATOR.") Sin,—The remedy is sometimes much worse than the com- plaint. The Official Verderer of the New Forest writes to you that...

Page 13

• THE CRISIS IN THE CHURCH.

The Spectator

(To THE EDITOR 01 THE "SPICTATOR."] SIR —I see in the Spectator of February 18th an appeal to Christian charity with respect to this so-called crisis. (Every age is critical to...

THE ARCHBISHOP'S PROPOSAL.

The Spectator

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR '1 presume that the passage in the Prayer-book upon which the Archbishop of Canterbury relies as giving authority to the Courts he proposes to...

THE THREATENED RAILWAY MONOPOLY.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIE,—In a note in the Spectator of February 18th you call attention to the serious questions involved in the proposed amalgamation of the...

Page 14

PERICLES AND MR. GLADSTONE.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Mirabean, says Macaulay, "was fond of giving odd compound nicknames. Thus, M. de Lafayette was Grandison- Cromwell; the King of...

THE PROMOTER IN PARLIAMENT.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIB. —To prohibit "M.P.'s " from holding directorships would be unwise, if it were possible, but might not something be done towards...

STORMY PETRELS' NESTS.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In the islands off the West Irish Coast your correspon- dent, Mr. Stone, has only found stormy petrels living in burrows made by other...

Page 15

UNITARIANS IN THE CHURCH.

The Spectator

[ro THE EDITOR OP THE "SPFCrATOR."] SIR, — In your article on " Wholesale Conversion " in the Spectator of February 14th, you say there are "thousands of Unitarians within the...

[To Tag EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sin,—The reference in your

The Spectator

review of Mr. Macdonagh's book in the Spectator of February 18th to the characteristic of the Irish to amuse themselves at the expense of the Saxon reminds me of the following...

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD'S PLAN.

The Spectator

[To THZ EDITOR OP TER " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—As Lord Charles Beresford will not arrive in England until next month, and is therefore unable to defend his plan for British policy...

THE " WHITE MAN'S BURDEN."

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP 2IS " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The mingled pathos and patriotism of the enclosed inscription is an English parallel to the Highland record in last week's...

IRISH LIFE AND CHARACTER.

The Spectator

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR.1 SIR,—The reviewer of Mr. Macdonagh's book, in the Spectator of February 18th relates an amusing experience of a Donegal critic and a "...

Page 16

FACES.

The Spectator

[To THE RD/TOE OP THE " SPECTATOR." Stn,—In the Spectator of August 3rd, 1889, in an article called "In Praise of Idleness," I wrote : " The legibility of the marvellous record...

A CORRECTION.

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SprenToR."] SIR,—I hope that the other allusions in your very interest- ing article in the Spectator of February 18th on " Wholesale Conversion" are more...

[TO TUE EDITOR OP THE " SP ECT AT OR

The Spectator

." ] SIR,—In the review of Sir Robert Peel's Life in the Spectator of February 18th your reviewer, in speaking of the defenceless state of the country in 1846, says that the...

SIR ROBERT PEEL

The Spectator

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—The writer of your concluding notice of the Life of Sir Robert Peel in the Spectator of February 18th must, I think, be unaware of the...

Page 17

TUESDAY NIGHT'S DEBATE.

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OP THY "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,--I suppose that Lord Hugh Cecil is not old enough to remember that the late John Bright once spoke of a " spiritual Peer" as " a...

BOOKS.

The Spectator

THE SEPOY MUTINY.* No event in the world's history was ever so fruitful of romantic heroism as the Sepoy Mutiny. Its literature, authentic and imaginative, is already vast, and...

LORD BEACONSFIELD AND THE INFLUENZA.

The Spectator

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—We are undergoing another visitation of the malady known as influenza, and supposed by many people to be of recent growth. The...

POETRY.

The Spectator

LINES TO AN ANTI-SEMITE. STAND! as God saw thee of old time We see and know thee now : The brand of nnforgotten crime Still black upon thy brow. That mark, Eternal Justice...

Page 18

ZOROASTER.*

The Spectator

THIS work on Zoroaster is an expression of the vigorous learning now being cultivated in the larger American Univer- sities, and it is,",indeed, a monument of exact research. It...

Page 19

A STUDY OF A CHILD.* HOWEVER unreservedly we may regard

The Spectator

the classic dictum, "Know thyself," as the master-key of most departments of human knowledge, there is one at least in which the utility of its application is distinctly...

Page 20

TWO GREAT POPES OF THE RENAISSANCE.*

The Spectator

THis book is a notable addition to those uninterrupted annexations of Italian ground whereby German learning has attained its acknowledged primacy in one of the most...

Page 21

NOVELS OF THE WEEK.*

The Spectator

THE keynote of The Procession of Life—a worthy successor to Mr. Vachell's A Drama in Sunshine—is struck in a fine scene when the hero, a ranchero in California, announces his...

Page 23

George Morland. By J. T. Nettleship. "Portfolio Series." (Seeley and

The Spectator

Co. 59.)—Mr. Nettleship looks upon Morland as the great pioneer of the art which deals with the common life of the country. He even goes so far as to suggest that Millet was the...

The Catalogue of the T - Eguare Club.—It is with great interest

The Spectator

that we have looked at the architectural drawings in the Catalogue of the exhibition of the T-Square Club of Philadelphia. The interest of American architecture is great. In...

CURRENT LITERATURE.

The Spectator

ART•BOOKS. Gainsborough and his Place in English Art. By Walter Armstrong. (W. Heinemann. J85 5s.)—The author is to be congratulated on producing what will probably be...

London Impressions. Etchings and Pictures in Photogravure by W. Hyde,

The Spectator

and Essays by Alice Meynell. (A. Constable and Co. .23 884—These pictures of London are of a high order. We need go no further than the title-page to find this out. Here we see...

Page 24

Mr. Willard's History of Modern Italian Art (Longmans and Co.,

The Spectator

18s.) is somewhat depressing. In turning over the pages and in looking at the illustrations, it is impossible not to exclaim, "How are the mighty fallen." It seems sad that the...

The Frank Lockwood Sketch Book. (Edward At gold. 10e 6d

The Spectator

)- The sketches which the late Sir Frank Lockwood poured out with such facility have undeniable humour. They are not like the drawings of many caricaturists, where the humour...

Short Sketches of Long Romances. (Simpkin and Co. 6d.) — The anonymous

The Spectator

author has compressed the Arthurian Legend, the Nibelungenlied, the Song of Roland, the Cid, Amadis of Gaul, and Orlando Folios° into a book of thirty-six pages, measuring 4 in....

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

The Spectator

[Under this Heading we intend to notice such Hooks of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Volcanoes: their Structure and Origin. By T. G. Bonney,...

Chinese Porcelain. By W. G. Gulland. With Notes by T.

The Spectator

J. Larkin. (Chapman and Hall. 10s. 6d.)—This is a fully illus- trated handbook treating the subject technically from the earliest known specimens of the art down to the present...

Ruskin : Rossetti: Preraphaelitisin — Papers 1854 to 1862. (George Allen. 103.

The Spectator

6d.)—These letters and extracts from diaries have been arranged by Mr. W. M. Rossetti. who has supplied interesting notes wherever they were wanted. There are a number of D. G....

The Story of Marco Polo. By Noah Brooks. (John Murray.

The Spectator

6s.)—Mr. Brooks has given us Marco Polo's adventures in a thoroughly readable form. He says that he " has made use of the erudite notes of fo rm. Henry Yule, C.B., whose...

George Markham : a Romance of the West. By Mrs.

The Spectator

Mayne Reid. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 2s. 6d.)—This is the story of an excellent young man who in a misguided moment married an elderly adventuress, and was wretched ever...

Page 25

MISCELLA.NEOUS.—The Science of Life, by J. Arthur Thomson, M.A. (Blackie

The Spectator

and Son, 2s. 6d.), is a book which gives in a popular form—it belongs to the " Victorian Era Series "—the history of biology, with a special view to its recent developments. It...

Trixotoarear., Booirs.The Prayer - book and the Christian Life. By Charles C.

The Spectator

Tiffany, D.D. (John Murray. 5s.)—Dr. Tiffany (who is Archdeacon of New York) gives us in this volume a very sound and moderate exposition of the general meaning of the Prayer-...

From Peking to St. Petersburg. By Arnot Reid. (E. Arnold.

The Spectator

7s. 6d.)—Mr. Reid, some of whose experiences of travel have already appeared in the Times and elsewhere, explains that he "is no explorer" but an "average indoors man." If that...

BOOKS or REFERENCE.—Tralford's County Families (Chatto and Winch's, 50s.) appears

The Spectator

for the thirty - ninth time. Of course, there are not a few families who can scarcely be included among " the titled and untitled aristocracy of England." A comparison of the...

Religion, by the Rev. W. C. E. Newbolt (Longmans and

The Spectator

Co., 5s.), is the first of a projected series to appear under the title of the "Oxford Library of Practical Theology," designed for the use of laymen, translating, to use the...

The Fourteenth Century, by J. F. Snell (W. Blackwood and

The Spectator

Sons, 5s. net). is one of the volumes of the series, " Periods of European Literature," appearing under the editorship of Pro- fessor Saintsbury. The great literary figures of...

Elements of the Science of Religion. By C. P. Tiele,

The Spectator

Th.D. Vol. II. (BlOckwood and Sons. 7s. 6d.net.)—Professor Tiele gives in his Toittme the second series of GiffsnAleeaures, delivered before the University of Edinburgh....

Page 26

Saw EDITIONS.—Armorial Families. Compiled and edited by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies.

The Spectator

(T. C. and E. C. Jack, Edinburgh.) —The editor writes a preface for this "third edition," in which he reasserts his position. He italicises, " I never put my book forward as...