25 FEBRUARY 1905

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The Russian revolutionaries have begun to fulfil their threat of

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carrying on their " war" with the dynasty by the bullet, the knife, and the hand-grenade filled with lyddite. Their first victim has been the Grand Duke Sergius, the uncle of...

the victim, who was the most hated man in Russia,

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as from a belief that no member of the house of Romanoff is safe, the Revolutionary Committee possessing agents who will give their lives for the destruction of the dynasty....

The air is full of rumours of peace, none of

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them well authenticated, though one set of them is believed wholly or in part by Reuter's agents in St. Petersburg. No one with authority to speak for Tokio gives them full...

There is as yet no proof that these terms are

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any- thing but gossip, that the Czar would accept them, or that the decision to try one more great battle has been in any way abandoned. We note that one explanation of the...

O F news from the front there is none to record.

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This does not show, however, that nothing is happening, but merely that tha wires are not allowed to carry Press telegrams. Doubtless the J apanese are busy preparing for...

The " Zemski Sobor," which, it is rumoured, the Czar

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intends to summon, is an Assembly of Notables, con- sisting of nobles, merchants, priests, and peasants, nominated by the County Councils. It has been called three or four times...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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The Report of the North Sea Commission will not be

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officially given to the world till to-day, but Thursday's and Friday's papers are full of forecasts, which all declare that the Commission will report that in the circumstances...

The American Senate continues its struggle with President Roosevelt. It

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has made amendments in the proposed Agree- ments to arbitrate which nullify them, as each treaty would then have to undergo a further ratification by the Senate before it o mild...

In the House of Lords on Tuesday the Duke of

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Bedford called attention to the condition of the Militia in a very able and suggestive speech. The general effect of his words was to show the absurdity of the Secretary of...

The Chinese labour amendment on the Address was moved in

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the House of Commons on Friday week. Dr. Macnamara, Mr. H. Samuel, and Major Seely dwelt chiefly on the intrinsic wrongfulness of the scheme—the attempt to keep isolated and...

In the House of Lords on Monday Lord Meath appealed

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to the Government to appoint a War Office and Board of Education Inter-Departmental or other Committee to con- sider and report on the best means of carrying into effect such...

So splendidly self-confident and so evidently sincere was Mr. Arnold-Forster

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in his belief that he could and would give the nation the Army it needs, that the House, as it listened, almost believed with him that things talked about are things done. Here,...

On Wednesday and Thursday nights the House of Commons was

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occupied with an Army debate raised by Captain Norton and Major Seely. We cannot find space to deal with the discussion in detail, and will therefore confine ourselves to Mr....

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The important point brought out by the correspondence read in

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the third debate of the week was that Sir Antony MacDonnell stipulated that be should have "adequate opportunities of influencing the policy and acts of the Irish...

Mr. F. A. Channing, the Liberal Member for East Northamptonshire,

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has published a very interesting article in the Kettering Leader of February 10th on the political situation. While the first condition of safety is, in Mr. Chalming's opinion,...

The inquest on Lieutenant Skinner and five members of the

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crew who lost their lives in the deplorable accident on Submarine AS on February 16th was held at Queenstown on Saturday last. The submarine had finished taking in petrol from...

The MacDonell affair has haunted Parliament throughout the week. It

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was debated in the House of Lords on Friday, February 17th, and on Monday and Tuesday Mr. Redmond made his Home-rule amendment the vehicle for raising a discussion on the...

The polling in the Everton division of Liverpool, which took

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place on Wednesday, resulted as follows :—Mr. Banner (C.), 3,854; Mr. Aggs (L.), 2,543; Conservative majority, 1,311. In 1892 the Conservative majority was 1,789. Since then the...

Captain Johnson, of the London Rifle Brigade, sends to the

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Times of Monday a detailed report of an exhaustive series of trials of the new short rifle carried out at Bisley on the 11th inst. by seven rifle-shots of the greatest...

We may add that on Thursday, in reply to further

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questions Mr. Wyndham reiterated that no change had been made in the conditions under which Sir Antony MacDonnell held his post, but refused to admit that the situation was...

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D URING the past few weeks several attempts have been made

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in the Press to " draw " the Liberal leaders on the subject of the Japanese Alliance. They have been challenged, indeed, in explicit terms to state whether or not they mean to...

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T would have taxed the gloomy power of Tacitus, that

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supreme master of the condensed eloquence for which scarcely any language but the Roman is an adequate vehicle, to describe accurately the present con- dition of the Russian...

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W E cannot profess to feel any acute sense of pity

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about the position in which the Government have placed themselves owing to their handling of the MacDonell affair. They have only got what they deserved in the matter of public...

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I T is liberty that Russia wants rather than Parliamentary government,

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and we can hardly wonder that Liberals and officials alike stumble over their rough drafts of possible Constitutions. It is inability to speak, to write, to move, and to pray...

Page 8

It is satisfactory to learn that between 1898 and 1902

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there was a slight rise in the average weekly earnings,— including under this head the value of allowances in kind. In England the ordinary labourer earned in the former year...

Page 9

T WO books dealing with religion and morals written by M.

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Guyau have lately made a great stir in the intellectual circles of Paris ; indeed, among the cultivated all the world over. The first, published in 1903, is called " Esquisse...

Page 10

THE WISDOM OF CHILDREN.

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O F all the admirable arguments which may be brought forward for retaining the examination system as one of the pillars of education, one at least is convincing, and that is...

Page 11

THE PRAISE OF CRESSES.

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F LOWING springs, and especially the upper waters of the chalk streams, bubbling up from the bases of the millions of tons of superincumbent downs in which these waters have...

Page 12

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] Sra, — Let us distinguish amongst

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the seats now held by the thirty Free-trade Unionists. Where it is probable that, if a Liberal stood, the seat might be lost to a Protectionist, it would, as a choice of evils,...

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PROTECTIONIST FORECASTS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—We are

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frequently told that some of the forecasts of Cobden have not been verified. The fact remains that the balance of ill, as compared with the balance of good, which resulted from...

THE MANNING OF THE MERCANTILE MARINE. 130 THE EDITOR OP

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THE "SPEOTATOR.1 SIR,—In taking advantage of your kindly promise to publish another letter from me giving details of the scheme which I foreshadowed in your columns on February...

SIR,—There is one side of this question which I have

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not seen touched,—the claim of Unionist Free-traders who are disposed to vote for Liberal candidates to look for some reciprocity. I, for instance, am a Free-trade Unionist who...

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ARTICLES OF WAR.

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[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] Siu,—Is not Canon Beeching's misquotation of the Twenty- second Article liable to the imputation of being addressed ad captandum vulgus ?...

THE NEW SHORT RIFLE.

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[To THY EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] you grant me the favour of space in your valuable paper for the following P In the Spectator of February 11th, in the article on " The...

[TO THE EDITOR OF TER "SPECTATOR. " ] SIR, — If the intention of

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the framers of the Thirty-nine Articles was in any sense pacific, it will certainly not be forwarded by the offensive letter in which a certain Canon of Westminster, ad...

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OXFORD EPIGRAMS.

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[TO T1111 EDITOR OP THB " BPROPLTOR.1 Sin,—Some sallies ascribed to a Bursar of Worcester College half-a-century ago have recently occurred to me. Seeing a strange lady in the...

POETRY.

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CLOUD CHORUSES. STROPHE. (Aristophanes, “Nnbes," vv. 275 : 290.) CLOUDS, ever drifting, Streaming and shifting, From our deep-tongued father Ocean's presence Rise we now, our...

ART.

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WHISTLER AT THE NEW G A TiLERY. THE impression produced by the Exhibition of paintings, pastels, etchings, and lithographs of Whistler is not only great but homogeneous. In...

CHEAP COTTAGES EXHIBITION FUND.

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WE acknowledge the following additional contributions made through the Spectator to the above Fund, and have forwarded them to the County Gentleman:— Miss Alice E. Busk 22 2 0 1...

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BOOKS.

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MR. BALFOUR AS A MAN OF LETTERS.* A STATESMAN, especially if he has an original cast of mind and a clearly marked personality, must always stand at some slight disadvantage...

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AUBREY DE VERE.* WHBN Mr. Aubrey de Yere published his

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Recollections, his friends complained that be had omitted to speak of him- self, the most interesting to them of all his many intimates. The omission, which was eminently...

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HALL'S 'HENRY *

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WE congratulate Messrs. Jack on their new enterprise of publishing, in a handsome modern form, the old. Chronicles of the Kings of England. The series is certain to be popular,...

DILL'S " ROMAN SOCIETY FROM NERO TO MARCUS AURELIUS."*

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THE century which separates Nero from Marcus Aurelius is of exceptional interest. The monster or mountebank who ruled the world when it opened was the " Caesar " to whom St....

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The Torchbearers. By Mary Bradford Whiting. (J. M. Dent and

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Co. 4s. 6d. net.)—Intending readers of Miss Whiting's novel, The Torchbearers, should at once be warned that unless they take a considerable interest in modern Italian politics,...

THouGn not comparable in literary skill or power with the

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Ghetto studies of Mr. Zangwill, Mr. Lessing's fragmentary sketches, in spite of their sordid surroundings and generally sombre tone, have a directness of appeal—the result of...

C URRENT LITERAT URE.

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. FACTS AND IDEAS. in the columns of various local weekly newspapers, where, as we are not surprised to learn, they have " found favour with a large circle of readers." We wish...

Sophy Bunce. By Thomas Cobb. (Eveleigh Nash. 6s.)—Mr. Cobb's new

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story depends for its interest entirely on the character of the heroine, and unfortunately that young lady is composed of such contradictory elements that it is rather difficult...

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Essays in Puritanism. By Andrew Macphail. (T. Fisher Unwin. 6s.)—Mr.

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Macphail is of an iconoclastic temper ; but it is not against idols that his hand is raised. Really groat things and men he reverences. His book has many attractions ; one of...

The Dickensian, Edited by B. W. Matz (Chapman and Hall,

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Ss.), is "a magazine for Dickens lovers," and is published by the Dickens Fellowship. It contains things new and old about Dickens and his writings. Sir W. H. Bailey writes on...

Shrines of British Saints. By J. Charles Wall. (Methuen and

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Co. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Wall is doubtless right in declining to subject to a critical test the legendary matter which he has collected, along with other things, in this volume ; in...

Letters from India during the Mutiny and Waziri Campaigns. By

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Colonel John Chalmers. (T. and A. Constable, Edinburgh.)— John Chalmers was an engineer in the service of the Honourable East India Company when the Mutiny broke out, became a...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Under this heading we notice such nooks of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] A Sketch of the Licensing Act of 1904. By Sir H. S. Cunningham. A...

Radium Explained. By Dr. W. Hampson. (T. C. and E.

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C. Jack. ls. net.)—We cannot attempt to put into the small space available any epitome of Dr. Hampson's highly concentrated account of radium. What this marvellous substance...

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The Municipal Year Book. Edited by Robert Donald. (E. Lloyd.

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3s. 6d. net.)-This volume contains, as may be supposed, a vast amount of information about the management of municipal affairs in all the cities throughout the United Kingdom....