comment jocular and otherwise, on the talk of the United States annexing Canada. President Taft, who lost no time in dissociating himself from the Chauvinism of Mr. Champ Clark...

suggestion that the Swiss can take a poll of the people because they are a smell country, while we cannot take one because we are a large country. Such reasoning would apply...

fact that the Leaders of 'the Opposition have already expressed most clearly their willingness to accept reasonable proposals for strictly limiting the powers of the Upper...

has unexpectedly been completed and has been pre. seated to the United States Senate, the Foreign Affairs Committee of which has reported favourably upon it. The Washingtoi...

T HE most important event of the week is the announcement made on Wednesday by Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords that he intends, at an early date, to introduce a Bill for...

made byLord Balfour of Burleigh, also dealt with by us elsewhere, that he intends on Thursday to introduce a Bill setting forth the manner in which certain Bills may be referred...

case.

Turkish Chamber. His polite references to French friendship tend to bear out the reports that a new Turkish loan is soon to be issued in France, and that French contracts will...

of Commons by Mr. Asquith. After pointing out that the Bill was identical with that introduced last year, he gave a history of the events leading up to its introduction. The...

Mr. Hob- house announced that before long the total cost of old-age pensions would be £12,700,000. We cannot refrain from pointing out once more that when Mr. Asquith originally...

in Berlin, and the German Emperor at- tended the meeting yesterday week and made a most amusing speech, in which he described the reclamation of marsh lands on his estate at...

explanation. He apologised, indeed, to "Mr. Wedgwood for having published the letter, but went on to say that, as it was not marked "private," he sent it to the Press. "in...

alterations in connection with the financial arrangements for the current year. The surplus for the year 1909-10 was expected to be £4,300,000, instead of £2,970,000 as was...

long despatch to Monday's issue on the prosecution of Senhor Franco, the ex-Dictator, before the Supreme Court of Lisbon. The trial resulted in his acquittal, on the ground that...

a statement about the letter written to Mr. Ginnell in which he had charged the Speaker with partiality in choosing speakers in the debates. It will be remembered that this...

Western Railway in France since it was taken over by the State two years ago have caused a reconstruction of the management which is explained in the Times of Monday. The Paris...

" Rural Denmark and its Lessons " appear in last Saturday's Times. After noting the enormous mischief done in this country by rats, and the public danger caused by...

wound up by Mr. Churchill, who began by denying the responsibility of the Liberal Party for causing the conflict. He went on to comment upon the popularity of the Parlia- ment...

that the General Election had been fought entirely upon the Parliament Bill, and went on to say that the tradi- tional view was that the nation was represented not by the House...

in the Lords on Wednesday by the Duke of Bedford. The War Office returns showed that the expeditionary force could not be maintained on the basis of the numbers repre- sented by...

Home Secretary for a public inquiry into the conduct of the Metropolitan Police towards the militant suffragists on the three days of their last demonstra- tion—November 18th,...

pointed out that we were the only first-class country in the world where a Single Chamber could attempt to destroy the Second Chamber by a bare majority. " The Veto Bill gave...

Feb. 16th. Consols (21) were on Friday 80i—Friday week 801.

A SUGGESTION FOR COMPROMISE. T HE debate on the first reading of the Parliament Bill has been beneficial. It has shown us the real point at issue and what are the reasons which...

W E record with the utmost satisfaction that Lord Lansdowne gave notice on Wednesday that he will, at an early date, bring forward a Bill for amending the constitution of the...

as much as they would lose by coming to blows, and we hope that the conciliatory answer of China to the Russian ultimatum is an earnest of a long spell of friendliness yet to...

A T the end of the present year the Postmaster-General will take over the whole of the vast business now in the hands of the National Telephone Company, and will then become...

"THIS book was intended for the use of poor families which have neither money to buy many nor time to read them." So wrote Richard Baxter, 239 years ago, when he sent the "Poor...

TN1908 Parliament passed an Act known as the Prevention of Crime Act. It was introduced by Lord Gladstone, who was then Home Secretary, and it is only now that we are learning...

rpHE Enborne Valley is safe, at the expense of Weybridge, 1 Staines, Walton, and their neighbours." So wrote a correspondent to the Spectator last week, in reference to the...

MR. STEPHEN GWYNN AND TOLERATION. [To Sr. EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] desire to set down as fairly as I can the facts about the share given by Unionists to Nationalists and by...

[To Tan EDITOR OP ran "SPECTATOlt."] Ssu,—The attack must be dangerous indeed when the Spectator finds it necessary to resort to an historical caricature in its defence of the...

rTo THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.1 Sir.,—The M'Cann case will, I hope, open the eyes of the English public to what the Irish Protestants may expect under Home Rule. They will...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Srn, — I think your readers may be interested by the following quotation from Dryden's " Absalom and Achitophel," which seems to me...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Stu,—The recent death of Mr. John Dennis at the advanced age of eighty-six should not be passed unnoticed by your constant readers. As the...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTITOR."1 SIR,—Much has been urged against the occasional resort to a " Poll of the People " upon the legislative proposals of the Government of the...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPEOTATOR."] SIR.—May I enter a protest against the Spectator's strange suggestion (February 18th) that Members of Parliament who have pledged themselves...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR...] SIR,—The Spectator of February 18th, in a review of " A Treasury of Elizabethan Lyrics," quotes from that book a poem beginning " Yet if His...

[TO THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—You may have noticed the public announcement of a new coinage, the inscription on which purports to limit the rule of his Majesty King...

[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent " F. W. B." in last week's issue alludes to one change which has occurred in Cockney dialect since the days of Leech...

MUSICAL ENGLAND. A CERTAIN section of the English musical world is periodi- cally smitten with a desire to feel its pulse and inquire into its condition, activity, and...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. " SIB,—In your issue of February 11th there is an article on "The Rat Problem," towards the end of which, on page 211, you say that " the...

MANCHESTER v. THIRTMERE. WITH suppliant air she came to plead For thirsty souls beneath her sway; We had compassion on her need And let her bear our springs away. And so...

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 mode of...

ANGLO-AMERICAN MEMORIES.* 'THESE reminiscences of a long life spent partly in the 'United States and partly in England have appeared already in the New York Tribune, of which...

THE historical articles in the first sixteen volumes of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica " cover a variety of important subjects, and include the articles on " English History," "...

the best instance we have lately met with of history written to prove a thesis. One merit all such attempts possess : they have a unity which is lacking in ordinary historical...

Mn. Lucas begins his book with the confession that the ob- ject which he proposed to himself at starting has proved to be beyond attainment. He meant to draw the story of Lord...

A. BOOK which is romantic without being sentimental is to-day a rare phenomenon. The very meaning of Romance seems almost lost in a world which wavers from a sham romanticism to...

Ma. CATLING began his working life some sixty years ago by " taking off " in the printing house of the Cambridge Chronicle. This is the way in which a paper was printed in those...

are, as might be expected, of entrancing interest. Dr. Grenfell begins with some curiosities of Labrador ways, habits, and beliefs. The Eskimo have "virtually vanished from the...

• rlib, LONE HEIGHTS." • Mn. NEUMAN, whose name is not unfamiliar to our * readers, has given us an extremely interesting if not altogether satisfying novel in The Lone...

Rouse Ball and T. A. Venn. (Macmillan and Co. 21s. net.) —This is one of five volumes which are to include all the admis- sions to Trinity College and to the academical...

good story of Sedan and after, with a mystery which does not easily explain itself. Some Experiences of a Political Agent. (Mills and Boon, 6s.)—A glimpse behind the scenes of...

(John Murray. 15s. net.)—The period taken in is about 240 years, the starting point being the siege of Tangier (1662) and the terminus ad quern the beginning of the reign of...

Dent and Co.) we have two plays, The Merchant of 'Venice and As You Like It, arranged by Alfred Perceval Graves, 9d. net per vol In his introduction Mr. Graves laments the...

Playfair stumbles upon the secret of some great people, without really knowing what it is, and makes a very good thing out of it, if it is a very good thing to become Professor...

[17nder this heading we notice such Books of the week 55 have not ken reserved for regime in other forms.] Getting on : the Confessions of a Publisher. By John Adams Thayer. (T....

gives an interesting article on the " Law and the Press," a subject on which some clear thinking is necessary What with speculative plaintiffs on one side and bold purveyors of...

may be mentioned together : in "Pitman's Modern Library of Practical Information " (Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons)—The Householder's Guide to the Law, ls. net, and The Householder's...

7s. 61) appears for the forty-fifth time. It contains the usual information about numbers polled at the last and at previous elections, for the sake of comparison. It gives also...

Deane, M.A., and W. A. Evans, M.A., (Year Book Press. 3s. 6d. net.) is the "official book of reference of the Head Masters' Conference." It contains particulars of schools, the...

With 103 illustrations by John Flaxman. (Henry Frowde. 5s., India paper ; 3s. 6d., ordinary.)--Beowulf and the Finnsburg Fragment. Translation into Modern English prose by John...