25 JULY 1896

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Yesterday week Mr. Balfour delivered a masterly and very lively

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speech at a dinner of the United Club held in St. James's Hall, a speech which betrayed no sort of de- pression at the attacks recently rained upon him from all sides, and which...

The attack in force upon the Matabele strongholds in the

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Matoppo Hills was made by General Carrington on Sunday last. Unfortunately, however, the resistance of the natives was so stubborn that, though the attack was not in any sense a...

The Irish Land Bill will get through after all in

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spite of the little defeat, due no doubt to the Royal wedding of Wednesday, which the Government suffered on that day, when the clause (24) providing that money should be paid...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE English people love nothing better than a Royal wedding, and this week they have been indulging them- selves to the full, the greater number of them merely by talking and...

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

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case.

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Both Mr. Chamberlain and the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer

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gave eloquent expression on Wednesday night to their loyal admiration of Mr. Balfour. Mr. Chamberlain, in addressing the Cordwainers' Company, took occasion to say that nothing...

On Monday Mr. Balfour moved the suspension of the 12

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o'clock rule to the end of the Session, and intimated that it would be impossible to think of carrying either the Shop Hours Bill or the Benefices Bill this Session, or to take...

On Friday Lord Salisbury rose in his place in the

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House of Lords and drew attention to the Venezuelan papers. The negotiations were not complete, but they were advancing favourably and "with entire friendliness on the part of...

On Friday, July 17th, the correspondence between Lord Salisbury, Mr.

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Olney, and our Ambassador at Washington was laid before Parliament. We have dealt elsewhere with the arbitration proposals, but must notice here that part of the correspondence...

The full text of the Venezuelan case to be presented

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to the American Commission was published in Tuesday's Times. It is a moderately worded document and contains no reference to the Bull of Alexander VI. It begins by stating that...

On Jane 12th Mr. Olney replied, making several objections.. The

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Commission of four would be useless, because its decisions must either be unanimous or else three to one. Equal voting must result in a deadlock. Next, there was no attempt to...

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There is nothing much of importance to record in regard

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to the Presidential Election. A Populist Convention is sitting, and a great deal of wirepulling is going on to secure the nomination for Mr. Bryan, but up till Friday nothing...

The trial at Bar of Dr. Jameson and the officers

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associated -with him began on Monday last before the Lord Chief Justice, Baron Pollock, and Mr. Justice Hawkins. On the opening of the Court Sir Edward Clarke, Dr. Jameson's...

M. Edmond de Goncourt, the survivor of two distinguished brothers

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who were anxious to be thought the realists of French literature, died last week, and was buried on Tuesday at Auteuil. M. Zola delivered one of those orations at the grave...

Lord Rosebery made an interesting speech at Dumfries on Tuesday

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on the centenary of Burns's death. He quoted many of the poet's most memorable say ings,—some of them, as is quite natural, in one tone, and others in a very opposite tone, as,...

The Cape Assembly received the report of the Jameson Select

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Committee on July 17th. The Committee report that after a review of the evidence they have come to the conclu- sion that no Member of the Cape Ministry but Mr. Rhodes was privy...

The general conclusion come to by the Committee is as

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follows Upon these facts it would appear that Mr. Rhodes did not direct or approve of Dr. Jameson entering the territory of the South African Republic at the precise time when...

The revenue and expenditure returns of the German Empire for

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1895-96 show a surplus of nearly 12,000,000 marks, or £600,000, over the estimates, and this though a sum of 13,000,000 marks for reduction of the National Debt was part of the...

disorder had not the Captain of H.M.S. 'Hood' instantly despatched

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eight boatloads of blue-jackets and marines, with a three-pounder and Maxims. It is not stated whether the men were landed, but " their approach " is said to have "reassured the...

Bank Rate, 2 per cent.

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New Consols (2 1 1) were on Friday, 113-1 —1.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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MR. BALFOUR'S LEADERSHIP. T HE attacks on Mr. Balfour's leadership are very sharp and not always very intelligent. As for those which proceed from the Opposition they may in...

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ARBITRATION WITH AMERICA.

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W E are in sight of a general system of arbitration between England and America, and if Lord Salisbury will only have a little less fear of committing himself, and Mr. Olney...

THE FLYING RUMOURS.

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W E wonder who makes all the rumours, and still more, who inspires all the fond credulity with which they are received. From two quite different quarters,— though of course the...

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PRINCE BISMARCK AND THE POSITION OF ENGLAND.

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U NDER the heading, "Prince Bismarck and the Position of England," the Berlin correspondent of the Standard telegraphs to Tuesday's paper the chief portions of an article...

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THE SHREWSBURY CHURCH CONGRESS. T HERE was a time when the

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Anglican clergy were too much isolated in their parishes. There each man was king, and provided that he could go his own way without criticism or hindrance he was content to...

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RIVAL TRADE-UNIONS.

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O F lateyears there has been, or has appeared to be, so considerable a development of the sentiment of solidarity among Trade-Unions that many persons are likely to have...

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THE POWER OF WORDS.

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R.. BRYAN, as we pointed out last week, is one of those rare men who seem to have the power of leading men by phrases,—of stringing together a set of words whiob, for good or...

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CURE BY SUGGESTION.

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T HERE is a very interesting article by an American gentleman, Mr. C. M. Barrows, read at the meeting of the Society for Psychical Research at Westminster Town Hall last...

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YOUNG WILD BIRDS.

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B IRDS are so interesting to the outdoor naturalist in the spring, when they are singing, pairing, and building - their nests, and again in autumn when on their migration, that...

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EDMOND DE GONCOURT.

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E DMOND DE GONCOURT'S death rings down the curtain (so to say) upon the ancient school. A friend of Gavarni, a younger contemporary of Gautier, one of the five who dined at...

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ATHLETICS.

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[TO THE RDrroa OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—The discontent which has been visible in the Spectator for some weeks, beginning with the article on "Mind and Body," on May 30th, has...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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NEW ENGLAND AND FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE. [TO THE EDITOR OE THE " SpEcTATO$1 Malleson confuses the issue. The statement in the Spectator of July 4tb, which I ventured to...

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POETRY.

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THE BEES IN THE LIME-TREE.. WHEN the lime-tree is in flower, Summer knows one fairer hour, Than the Spring itself can show, While the may and lilac blow. From its tasselled...

CAT-STORIES.

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To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."J SIR. - 11. propos of the intelligent felines that have been lately appearing in your correspondence columns, I should like to be allowed to...

BOOKS•

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VIRGIL IN THE MIDDLE AGES.* THE younger Pliny tells us that Silius Italicus was wont ft visit the tomb of Virgil near Naples, as if it were a temple. Silins, whose birth was...

" BULLS."

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[To THE EDITOR or Tea " sprzurop..") SIR,—Will you permit an American subscriber to the Spectator (for thirty years) to add to your list of amusing " bulls " one perpetrated on...

[To Till EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR "J SIR, —The

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following true story fully bears out your belief in the intelligence of cats. A certain mother of the feline tribe strongly olij.2ct:-.d to the ribbon round ber kitten's...

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MR. GOSSE'S LITERARY PORTRAITS.* " WE are familiar," the author

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writes, " with pure criticism and pure biography, but what I have here tried to produce is a combination of the two, the life illustrated by the work, the work relieved by the...

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MRS. WOODS'S POEMS.*

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THERE is power enough in Mrs. Woods to furnish two or three poets with grim imaginative subjects, and such a grim drama as Wild Justice will haunt the memory of those who read...

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SIR FREDERIC LEIGHTON.* Turs volume, published shortly before the death

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of its subject, bears the title under which his name was most familiar. It follows two others dealing with Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Albert Moore, is of the same shape and...

THE REMINISCENCES OF AN IRISH PATRIOT.• A CERTAIN sad sense

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of unreality comes over us as we read one contribution after another to the literature of such an uncertain quantity as Home-rule. There is no denying the trials, the suffering,...

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GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.* COLONEL DODGE, a learned, industrious, and intelligent officer,

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has taken to heart the advice of Napoleon—to read and read again the wars of the great captains—and is pre. senting the results of his studies in a series of bulky treatises. He...

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RECENT NOVELS.*

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THERE are few, if any, contemporary novelists to whom one can turn with a greater certainty of procuring good entertain- ment than Mr. Marion Crawford, and these agreeable...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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The centenary of Burns's death would seem likely to produce a flood of verse as well as of prose. Of the poems which the occasion has already produced none can well be more...

The Crime of the Century. By Rodrigues Ottolengui. (G. P.

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Putnam's Sons.)—It may be doubted whether heredity in crimin- ality should be dealt with—or can be dealt with successfully—in fiction. But Mr. Ottolengui, who is admittedly one...

An Indian Journalist. By F. H. Skrine. (Thacker, Spink, and

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Co., Calcutta.)—Dr. Sambhn C. Mockerja's Life and Letters, as they are set forth in this volume, are worth reading. They give us an interesting glimpse into the life of an...

The History of Greece. By Adolf Holm. (Macmillan and Co.)—

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This volume, the second out of the four to which it is proposed to limit the work, contains the history of the culminating period of Hellenic greatness, the fifth century. We...

Wholesome Words. By the Rev. C. A. Heurtley, D.D. With

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Memoir by the Rev. William Ince, D.D. (Longmans and Co.)— Professor Ince's memoir of his colleague is just what was wanted. A. copious biography would have been out of place ;...

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A Whirl Asunder. By Gertrude Atherton. (Cassell and Co.)— Helena

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Belmont is a Californian heiress, a woman who, to use Miss Gertrude Atherton's expressive phrase, takes "her will between her teeth." Her will is to win away a certain English....

Pinches of Salt. By F. M. Allen. (Downey and Co.)—These

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nine Irish sketches, if not all of the best quality, have yet so ex- cellent an average of merit that the volume which contains them may be accorded almost unqualified praise....

Hyde Park, from Domesday Book to Date. By John Ashton.

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(Downey and Co.)—There is not much to be said about the early history of Hyde Park. It was a hunting ground for Royal sportsmen till quite recent times. In 1768 two Princes of...

Facsimiles of Royal, Historical, and Literary Autographs, 1 - 30, (British Museum.)—These

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thirty facsimiles cover a wide range of times and persons. From Catharine of Arragon they come down to Browning, and suggest a curious variety of interests. Here are some of the...

A Vis;t to Bashan and Argob. By Major Algernon Heber-Percy.

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(Religious Tract Society.)—Some years ago much interest was excited in England by descriptions of remains of primitive archi- tecture in Bashan. The cities of the giants had...

Leeures and Essays. By Henry Nettleship. Second Series. Edited by

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H. Haverfield, M.A. With Portrait and Memoir. (Clarendon Press.)—This volume contains abundant proof of the varied intellectual activities of Professor Nettleship. The subjects...

Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum. By Robert R. Doffing.

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(Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—This book stands outside criticism. When we have said that there is nothing in the way of telling that mars or hinders the profound impression that...