29 DECEMBER 1894

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We regret to learn that on Christmas Eve Nubar Pasha,

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the Egyptian Premier, met with what was a rather severe acci- dent for a man of his age and physical constitution. While walking in his farm at Simubra "a cow which was playing...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE Chinese, under a General named Sung, are fighting a little better; and in an engagement on the road to Neuchang the Japanese lost, in killed and wounded, five hun- dred...

Lord Randolph Churchill, the leading figure amongst the Tory Democrats,

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and perhaps the most effective of the plat- form orators among the men of official rank, has returned to England this week suffering from general paralysis, one of the most...

Mr. Balfour spoke at Haddington yesterday week. He laughed at

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Lord Rosebery for having asked with great emphasis and pomp for a popular mandate to attack and abolish the veto of the House of Lords on legislation, before any of the...

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

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case.

Speaking on Friday, December 21st, Mr. Campbell-Banner- man tried to

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minimise the effect of Mr. MaoE wan's speech. He knew that Mr. MacEwan was "a most agreeable com- panion, but he never knew before that he had set up for being a prophet." He...

The Khedive has taken advantage of Nubar Pasha's acci- dent

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to appoint Negueb Pasha as Prime Minister ad interim. This Pasha is a favourite with Abbas II., but has as yet given no evidence of conspicuous ability; and he is understood to...

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We do not always quite believe in the Judenhetze. So

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many Continental journalists are Jews, and they are so sensitive. Sarcasms at which Seotehmen would smile, drive them frantic, and so do threats, which apply no more to them...

General Gourko was on Wednesday created General Field. Marshal, and

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surrendered the Viceroyalty of Poland to Count Sehonvaloff, recently Russian Ambassador in Berlin. It is believed that this appointment, while it does not imply any relaxation...

The close of the year has been marked, as usual,

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by a railway calamity. At 4.38 p.m. on December 22nd, when it was already dark, the North-Western express from Manchester for Easton entered Chelford, where a number of goods...

The Times of Tuesday and Thursday contains some interesting letters

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from a correspondent sent to inquire into the working of the G-othenburg system. The writer declares that public control of the sale of spirits—it is only the sale of spirits...

General Mercier, the French Minister of War, on Monday in-

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troduced a Bill making military treason punishable with death; and on M. Jaures opposing the Bill, "the previous question "- that is, the right of General Mercier to go on—was...

It is quite impossible to understand what is happening in

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Hungary. The Emperor-King has "accepted the resigna- tion" of Dr. Wekerle, that is, has practical] a dismissed him, though he is in possession of a large Parliamentary majority....

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Last Saturday, and on the previous evening, one of the

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worst gales ever experienced raged throughout Great Britain, doing an enormous amount of damage to property, and causing the lose of at least one hundred and fifty lives. This...

The Standard of Wednesday has a long telegram from Berlin

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reporting that Professor Flechsig, of Leipzig, and Rector of the University there, has, to his own satisfaction, localised in the brain the seat of the higher intellectual...

Was the Archbishop of Canterbury rightly reported when the Guardian

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of December 19th represented him as confuting "a prevalent idea even among Churchmen" "that there was a time when the English Church was Roman Catholic," and that this ceased...

Bank Rate, 2 per cent.

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New Console (21) were on Friday, 103i.

It has been stated that "the depression," about which we

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say something elsewhere, has dried up the springs of charity; but the Charily Record states that £3,000,000 was bequeathed in charity this year, and Mr. Burdett, the statist,...

There is a grand opportunity for a millionaire in the

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con- dition of Newfoundland. This ancient Colony, with its area of 10,000 square miles, and population of 200,000, always poor, is, for the moment, totally ruined. A "financial...

In Miss Frances Mary Buss, who died on Christmas Eve

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at the age of sixty-seven, the country has lost not only one of the ablest of the teachers of women, but, fortunately for us, one who had the power of transmitting to many of...

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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MR. BALFOUR AT HADDINGTON. M R. BALFOUR'S speech at Hacldington yesterday week began with a long metaphorical criticism addressed to scientific golfers on Lord Rosebery's de-...

THE TRIAL OF CAPTAIN DREYFUS.

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W E cannot fully sympathise either with the English or the French feeling about Captain Dreyfus. The English feeling is that he has been hardly treated, and we fail entirely, on...

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THE RITM017RED JAPANESE TERMS.

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T HERE is one feature in this war in the Far East which differentiates it from every war of recent times. No one, including the most astute diplomatists, has any accurate idea...

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THE POSSIBLE END OF THE DEPRESSION.

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C OMMERCLAI men cannot prophesy any more than anybody else, and the hundred and one pro- phecies we read as to the continuance or the departure in 1896 of the existing...

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PHILANTHROPY AND RELIGION.

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W E are glad to see our able contemporary, the Daily Chronicle, from which we are far oftener obliged to differ than, we should desire, lending its influence on Christmas Day to...

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TESTIMONIALS. T HE function of the Times is in one respect

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the opposite of that of Heaven. It helps those who cannot, or will not, help themselves. A large part of the letters which suffering Englishmen confide to the columns so...

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THE FINANCE. OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

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I T is to be hoped that the Memorandum which the head of the Treasury, Sir Edward Hamilton, has prepared for the Commission now investigating the financial relations between...

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COBWEBBED CONSCIENCES.

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S 0/tiE people seem to think that the proper function of the conscience is to envelop the soul with a kind of network of cobwebs, so that it cannot move freely in any direction...

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THE Man must be dull, or at least lacking in

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imagination, who reads daily the history of this war in the Far East, and which the civilisation of this Japanese people will ultimately in life without precedent in Asia....

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WILD-CATTLE BREEDING AT THE ZOO.

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T HE improvement of "Christmas beef," by crossing the English and Scotch thoroughbred stock with the wild cattle of other continents, was among the main objects of the founders...

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CORRESPONDENCE.

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MOTION WITHOUT APPARENT CONTACT. [COMMUNICATED.] IN 1871, Mr. William Crookes, a man then, as now, of high scientific reputation, published the result of his observations on...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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AN APPEAL FOR VOLUNTEERS IN CHARITY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:] SIR,—We wish to appeal to your readers to help the Society as volunteers in charity. To be of real...

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A CHILD'S RESOURCE. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:]

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SIR, — Your delightful paper on "The Zoology of the Toy- shop," in the Spectator of December 22nd, reminds me of the ingenious way in which a young friend of mine, aged five,...

CIVIL MARRIAGE.

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[To THE EDITOR 07 TER " SPECTATOR:1 SIR, — S110111d this subject appear to you of sufficient general interest, kindly allow me a few comments on your note to my letter. In the...

THE PAROCHIAL ELECTIONS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF ins "SrEottron.",1 "SIR, — In the Spectator of December 22nd, "H. N." says that I have made "at least two mistakes." One I acknowledge ; it is the Chairman...

GERMAN POLICE AND PERSONAL LIBERTY. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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" 8PROTATOII:9 Sin,—An amusing illustration of the limitations of personal liberty in Germany, referred to in a recent article in the Spectator, was related to the writer by a...

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POETRY.

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AN EXPOSTULATION. WHY sad, beside that western water fair P The waves chime welcomes free, The hills that charmed your maiden years stand there, By the sail. haunted sea. And...

BOOKS.

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MR. DAVIDSON'S NEW POEMS.* Mn. Jorm DAVIDSON is undoubtedly a man of original force and genius. Bat, in this volume at least, he is a hoarse singer. He seems almost reluctant to...

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CHILDHOOD IN LITERATURE AND ART.* Ifa. SCUDDER is a lover

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of children in the abstract as in the concrete, in the ideal no less than in the actual. Last year he gave us an admirable book of selections for the children themselves to read...

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RECENT NOVELS,* THE novels of Mr. W. E. Norris are

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always able and almost always interesting (though in this latter respect they are somewhat variable); but Matthew Austin has a certain human warmth and charm which even the...

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SOCIAL ENGLAND.*

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TnE second volume of Social England embraces a long and important period of English history—from the accession of Edward I. to the death of Henry VIL As the work advances, the...

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A TREATISE ON HEAD-GEAR.* IT is quite agreeable at the

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present time to come across a book of so frankly reactionary a nature as this. "Thanks, doubtless, to atavism or mysteriously innate Oriental preju- dices,"—the author writes at...

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MELTING SNOWS.*

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Melting Snows is to be classed with the modern romances dealing with phases of spiritual development after conflict, such as those of which Mr. Shorthouse is a master. The story...

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CURRENT LITERATURE.

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Introduction to th.s Study of English History, By Samuel R. Gardiner and J. Bass Mullinger. (Regan Paul and Co.)—This is the third and enlarged edition of a very useful book....

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Tempest - Torn. By Lieutenant - Colonel Andrew Haggard. (Hutchinson

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and Co.)—There is the material of a good story in this portentous volume of nearly four hundred pages. But it is far too long, ill put together, and spun out to an almost....

Beside the Bonnie Brier-Bush. By Ian Maclaren. (Hodder and Stoughton.)—In

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"Ian Maclaren " we have a new Scotch writer who is quite different from either Mr. Barrie or Mr. Crockett, although it is quite possible that the success of the "Auld Licht...

The Inns of Court and Chancery. By W. J. Loftie.

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(Seeley and Co.) —This is a new edition in octavo form of Mr. Loftie's pleasant compilation. Why "1895" appears on the title-page as the date et publication, we are at a loss to...

A Lost Ideal. By Annie S. Swan. (Oliphant, Anderson, and

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Ferrier.)—This is an ambitious, undeniably clever, yet not per- fectly satisfactory story. The opening is in Mrs. Burnett-Smith's best style. We are introduced to the three...

Life of St. Edmund of Canterbury. By Wilfred Wallace. (Kegan

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Paul and Co.)—This is the Life of one of the most important of the Archbishops of Canterbury ; important from his writings, from his friendships, and from the times in which he...

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The Theory of Heat. By Professor Thomas Preston. (Macmillan.) —In

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a volume of some seven hundred pages, Professor Preston has treated the theory of heat in a comprehensive and scientific spirit. The style is lucid and attractive, and the tenor...

The Gospel According to Peter : a Study. By the

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Author of "Supernatural Religion." (Longmans.)—No one will have any .difficulty in anticipating the line which the author of "Super- natural Religion" would take in dealing with...

Thames Rights and Wrongs. By C. H. Cook. (Archibald Con-

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stable.)—Mr. Cook, who is better known under the nom de plume of "John Bickerdyke," has here put together a very interesting volume. Beyond all doubt, there is a conflict...

The Country Month by Month : October. By J. A.

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Owen and Prof. G. S. Boulger. (Bliss, Sands, and Foster.)—These are most bandy little reminders of the typical features of each month, and the only question which can arise...

The Lifting of the Shadow. By IC. M. Lady. (Sunday

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School Union.)—There is good material for a short story in this volume, but it is not skilfully managed. The misunderstandings between the Thorolds, father and son, are somewhat...

Bourne's Handy Assurance Manual, 1891. By William Schooling. (Trafalgar Buildings.)—It

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is needless to enlarge on the usefulness of this manual, drawn up, as it is, from official returns. In estimating the comparative merits of assurance societies, three things, it...

Scottish Land-Names. By Sir H. Maxwell. (William Blackwood and Sons.)—Sir

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H. Maxwell went very thoroughly into the derivation of land names in the Rhind Lectures. It would be useless to attack the subject with less care, for the study of Celtic names...

Coal-Dust: an Explosive Agent. By Donald M. D. Stuart, F.G.S.

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(Published at Colliery Manager Office.)—Mr. Stuart has made an exhaustive study of the facts and inferences to be gathered from the explosion at the Camerton Colliery. It is a...

Biological Lectures and Addresses. By Arthur Mines Marshall. (David Nutt.)—The

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late Professor Marshall had certainly the gift of expounding problems in biology in clear language and with, forcible illustration. Some of these lectures are really admirable...

We have received two more volumes of Professor Skeet's monumental

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edition of The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer ,(Clarendon Press). One of these contains "The Translation of B oethius' Consolation of Philosophy" and "Troilus," each with...

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In Unrecorded Chapter of the Mutiny. By Reginald Wilberforce. (John

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Murray.)—The doings of the 62nd Regiment at the siege and storm of Delhi are not absolutely "unrecorded." That distin- guished regiment has had a meed of praise for that as for...

Electrical Apparatus for Amateurs. Edited by Francis Chilton. Young. (Ward,

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Lock, and Co.)—This little manual will be most acceptable to those ingenious mechanical youths who desire to introduce to their own homes the benefits of the telephone and the...

Conversational Hints for Young Shooters, By R. C. Lehmann. (Chatto

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and Windus,)—All these hints are very natural, and may possibly be useful. They are intended, we should say, to give the young shooter his cue in dealing with brother sportsmen....

In Jungle and Kraal. By Arthur Lee Knight. (Nimmo, Hay,

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and Mitchell.)—Mr. Knight describes the adventures of two midshipmen in Ceylon, thus taking occasion to introduce his own knowledge of the island. We hear about its people, its...

Hints on Driving. By Captain C. Morley Knight. Illustrated. (George

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Bell and Sons.)—We have some very plainly expressed hints on the handling of the reins and the harnessing of a single horse, a pair, and four horses. Captain Knight is very full...

Guide to Norwich. Illustrated. By Mark Knights. (Jerrold and Sons.)—This

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is a useful and interesting guide to one of the most important of the East Anglian towns. Norwich has many ancient remains and buildings, a great many churches and a large...