THE year that will have begun before our next issue may well prove one of the most fateful that has ever dawned on mankind. If the nations of the world take the right turning,...

same way at the same time, all may yet be well. A great deal, possibly everything, will depend upon Mr. Stanley Baldwin's visit to the United States. We found strong hopes upon...

the continuance of the dark clouds of hatred, mutual distrust and hostility which shroud the public affairs of nations, great and small, conquerors and conquered. In a somewhat...

on all sorts of problems connected with the visits of Mr. Stanley Baldwin and of Colonel Harvey, and the resolu- tion which Senator Borah has introduced into the Senate. On such...

to be said which is of good omen. The telegrams of Thursday show that the Reparations Commission has declared Germany to be in voluntary default in regard to her timber...

There is no better New Year's present than a year's sub- scription to the " Spectator." The " Spectator " will be sent post free from its offices, 13 York Street, Covent...

public comment or reproval a portent so terrible as the publication of the article in defence of murder issued with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Dublin. It is true that...

the firm and yet just way they have dealt with Cardinal Logue and his monstrous threat to disobey the law of the land in which he lives and which secures him and his followers...

is courage. That, and that alone, can prevent that complete petrification of the Roman Church of which there are already too many ominous signs. As proof of want of courage in...

ment published by the Ministry of Labour show a very considerable decline when compared with those of last year. The total on December 18th was 1,859,100, which is 465,683 less...

greater injury to the influence of the Vatican than any- thing that has happened within living memory. Not only was the policy bad in itself, but it came at the worst possible...

knowledge that Mr.. Bonin. Law would not have used the words he did unless he thoroughly believed in them. Mr. Boner Law does not, like his predecessor, cultivate the levity of...

Abbey for the acceptance of a new pro- cessional cross, given by the Hon. Rodman -Wanamaker, of the United States. After the singing of a carol the cross was carried from • the...

Prime Minister, as Member for Central Glasgow, to a deputation representing the Glasgow trades council and the unemployed of that city. He declared in the first place that we...

us cheap electrical current for all rural districts, it is stated, is being considered by the Ministry of Agriculture. The plan, we are told, requires low buildings, with great,...

the Senate on November 26th Signor Mussolini did not hesitate to unmask certain illusions. A previous speaker had reminded him of the eternal principles of Liberalism. If, he...

Society, has just reached us. Its object is to warn subscribers of the Society against certain persons and institutions appealing for support about whom special information is...

we must have cheap electric storage. But that, we are assured, if not already obtained, is a thing of the immediate future. Let us hope it is so. One great advantage of wind...

Mussolini and his Government :- " Signor Mussolini's recent statement that if circumstances rendered it necessary he would be ready to proclaim himself the prince of...

good sense with wit, it still is true to its great ideal—i.e., that in charity the indispensable part is not money, but mind. " The plague of mendicancy can only be cured by...

by the Ministry of Transport, affords some interest- ing reading and shows how great is the opportunity before us of making a really good thing out of our distracted and...

July 18, 1922 ; 5 per cent. War Loan was on Thursday, 99i ; Thursday week, 99i ; a year ago, 92i,

By EVELYN WRENCH. T HE fact that the Christians of India have increased more rapidly than the adherents of any other creed during the past decade may come as a surprise to...

WHAT OF THE NEW YEAR? AN APPEAL TO AMERICA. W HAT of the New Year ? Is it to be the beginning of better things or is the world to remain in its misery and sink even deeper in...

W E are delighted to note that a group of Unionist Members of Parliament are taking up the question of housing, for housing still remains one of the vital problems of the...

Dewar's Sir Douglas Haig's Command, and the first volume of the Official Military History of the War, throw a flood of light on a problem which has never yet been understood in...

the Land Acts have created a large class of peasant proprietors, it is commonly assumed that whatever effective Government may ultimately be established in Dublin will rather be...

of the British Empire Exhibition seem to intend not only to attract visitors to their show, but to take real, even imaginative, care of their comfort when they get there. For...

THE DEATH OF DONALD HANKEY. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—You say you would like to know something about Donald Hankey, particularly in the last hour of his life. I...

A MONG the rocky headlands of the Tuscan shore to the south of Leghorn stood an old watchtower to which the legend had become attached that in the Middle Ages a knight...

MINERS AND THE LABOUR PARTY. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR, —Since reading the report of the National Unionist Association Conference held in the Queen's Hall, London,...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Venice, like most other cities, and more than most others owing to the nature of her site, is feeling the pinch of the housing problem. In...

of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As the matter of a further reduction of 5 per cent. in the salaries of Elementary Teachers is now under considera- tion, and as the National Union of...

has been so much misunderstanding of the W e t and Dry question in America by British commentators that I venture to send you a very clear and honest editorial by H. L....

SPECTATOR.] Sra,—It is both exhilarating and instructive to dip into the volumes of the old Spectator and read the letters of Addison and Steele ; they show how frequently...

SPECTATOR.] Set,—In your issue of December 9th your correspondent under the above head states that " the farmer-owner class .is subject to tithe and rates undreamed of fifty...

SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I add my sincere congratulations to the Spectator for its new type, and say how greatly it is appreciated by those who, like myself, are suffering from weak...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SM,—Now that so much is being written and done about emigration to Canada, I notice that most of the propaganda is addressed to men. Little, if...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sirt,—May an old reader of the Spectator make an appeal to you in connexion with the poetry which you publish now and again? And that is that...

SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The reviewer of Knuckles and Gloves in your issue of November 25th appears to have a confused recollection of his Boswell. He states that Dr. Johnson had a "...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sm,—Mr. Godfrey Isaacs's recent speech on Broadcasting, at the annual dinner of the Society of Authors, Playwrights and Musicians, is a...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—Your timely article on " Communist Sunday Schools " will, no doubt, startle a great many readers, and the remedy suggested by the writer...

the following Y—I sin,. Sir, &c. Oxus. "CHARACTERS OF MEN. It is in the relaxation of security, it is in the expansion of pro- sperity, it is in the hour of dilatation of the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—As a large number of inquiries relative to Pise building in the North of Ireland have from time to time been sent on to me from the...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—It is just one year since you were good enough to publish a suggestion of mine that Bills of Exchange be issued by the League of Nations...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra f —Can any of your readers tell me why the little brass dolphins fixed on each side of nearly all the Venetian gondolas have large brass...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your Ambleside correspondents touch upon a subject on which I have felt very strongly for many years, viz., the sale of eggs and other...

TERMINOLOGY. TREES have been named, and brutes with shining skins And in pure darkness many a planet spins No living eyes have seen, yet men say " There Orion's gathering in...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—It is just a year since The Private Character of Queen Elizabeth appeared in this country, and I have now prac- tically completed my next...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin, —I have been much interested in the letters which have appeared in the Spectator regarding the cutting of timber at the time of the full...

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Allow me to follow up my account of the brooding duck and the tennis-ball, which some of your readers may remember , with another curious...

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MARGOT ASQUITH.* BY far the best thing in the second book of Mrs. Asquith's autobiography is the account of the last days of July and the first days of...

ROBIN HOOD AND SHACKLETON. MR. DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS has many of the qualities of an ideal cinema actor. He is dynamic, unpsychological, and sure of all his movements. With the...

1016.)

TICE study of early Canadian history has been much facilitated during the past fifteen- years by the Champlain Society of Toronto, which has printed excellent editions of...

so many pseudo-sciences of tin soul, the word " mystic " has been bandied about between them in an endeavour to make it suitable for popular con- sumption, until its singular...

M. Mu.ruKov, who used to be the leader of the Russian Constitutional Democrats, otherwise known as the " Cadets," delivered a series of lectures in America and has gathered them...

triumphant refutation of the supposition that the memoirs of singers are always dull. The English reader's thanks are also due to the translator, Miss Rosamond Gilder, who has...

Tan power and majesty of Ancient Rome are most vividly recalled on her frontiers. The ruined cities of Algeria, like Lambessa, Timgad or Tebessa, the deserted fortresses on the...

THE familiar " books that are no books," which many of us use daily and which we could not do without, have made their appearance as punctually as ever. Who's Who, 1923 (A. and...

HOWEVER. many books of theatrical reminiscences may be written, there will always be a welcome for so thoroughly pleasant and unpretentious a little volume as Mrs. Fagan's From...

Ma. A. L. Salmon knows and loves his Bristol and its setting well—too well, perhaps, to be a quite satisfactory guide to anyone less partial than himself. He is over-kind. He...

OBSCURE POETRY. THE reader will find in the part of this paper devoted to correspondence a letter in which a poem of Miss Edith Sitwell's which we published recently is...

THE. GOLDEN BOOK OF MODERN ENGLISH POETRY, 1870-1920. (Dent. 7s. ad. net.)—Mr. Caldwell's anthology is certainly the most representative selection we have yet been given ; his...

the rime-form of the original by Melville Best Anderson. (G. and G. Harrap and Co. 30s. 6d.)— Considering the difficulties imposed by the translator on him- self, this version...

with a hero. Hayman, a middle-aged miner and gold prospector, is leaving the South African " low country " for a securer and more settled existence on the Rand. He has been all...

PROFESSOR GOO SE-CAP SPEAKS : Ora time when the cold, red winter sun Like a Punch-and-Judy show shrilled in fun, And scattered down its green perfume Like the dust that drifts...

of the art of fiction than the writing of " historical tales." What shall be the author's point of view ? Shall he appeal to the reader through the patently imaginative...

of this book the reader will have hopes that the mantle of Mr. Richard Bagot has descended on the author. Unfortunately, the garment proves to be a world too wide, and after a...

not as a novel, but as a record of the opinion of a woman traveller in Syria who is interested in the politics of that country. It is probable that Rosita Forbes talks rather...

THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. By Philip Gibbs. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d. net.)—Sir Philip Gibbs in his new novel writes with an awful impartiality. The story is negligible, and the...

THE HISTORICAL REGISTER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. (Same Publisher. 8s. 6d.) The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press have very wisely decided " to lighten the...

Shelley's centenary is also made the excuse for the publica- tion of Proserpine and Midas. These two mythological dramas (hitherto unpublished) have been edited by A. Koszul...

Punjab Government Printing Office. 3s. 10d. and 6s.) These excellent Reports, which deal respectively with the Lower Jhelum Canal and the Triple Canals, give a clear and...

Unwin. 12s. 6d.) WHY EUROPE LEAVES HOME. By Kenneth L. Roberts. (T. Fisher Unwin. 12s. 6d.) If the reader can bear up long enough under the multiple reduplication of ideas in...

Stoughton. 7s. 6d. net.)—A series of short stories dealing chiefly with life in Paris. These are just suffi- ciently interesting to provide a useful fictional anaesthesia for...

of a notable selection from his poetry, handsomely printed. The Florence Press now gives us The Dramatic Poems of Shelley, printed with wide margins and bold letter- press, on...

( Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.) The number of books—even the number of good books— dealing with the New Psychology from every point of...

This slim volume, well printed, copiously illustrated and delightfully bound in blue and white, contains a biographical sketch of Pope Pius XI. by His Eminence Cardinal Gasquet,...

is written from the Evangelical standpoint But Bishop Knox, whose influence was exerted on the side of moderation during the recent controversy on the subject of inspiration...

This first volume of " A Short History of the American People " is by the Professor of History at the University of Illinois, and brings the history of the Republic down to...

than serious students of the art of solving cyphers, will find a real feast in Mr. Macbeth's translation of Andre Langie's work on Cryptography. This is not, nor does it set out...

is certainly intelligent enough to save them from dullness. He analyses all the evils of social and economic affairs in the United States, making, as his p A ublisher says, " a...

old carols and Christmas ballads ; and the nineteenth century has more than four times the space given to the seventeenth. The earlier pages, however, are well selected, and...

By ARTHUR W. KIDDY. THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Srn,—So far as Finance and Commerce are concerned, the two outstanding features of the year which...

know no guide-books that are more useful, handy and accurate than the " Little Guides," and the new volume on Worcestershire is as good as any of its predecessors. Mr. Houghton...

Braley. (Macmillan. 5s. net.) As a sign that the Sunday School movement is recognizing the need for its teachers to be adequately equipped in the science and art of an...

Unwin. 7s. 6d. net.) This naive diary, written by a maid to Gladstone's daughter, is chiefly interesting, not for the information it gives us about " My beloved Lady " and "...

1920 with a clear and dispassionate history of the following year. It is a most painful book, but it should be widely read. In Major Street's pages we see the Nemesis that...