W ITHOUT question the most important, though not the most sensational, event of the week was the debate in the House of Lords on Thursday on Lord Balfour's Reference to the...

the minority in the House of Commons would always be demanding a reference. He imagined a proposal that every- body should pay 50 per cent. of his income over £5,000 a year, and...

shows, what we of course have never doubted, that the Unionist Party will not rest till they have made the reference to the people a part of the Constitution, and so pro- vided...

feeblest and most futile ever suggested. Its only foundation is that the Referendum may be followed by the Initiative. Our answer to this is that in theory any measure may be...

any case.

a large and very important one, and there were evident signs during the debate that both parties realised how serious was the occasion. Writing on Friday, we cannot,...

Government was authorised to place orders this year for two battleships of 23,500 tons. As the Times correspondent says, the decision was a triumph for M. Delcasse, who is...

of the Government's supporters attached great value to the proper function of a Second Chamber. His main fear of a Single Chamber was not the ordinary fear. "It is not that we...

by the Parliamentary correspondent of the Dairy keno% 'who remarks that what chiefly interested him in Mr. Runci- man's speech was "the contrast between his strong declarations...

has issued through his staff a cordial message of thanks to all who were concerned in his tour. He carries away with him "most interesting, enjoyable, and affectionate...

efficiency should be the sole qualification for military posts, and that social, political, and religious prejudice should be entirely banished. Many members of the National...

Council on Wednesday. The estimate of revenue for the past year was L75,454,400, and this was happily exceeded by £5,083,800. The estimated expenditure was exceeded by...

spite of the fact that it was almost entirely composed of speeches from Members upon the back benches. The principal exception was the remarks of Mr. Ramcimarl, upon whoie...

the British Government was not required to restore Savarkar to the French Republic. There was nothing in the arrest or delivery of Savarkar to violate the sovereignty of France...

declared that in three or four years' time they would I have Single-Chamber government, combined with an irritating; power of delay in the Upper House. "Did anybody ever hear of...

Triple Alliance the disservice of exposing its weak spot. If the German Emperor carried out his original intention of visiting Rome this year the Vatican would be closed to him,...

in the House of Commons on Monday, when Mr. Austen Chamberlain moved the Opposition amendment. Mr. Cham berlain began by criticising the view that the Government had a mandate...

Lords on Tuesday by Lord Donoughmore. Of late years Pro- testants had given many practical proofs of their readiness to live in harmony with their Roman Catholic neighbours ;...

been in failing health for some time past, died last Saturday in his eighty-first year. Entering politics in middle life, he attained Cabinet rank in the Liberal Adminis-...

Office is organising an "Air Battalion" of 190 men. This battalion will undertake the use of aeroplanes, balloons, and kites, and will be constituted in two separate and...

Feb. 23rd. Consols (21) were on Friday 811—Friday week 80i.

a vigorous speech by Mr. Balfour. After declaring that democratic government was the only form of government under which a community like ours could carry on its work, he...

not only in the North of Ireland, had been stirred by the case. He strongly protested against the insinuation that the ease had been exploited for political pur- poses at the...

a point in regard to the Referendum which we have often made in these columns but which cannot be too often reiterated. It is well summed up in the Times leader on the subject....

the Government, and for a considerable time Mr. Balfour was unable to proceed with his speech. Ultimately, however, the Speaker declared that, though the charge would have been...

financial year 1910-11 were published in Wednesday's papers. The total receipts into the Exchequer from revenue during this period were £177,420,227, being an increase of...

LORD BALFOUR'S BILL FOR A POLL OF THE PEOPLE. Tj ORD BALFOUR has done the nation a notable service by showing it in black and white how the machinery for Parliamentary...

BRIAND'S decision on Friday week to surrender , the citadel of Government while he could still march out with the honours of war came suddenly and, judged superficially, without...

W E note with great satisfaction the statement lately made by the Prime Minister, in answer to a question put to him by Sir J. H. Roberts, that the repre- sentation of India at...

A DECISION of far-reaching importance was delivered r‘ in the Court of Appeal last week upon a case arising out of the famous Osborne judgment. The facts can be stated in a few...

T HE scheme for selling Dickens stamps, to be placed by all honourable debtors in their copies of Dickens's works, avoids numerous moral difficulties and gives every promise of...

F EW books have been more widely written about of recent years than "Marie-Claire," by Marguerite Audoux. Thousands who have never seen it have been interested in the life-story...

O NE of the difficulties in making an effective beginning with the gipsy problem is in getting a large number of people to understand what it means. The great majority of the...

MR. STEPHEN GWYNN AND TOLERATION. [To THE EDITOR Or TH2 "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—Writing from this I have not the opportunity for examination of the truth of the various statements...

SIR, — I notice that Mr. Stephen Gwynn, M.P., has, through I the Spectator, challenged the Bishop of Durham " to produce one case where a Nationalist Council has dismissed a...

S I R, —In the Spectator of February 25th Mr. Gwynn quotes Mr. Redmond ' s promise, given in connection with Local Government : "No man ' s politics or religion will be allowed...

high capacity for making things ap- pear exactly the opposite to what they are, hence his selection as the Nationalist literary propagandist. I affirm that be is absolutely...

_ [To TER EDITOR OF THZ " SPECUTOR.1 t,SIR,—Now that the Parliamentary Session has opened — a 'Session that, for good or for evil, is sure to be fraught with great consequences...

[To Tar EDITOR OF THE " SPRCTATOZ."1 Sin,—If those who are endeavouring to defeat the present pro- posed agreement between Canada and the United States are suc- cessful, the...

[To TH2 EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] saw to my great surprise in last Saturday's Spectator that an essay called "Clerical Influence," from the first edition of Mr. Lecky's...

Sin,—I was surprised at certain statements in your "News of the Week" of January 28th re reciprocity : "Canadian farmers will be pleased, and there does not seem to be any...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sire, — In your article on this subject, in the issue of February 25th, you ask, "What does the Thames Conservancy think of a proposal which...

[To SKI EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Call no picture safe in England until it is in the National Gallery. An American collector has offered Lord Lansdowne 2100,000 for...

Sin,—Mr. Frank Fox's letter to the Spectator of November 419th, L910, does not correctly describe the organisation of the labour movement in Australia. It is not a fact that "in...

[TO THE ED/TOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 STR,—I suppose, if one wished to give a foreigner some idea of the best style of English preaching—reverent, serious, sincere, dealing...

THE 'SPECTATOR.") am busy collecting material for the biography of my father, the Rev. John Brown Paton, D.D., of Nottingham, and I should be grateful if any friends who have...

THE "SPECTATOR."] SI R,—Some one has been kind enough to send me the Spectator for about four years. May I ask, through your columns, that the sender kindly note address and...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Your correspondent "X," who gives "an historic parallel" in your last week's issue, is familiar, no doubt, with the tag about citing...

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...

MISS LOANE'S NEW BOOK.* IT is difficult for the ordinary writer to read Miss Loane's books year after year without an agony of envy. She is always writing on the same theme and...

STORM. (COUNTY WEXFORD.) THERE'S a storm is blowing up from the sea —That Christ in mercy may save us all— For the waves are lapping the harbour wall, An' dirty weather it's...

Tnz people of Manchester have now got, in the Gaiety Theatre which is controlled by Miss Horniman, the kind of theatre they have been taught to desire, and among their teachers...

BIOGRAPHY is of necessity a most important constituent part of an encyclopasdia. It occupies a very large proportion of the space ; in general interest it is inferior to none ;...

THE new edition of Mr. Bryce's classic work—the first since 1895—demanded a pretty complete revision, for the last fifteen years have seen large changes in the United States....

THE history and description of Parliament offer a perennial fascination both to writers and to readers, and no complaint need be made of the appearance of a new volume on these...

DEAN KITCHIN has authority for a somewhat extended use of the word "sage." It would be difficult to frame a definition of the word which would include Peter Smart, whom an...

THE SOUNDLESS TIDE.t Alas. CRICHTON, who has already made her mark as a writer of excellent stories for children, now appeals for the first time in The Soundless Tide to the...

Mn. SNELL tells us that his book is intended to set forth, or rather to help in Betting forth—for he is commendably modest—the significance of the customs which he describes and...

6s.)—Though Miss Macmahon calls her book The Straits of Poverty, she very quickly delivers her hero from these uncomfortable narrows. The book indeed is a study in success, and...

exciting story of a gentleman who makes it his business to murder his wives for the sake of their property. The heroine of the story, Delia Castonel, enacts the part of...

6s.)— It is an achievement for any writer to have added one to those figures in the world of fiction which stand for types. Mr. Buckrose has accomplished this feat in the...

[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other farms.] What America is Doing. By Annette M. B. Meakin. (W_ Blackwood and...

(J. M. Dent and Sons. 2s. and 4s.)—Every day has its own extract from some moralist or philosopher. It is easy to believe that a book constructed on this principle may be of...

2s. 6d. net.)—This is one of the well-known series of " Handbooks of Practical Gardening," and as likely to be of practical utility as any one of them. The nature of different...

Oriental Quotations (Arabic and Persian), by Claud Field, M.A. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 7s. 6d.)—The quotations are trans- literated—the Arabic on Professor Palmer's system,...

Co. 35. 6d.)—Here we have particulars of between three and four thousand clubs frequented by English people all over the world. "Statistics," says the editor, "are ale ays...

issued in a convenient form by Messrs. Sidgwick and Jackson. Two of these, The Way the Honey Goes, by Lady Bell, and Chains, by Miss Elizabeth Baker (1s. net each), were noticed...