approaching loss of their ascendency in Macedonia, and who are trying to begin a diplomatic struggle about the new gen- darmerie, will declare war on Bulgaria, and endeavour to...

King with a State ceremonial which out of doors was rather marred by the rain. Indoors, however, the scene was splendid, and the King read his Speech audibly and well. The...

Okahanja by a company of the German South-West African Battalion, which apparently marched up after the defeat of the Bondelswarts, and drove the Hereros into the mountains...

warlike preparations and plans, but we confess to a deep distrust of them all. That the Japanese censorship is most severe is admitted, and we do not believe that the Russian...

passed in Australia and New Zealand under which they assume a larger share in measures of Imperial defence ; observes that the "Political Mission" to Tibet has the concurrence...

has not fallen, but there is only too much reason for apprehending that Russia and Japan within a short time will be at war. Telegrams promising peace are poured out of St....

defended his attitude towards the Whitaker Wright prosecution in a very able and straightforward speech. The decision' not to prosecute was not, he said, the decision of the...

Mr. John Redmond in a long and vehement speech. Starting from the statement that English government was too rotten to be amended, Mr. Redmond declared that his chief desire was...

Address in the Commons in one of the most animated speeches he has ever made. The burden of it was a demand for more light on the aims of the Somaliland and Tibet Expeditions,...

in an able but somewhat inflam- matory speech. The chief points of his indictment were that the Prime Minister and his colleagues had ignored the advice the warning of...

to general sympathy and regret, the responsibilities of leadership were shared between Mr. Akers-Douglas and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who replied to Sir Henry...

the meeting of Parliament was that made by Lord Lane- Aowne. He, at least, gave us some information. As regards fiscal reform, he intimated that the Government" sympathised"...

elsewhere, but must note here that the Committee desire to add to the Defence Committee now existing a permanent Department which shall inform the Premier, upon whose general...

declared on Saturday evening last, when Mr. Dobbie, the Liberal and Free-trade candidate, was returned by a majority of 44 over Mr. Younger, the Unionist and Balfourite. Between...

the general situation, which suggests to us a weak Premier, a weak Government, and a weak dominant party. None of the speeches yet made are important, though Lord Lansdowne's is...

Army reform. The Report of the Committee for the Recon- stitution of the War Office was published on Monday, together with an authorised announcement that the Govern- ment had...

to Home-rule plus the support of the Balfourite or the Cha.mberlainite fiscal policy. A Liberal Unionist may advocate the one or the other, but he is at least committed. to Mr....

Cape Colony on the subject of Asiatic labour for South Africa was published on Tuesday. Sir W. Hely- Hutchinson had, early in January, informed Mr. Lyttelton that the Prime...

Chamberlain was held at the Westminster Palace Hotel on Wednesday afternoon, and attended by eighty-six members out of a total number of a hundred and twenty-three, the...

T HE country will, we feel satisfied, hear with great pleasure that the office of Commander-in-Chief , is to be abolished, and that the old system is to be dis- established in...

THE MEETING OF PARLIAMENT. T HERE is always a feeling abroad just before the Session that the meeting of Parliament will imme- diately pour light on the situation, will clear...

political troubles. If the example of Ireland were not enough to emphasise the price that must be paid for the conquest of an alien race, we need only look at the three great...

of . the Report of the Army Reform; Committee the kindred question of Imperial defence should be brought before the country. Mr. Asquith's- admirable address to the British...

the course of Parliamentary business, there can be no doubt as to the pledges of the Government on the subject of the Bill sanctioning the constitution of new bishoprics for...

to the conclusion that there is a noticeable decadence in the spirit in which the great English games and open-air sports are carried on. But to what other conclusion can a...

I T is curious how soon the echoes of a great lawsuit die away. A case which has shaken the country becomes in a few years' time only a reminiscence of lawyers, and unless some...

season of 1903 has been the very best known in the memory of man ! Mr. Henry Ffennell in his annual summary in the Times of the results of salmon-fishing names rivers in nearly...

of the Week" in your last issue you quote Mr. Younger's expression of thankfulness when" the Tariff Reform League had taken up its bed and walked from Ayr." Before this happy...

I.TO TEE EDITOII OF VIZ " SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—I happened the other day to come across the following passage in Lecky's "Map of Life" (chap. 16), and wondered whether others...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE 'SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I observe that you suggest (Spectator, December 19th, 1903, p. 1066), that one of the possible methods of retaliation by this country if...

to Mr. Lyttelton's claim, in a recent speech to his constituents (see Spectator, January 30th, p. 170), that Kingsley, Ruskin, and Carlyle were "authorities against the extreme...

[To TEE EDITOR OP THE '"SPECTATOR."] SIE, — I have been reading the volume of extracts recently made by Mr. Hirst from the speeches of the Free-trade orators- It seems to me...

are assuring the working man that if tariffs are placed on imported goods wages will rise and there will be no unemployed. But is this promise likely to be fulfilled ? If all...

Sit,—The correspondence in your columns concerning Mag- dalene College seems likely to illustrate the old saying, "Save me from my friends." One writer lays stress on the...

across England, and often do not stop permanently until they reach the western shore of Ireland and are brought up by the Atlantic." As I have shown in the last volume of the...

issue of January 23rd, in which there is a letter from "E. D." on the above subject. Your correspondent does not, however, mention anOther occasion on which the destiny of China...

letter (Spectator, January 30th) on this subject, which I have read with much interest, that I did not mean to imply that Gordon had any authority over the Chinese Fleet at the...

of air. Fable's " Galileo : his Life and Work" (Spectator, January 30th) I do not find a notice of a well- known incident in the life of that astronomer. When be was arraigned...

A FADED, shabby little book, Besmeared with many an inky stain, Down from my silent shelves I took, And turned the well-worn leaves again. Not dearer to the scholar's heart His...

A HISTORY OF MODERN ENGLAND.* Mn. HERBERT PAUL has many qualifications for the task, to which he has addressed himself, of writing a history of modern England. His experience as...

Sport. By .Brigadier-General Sir James Willeocks, K.C.M.G.,' D.S.O. London: John Murray. 121s. net.] arduous forms of it as eagerly as the average man seeks his own comfort....

the briefest of prefaces by Sir Horace Rumbold, "the favourable reception accorded to the • Further Recollections of a Diplomatist. By the Bight Honourable Sir HMCO Bumboid....

to this translation of the Mu'allakkt (we adhere to the customary transliteration), the first attempt, as Mr. Blunt justly claims, to render all the seven poems in vigorous...

WE allude in another column to the very interesting paper in the Nineteenth Century in which Lord Cromer expresses his dissent from Lord Wolseley on the question of civilian...

be R. L. Stevenson's stepson; it was a more doubtful advantage that in the lifetime of that engaging author he collaborated with him in books which serious Stevensonians refused...

we greatly regret to hear, is the last story that we are to have from Mrs. Alexander's pen. She died at an advanced age- seventy-seven—but she certainly had not exhausted her...

Ven. W. H. Hutchings, M.A., Archdeacon of Cleveland. With Portraits and other Illustrations. (Longmans and Co. 10s. 6d. net.) —It is conceivable that to the inner circle of...

are twenty-three short stories, studies, sketches, or, , ' if the author prefers the word, fancies. To us it seems that for the most part there is very little fancy about them....

[Under this headitig we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other lornis„] Horse Biblicae. By Arthur Carr, M.A. (Hodder and Stoughton,...

is a story of a mysterious crime, a wrongful con- demnation, and an ultimate rendering of justice all round. It is sufficiently exciting while it is advancing to the end, and we...

'Is. 6d.)—Dr. Abbott gives in this volume a careful appreciation of H. W. Beecher, whose place at Plymouth Church he was called to fill. Some thirty years before he had become a...

(C. J. Clay and Sons. 35. 6d. net.)—This slender volume is all that remains, besides the affectionate recollections of a circle of friends, of an accomplished and admirable man....

Newnes, 21e.), is as full as usual of the ornamental and useful. Various Royal and noble beauties allow us to admire their faces ; there are sundry fine things in houses,...

Blackett. 34s.)—This is a third edition, and belongs to a class of books with which we cannot in any case deal in detail. But the circumstances in which the book now appears, as...

Lippincott Company. 10s. 6d. net.)—It is not likely that there is much in this volume which is not to be found in the massive work of Messrs. Hay and Nieolay ; but without doubt...

John Dryden, 2 vols., edited, with Introduction and Notes, by George Saintsbnry (5s.) We should explain that it is the plays which are printed in these two volumes. We are-in-...