6 OCTOBER 1917

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The airmen have been very active. Our naval men have

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bombed the Flemish aerodromes and submarine bases army day or night during the week. They inflicted great damage on St. Donk; Westrem, near Ghent, while the military airmen paid...

On the French front the enemy has again concentrated his

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atten- tion upon the Verdun lines Fearful lest our Allies should advance still further, widening their salient east of the Meuse, the Germans began on Monday a eeriest of...

Last week we lost merchantmen over 1,600 tons and two

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mailer vesses ; nine ships beat off their asitailants. in the previous week we had lost twelve large and two small ships. The Admiralty announce for the first time the 103.1 of...

Several air raids have taken place since our last it18119.

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On the night of Friday week German aeroplanes visited Suffolk. Essex, and Kent, but none of them reached London. Last Saturday night groups of German aeroplanes reached the...

On the Russian front nothing new has happened. The Germans

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are presumably not yet ready to move upon Dvinsk. From the Russian headquarters it is announced that, despite all the mis- fortunes of the past summer, the Russian armies are...

General Sir William Robertson, who, like Lord Kitelle;wr, epeeist; but

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seldom and measures his words very carefully, gave a notable little address last Saturday at Hampstead, when he opened a now hospital for the disabled. He contrasted the first...

We have written elsewhere on the whole subject of air

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raids, but may repeat here that the word " reprisal " is being put by some people to a ridiculous 'Misuse. Our whole problem is purely a military one. The true object is to hit...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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rilHE British Army resumed its offensive, for the third time in a fortnight, on Thursday morning east of Ypres. All that is known as we write is that the attack was made on a...

On the Isonzo front the Italians, on Friday week and

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Saturday last, made two vigorous local attache to the north-east of Monte San Gabriele, in which they captured some mere of the high ground at the eastern edge of the Bainsizza,...

THE PAPER SHORTAGE.—We trust that readers of the "Spectator" will

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give definite orders to their newsagents for a copy of the "Spectator" to be reserved for them each week till countermanded.

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Mr. Lloyd George, in announcing the decision, promised ales to

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improve the position of the junior officers in the Services. It is high time that something wee done for them. We ought no longer to hear of cases in which a promising soldier,...

The Navy and the Army have received, by a derision

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of the War Cabinet, a long-delayed increase of their pay. Sailors and **Idiom are to l'OCOlve more pay in proportion to the length of their service, and are to be wholly or...

Mr. Roosevelt last week revealed the iMsSr history of the

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pitiful Venezuelan affair of Decenffier, 19114 when Getienany inveigled us into a joint naval expedition to obtain ottildection of various trifling claims against President...

Viscount Ishii, the head of the Japanese Mission to America,

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made a speech of great importance in New York on Saturday last. Re- ferring to the persistent German efforts to cow dissension between Japan and America, as well as between...

The German Ambassador returned a week later and told Mr.

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Roosevelt that he had not dared to fiend the message. Upon this the President said that he would order the Admiral to sail within forty-eight hours. "It will be an awful thing...

The farmers' agitation against the prices at which they are

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to be compelled to sell their beasts has continued in various forms during the week. We must again express our sympathy with this move. ment, because we believe that on the...

Herr Michaelis the German Chancellor, addressing the Reichetag Committee on

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Friday week, declined once more to State Germany's war aims. "Any such public statement at the present time "could , only have a confusing effect and harm Germany's interests....

Sir Auckland Geddes made an important speech as Minister of

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National Service at Edinburgh on Wednesday night. He laid it down that the demands of the Army must be dealt with in relation to the whole field of man-power strategy. In...

Baron von Kithlreann in a speech to the Reichstag Committee

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on Friday week declared that the German Government and the, representatives of the German people were entirely agreed in regard to foreign poliey. He spoke as if the summoning...

That was the whole anise of the Corn Production Act,

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and it oannot be right to take back with one hand the encouragement that was given with the other. If the present plan remains, the farmer is only too likely to roll off his...

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At the funeral of Thomas Asks many of the rules

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which the Government themsels'es had made were allowed to be broken. The rebels—so they call themselves, and so they may be permitted the name—were allowed to parade ; they were...

Grand Admiral von Tirpitz, freed against his will from the

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cares of office, is now working hard to organize a new German party of what may be called super-Jingoes. He said last week that "it is not wrong but right that has been done to...

Those who believed strongly that something would come of the

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Irish Convention, and were congratulating themselves on the atmosphere of accommodation which was said to have been produced in Ireland, have received a shock during the week...

Sir Arthur Leo has been happily and generously inspired in

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presenting Chequers Court to the nation as a country home for the Primo Minister, The beautiful old Tudor house which nestles under the Chilterns is famous for its historical...

The descriptions of Mr. de Velcro's reviews of his troops

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remind us of the scenes when Daniel O'Connell was at the height of his power in Ireland and was demanding with throats of force the Repeal of the Union. Like O'Connell, Mr. de...

Sir Arthur Leo, unlike many donors, has remembered that a

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great house means considerable expenditure. He has therefore given a trust fund yielding £2,203 a year, which, together with the profits from the surrounding farms and woods,...

The Conservative Ministry in Sweden has resigned, in consequence of

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its defeat in the recent General Election_ The Conservatives lost twenty-eight seats and now number only fifty-eight in a House of two hundred and thirty members. There are...

How bankrupt Turkey has contrived to finance the war is

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a problem on which the Manthester Guardian, throws some light. Djavid Bey, the Finance Minister, has stated that Turkey's revenue for this year will be 21,033,000 Turkish...

The Trams's Aurnal of last Saturday published a letter from

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the Bishop of Eillalee wKeh makes one reflect wonderingly on the nature of the Censorship in Ireland :— " It is horrible," writes the Bishop, " that the country has to stand...

Bank rate, 5 per cent., changed from 51 per cent.April

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5th..

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE AIR RAIDS. A FEW newspapers have played a most undignified and mischievous part with regard to the raids which have occurred in the calm and bright nights of the past week....

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THE SUKHOMLINOFF TRIAL.

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W HEN one reads the distressing revelations made at the trial of General Sukhomlinoff, formerly Russian Minister of War, one is astonished, not that the complete break- down of...

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THE EUPHRATES VICTORY.

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S IR STANLEY MAUDE at Baghdad has broken his long silence with the news of a brilliant little victory at Ramadie, on the Euphrates. The Turks, in retreating from Baghdad after...

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NATIONAL WAR BONDS.

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rilHE past week has seen the institution of a new form - I - of war borrowing, which presetts many advantageg as compared with all the forms hitherto tried. Its greatest merit...

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TENNYSON TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AFTER.

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O N October 8th, 1892, died Alfred Tennyson, who for half-a. century had been by universal assent chief of the English poets of his age. He had had contemporaries, it is true,...

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" PR ON II EERS " ?

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A SCURRY of noise under my window, a quick footstep, yokes talkMg confusedly, and then in a thick rich brogue the words, "She's gone down, down by the head !" rose clearly on...

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SER,—lleference to the Criio will show that your correspondent A.

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Ferguson is mistaken in stating that Socrates's individual will or conscience came into conflict with the law after the Wieion of the Laws. In the Vision Socrates argues against...

AN AUSTRALIAN PROTEST.

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[To THE Enrrox or THE " Ssecneroa.") Sut„—The Australian Press has given currency to a statement credited to General Sir Archibald Murray that he "would rather lose a division...

"TO CAESAR SHALT THOU GO."

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[To THE EDITO1 OP THE " SPECTATOR."' Sra,—By all means let these extreme conscientious objectors who refuse alternative work under the Home Office scheme go before Caesar, if by...

AN EARLY CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.

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[To THE Enrroa or nlE " Smorsron.") Sut,—It is related in Miss E. Hull's Northmcn in Britain that, when Magnus Barelegs fought the battle of Anglesea against the Earls of...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are ellen snore read, and therefore more effective, than those which All treble the space.] THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR....

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TREES IN THE SUBURBS.

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(To THE EDITOR 00 THE " SPECTATOR.") Sin—I endorse every word of the letter signed " A Lover of Sunshine" in your issue of September 22nd. It is a thousand pities that the...

CAPTAIN BOWEN-COLTHUBST. ITo rat E//0004 or set SPECTATOR.") Sns,—Having seen

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the previous lettere to the Spectator about Captain Bowen-Colthuret, I shOuld like to point out an aspect of the cruse which may have escaped the justice-loving British public....

WASHINGTON ' S DISLIKE OF SLAVERY.

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(To am EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.") Si—In the issue of July list your reviewer of The Life and Times of David Humphreys says, after quoting from a letter of General Washington...

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SrcersTog."3 Ste —The line quoted

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by your correspondent "A. C. B." is from a poem by the poet Cowper on what he calls the Yardley Oak. The tree, still green and flourishing after more than a hundred years since...

EMERSON AND THE KAISER.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—When one reads the Kaiser's protestations of peace and goodwill to men, one cannot help thinking of Emerson's words: " What you are...

PRUSSIAN WAYS.

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ITo THE EDITOR OF sex " Sereravols."1 "The Essence of Parliament" in the number of Punch for April 27th, 1861, is the following :— " Thursday. On the question of the...

MESSRS. CADBURY'S CRITICS.

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(To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sta, — As the British Empire Union has issued a leaflet showing Messrs. Cadbury's donations to what is euphemistically called "The Society...

HELIGOLAND.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THIS " SPECTATOR:1 Sm,—The geography-books say that Heligoland is a loss-lying islet with an area of only one-fifth of a equare mile. At the end of the war,...

THE CANADIAN BOAT SONG.

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(To THE Erases or me " Seccasecat.") 5m — eau you inform me if the lines quoted by "C. E. B. " in tIre Spectator of September 22nd were correctly given? I heard them quoted...

WOODEN WALLS AND PIT-PROPS.

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Ito THE EDT/OR OT THE SPECTATOR.") Sua,—The quotation which your correspondent maks for in your September 29th issue is from Cowper ' s " Yardley Oak," and rune: "Thou west...

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et a fighting man.—I nm, Sir, he., HIS FATHER.

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" A funny thing about me is that whenever I am inn any strain ef any sort, my- mind invariably runs to some strange poem. In tl:c trenchea, before dawn, One words of Clough- '...

" NELSON'S LAST DIARY."

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(To THE EDITOR. OF THE " SPECTATOR...3 61R,—Referring to the review you kindly gave this book in your issue of September ?Ind, you may perhaps be interested to !earn that a full...

POETRY.

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WINGS. Up from the earth he speeds on rushing wings, Conquering regions, of uncharted air; Nor as a timid Daedalus he springs From height to dizzy height to do and dare; To...

BLIND SAMSONS.

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(To me Eorrox or me " Sescrarox."1 Sin,—The Agonistes was undoubtedly written by the blind Milton, but the SO1178011 oratorio was not composed by the blind Handel, as seems to...

NATIONAL HOME-READING UNION.

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[To me EDITOR or ens " Sewriron."I Pm—We desire to call attention to the work which the National Home-Reading Union is carrying on during its fourth War Session, and to appeal...

BOOKS.

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THE SOUTHERN SLAVS.* Tim war cross out of the Southern Slav question, and it will not end until that question is solved. It is desirable, then, that English people should learn...

NOTICE.-1When" Correepondence" or Articles are signed with the writer's name

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or initials. or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be hilt to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or With the mode of...

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THE ELEMENTS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY..

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ONE of the most remarkable signs of the political and intellectual effervescence in modern India has been the propaganda of Hinduism and Men-Hinduism by Indians of many sorts...

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THE PROBLEM OF POLAND.*

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CoLoNEL Wetmore wisely does not offer any solution of the Problem of Poland,which is of a kind to baffle the moot sympathetic and experienced of statesmen. What he does, and...

TOWARDS THE GOAL.*

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SOME sixteen months ago Mrs. Humphxy Ward, under the title of England's Effort, published a series of letters written to an American friend, in which she gave a general...

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FICTION.

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STORIES BY DOSTOEVSKY.* Hue. GssorErr, who gave us the whole of Turgenev's novels in excellent English, has nearly completed her task of translating, with equal skill and...

READABLE NOVELS.—The Professional Prince. By Edgar Jepson. (FIutehinson and Co.

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Os.)—An entertaining extravraanza with which the realistic last chapter is rather out of tone—The Rod of the Snake. By Yore Shoat aid Frances Mathews. (John Lane. Os.)—This...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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UMW in This Mum does nog newt:gag preclude subtepant ream] THE Ouronsa. MONTHLIEB.—The Nineteenth Century has a valuable article by Professor Dicey on "Ireland as 'a Dominion,'...

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Lettere on The Spirit of Patrietigni and on The Idea

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of a Patriot King. By Viscount Bolingbroke. With an Introduction by A. Hassell. (Clarendon Press. 2s. 6d. net.)—Bolingbroke's famous pamphlet, on which George III, was nurtured,...

The Last Lay. By " CL" (A. Melrose. 2s. ad. net.)—These

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well-informed and cheerful articles, which appeared in the Morning Poet, explain how and why we are winning the war on the Western Front, and show that we have simply to...

Archaeological Surrey of India : Annual Report, 1913-14. Edited by

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Sir John Marshall. (Calcutta Superintendent of Government Printing. 30s.)—Sir John Marshall has issued another stately volume recording the work done by himself and his staff in...

The Holiness of Pascal. By H. F. Stewart. (Cambridge University

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Press. 4s. net.)—Every fresh study of Pascal is valuable, and that Mr. Stewart's Hulsean Lectures are based upon a first-hand study is abundantly clear, both from the lectures...

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The Last Lap. By "G." (A. Melrose. 20. 6d. net.)—These

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well-informed and cheerful articles, which appeared in the Morning Post, explain how and why we are winning the war on the Western Front, and show that we have simply to...

Letters on The Spirit of Patriotism and on The Idea

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of a Patriot King. By Viscount Bolingbroke. With an Introduction by A. Hassell. (Clarendon Press. 2a. 6d. net.)—Bolingbroke's famous pamphlet, on which George III. was nurtured,...

until he is found to be a traitor, and her

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trustfulness has, on the whole, been justified.—In the Contemporary Lord Sheffield discusses the now Education Bill as a small instal- ment of the far-reaching financial and...

Arehceological Surrey of India : Annztal Report, 1913-14. Edited by

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Sir John Marshall. (Calcutta Superintendent of Government Printing. 30s.)—Sir John Marshall has issued another stately volume recording the work done by himself and his staff in...

The Holiness of Pascal. By H. F. Stewart. (Cambridge University

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Press. 4s. net.)—Every fresh study of Pascal is valuable, and that Dlr. Stewart's Hulsean Lectures are based upon a first-hand study is abundantly clear, both from the lecturer....