THE PUBLIC AND THE WAR. THIS is the first serious war that we have fought under T a microscope, and some of the consequences of that new condition are by no means reassuring....

NOVELS OF THE WEEK. THE sentimental reader will hail with enthusiasm in Syie Walks in Beauty an artistic revival of the formula crudely but effectively used by the late...

That the foreign papers should be furious with Mr. Cham. berlain was to be expected. The French, besides being affronted by the order to " mend their manners," believe that...

The Budget of the German Empire is not so readable a I financial barometer as our own, because each State has in addition to provide its internal finance, but it is interesting...

Some of the biographers of the late Sir Henry Tate, the benevolent millionaire who gave to the people the gallery which bears his name, have odd ideas as to the causes which...

The tactical folly displayed by local bodies in Ireland in passing pro-Boer resolutions has been set forth in a very courageous speech by Mr. S. T. Heard, a Unionist Guardian...

General de Galliffet continues his efforts to bring the I i Army back to its obedience to the civil power, or, as he would probably prefer to express it. to a cordial accord...

The Report of the American Secretary of the Treasury is I on the whole highly favourable. There was, it is true, a deficit for the year ending June 30tb, 1899, of nearly...

I The Times correspondent at Madrid reports an incident which, if it has actually occurred, may greatly affect the future development of Spain. The Government recently...

We have been acused of being far too optimistic as regards I the dying out of racial hatred when once the war is over and both races are pat on an equality, but we are glad to...

On Monday several of the surgeons and nurses belonging I to the 'Maine,' the hospital ship which has been fitted out by a number of American ladies to aid our wounded in the...

At the two hundred anti eighteenth annual dinner of| the Edinburgh Mderchants' Company, at which bir lienry Campbell-Bannerman and Lord Rosebery were entertained on Friday week...

I We note with satisfaction the scheme to establish a British school of arcbeology in Rome in close connection with that already existing at Athens, as well as in touch with...

I Out of the sixty odd transports despatched to South Africa in the last six weeks only one has met with a serious mishap. The ' Ismore,' which sailed from Birkenhead on Novem...

The Echo de Paris publishes a letter from General Joubert, I dated October 27th, which makes some curious admissions as to the Boer armaments. Since the Jameson Raid the Boers...

I The American President's Message which was read in Con. gress on December 5th is very long and a little undecided, the President having an eye to his own nomination for a...

An official statement as to probable Boer losses which has been telegraphed from Natal by General Buller is most remarkable. He notes that the Boers habitually conceal their...

it is clear that when the fight comes the Kimberley I garrison, whose gallantry and resourcefulness have been amply proved, will be able to lend a hand in the work of crushing...

NEWS OF THE WEEK. W E are, of course, not yet out of the wood either in Natal or on the Western Frontier, but as we write on Friday the latest news is of an encouraging...

The Ladysmith news may, we think, be also regarded as I on the whole satisfactory. It is true that the Times correspondent, writing on December 2nd, uses a rather depressed...

I In domestic affairs the President declares that the United States holds Cuba in trust for its people, and claims no sovereignty, but will administer its affairs until...

A CORRECTION. rTO THE EDITOR OF THlE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Rrading last week's Spectator, I notice under "News of the Week " a slip which may be worth correcting. It is stated...

MRS. CRAIGIE'S PLAY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPFECTATOR."I SIR,-May I say in reply to your very kind notice of my little play, Osbern and Ursyne, that it was finished in...

BO OK S. FROISSART.* WE are indebted to Mr. Newbolt for a valuable and timely selection from Froissart, which could not have appeared at a more opportune moment. Jast now we...

POETRY. THE VOLUNTEER. "HE leapt to arms unbidden, Unneeded, over-bold: His face by earth is hidden, His heart in earth is cold. "Curse on the reckless daring That could not...

THE MAAHRATTA CANNONADE AT ASSAYE. [To TUE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") StR,-The killed and wounded of the two British infantry regiments (the 74th and 78th) that fought at...

GIyr-BOOKs.-The Girl's Realm Annual (Hutchinson and Co., I 8s.) is a hHndsome volume, with letterpress by a number of popular authors and abundance of illustrations. This is,...

"ENTANGLING ALLIANCES." IT was a great pity that Mr. Chamberlain allowed his very natural and human indignation in regard to the insults to the Queen to hurry him into the use...

PROFESSOR PAULSEN'S "ETHICS." * To most readers treatises on ethics are unsatisfactory in that, to quote Matthew Arnold's line, they " rend in a thousand shreds this life of...

CURRENT LITERATURE. SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK. TUnder this heSding tee notice such Books of the week as hare not been reaerved for review in other forms.) Hawkshead: its...

| EnglishElegies. EditedbyJ..C.Bailey. (John Lane. 5s. net.)- This volume, which is one of the " Bodley Anthologies,- conrWa between eighty andi:ninety poems, ranging in date...

I Liverpool in Charles IH.'s Time. Edited by W. F. Irvine. (H. Young and Sons, Liverpool. 21s. net.)-In 1667-68 one Sir Edward Moore, who owned a considerable part of...

THE LANGUAGE OF SYMBOL. JHE brief paper in the current National Review by the 1 Chinese Minister will be read with general interest, though with much less agreement. The...

DOMESTIC MENAGERIES. T"rHIS is certainly a green chicken," was the first thought of Tb~ophile Gautier's cat when she saw his new parrot. " Chickens, even if green, are good to...

FRANCE AND ENGLAND. W.T E wish our countrymen, who when not ruffled possess a fund of political sense, would show a ltttle more of it in their dealings with France. They are...

THE MAGAZINES. THE magazines, of course, give the first place to the war, the best paper, perhaps, being one in the Nineteenth Century by Mr. Sidney Low. He is of opinion that...

CHILDREN AND TRAGEDY. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-In noticing my " Book of Penny Toys " your reviewer touches on an interesting subject. He calls one poem, "The...

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS RUSSIA. [TO TnE EDITOR OF THEI "SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Your articles on the Far East problem are frequently of a pessimistic nature, but surely every one must...

R. F. LITTLEDALE. [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,-Just now, looking for a paper in an old portfolio, I made an unexpected find, an adaptation or parody headed "The...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. THE FORCED RECRUIT. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR,0 SIR,-Througbout the war accounts have been received (the last at the Modder River) of men of...

TOPICS OF THE DAY. THE CAPE DUTCH. W E are hearirg a great deal just now of the disloyalty N V of the Cape Dutch, and doubtless in the frontier districts and in all places...

SIR ALGERNON WEST'S RECOLLECTIONS.* . . n . Ia # -- _ vx_ _ _t"A LIKEc most memoir-writers of late, Sir Algernon West makes his recollections stretch over more years than any...

JOURNALISTS AS DEBATERS. A CORRESPONDENT calls our attention to what he Aconsiders the unprecedented position of the English Press. Since the resignation of Mr. Massingham, of...

MUNICIPAL CORRUPTION AND MUNICIPAL SOCIALISM. T o the current number of the Contemporary Review 1 Mr. J. W. Martin contributes an interesting comparison between two movements...