The Land of Home-rule. By Spencer Walpole. (Longmans.) —" Home-rule"
has not just now an attractive sound to most readers. This ought not to prejudice them against Mr. Walpole's exhaustive work. He says everything that has to be said about the Isle of Man and its people, and says it with all due solemnity ; perhaps with a little more than is due. It might be advantageous to mix these matter-of-fact pages with one of Mr. Hall Caine's romances; we should have egregium temperamentuns. The subject treated by Mr. Walpole, besides its historical interest, is not without some bearing on the question that is now being so hotly discussed. The experience of Manx government, so far as it bears on Customs duties and smuggling, is not wholly encouraging. The Imperial Government now takes this part of the executive into its own hands ; but there was a time when Manx smuggling was a very serious injury to the Imperial exchequer.
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