NEWS OF THE WEEK • S O great is the number

of telegrams, so ignorant are many of those who draft them, and, we must add, so near are some of them to pure inventions, that it is difficult to record in brief the weekly history of this war. All we can do is to state the best opinion we are able to form as to the course events are taking, an opinion which may be corrected by new facts. We imagine then, upon the imperfect evidence pro- curable, that the Spanish Government, satisfied that their fleet at Cape de Verde could not defeat the American fleet in the Atlantic, are saving it up, intend to avoid battle on the ocean, and have practically abandoned Porto Rico and Cuba to their fate. They calculate that Havana will remain safe, the harbour being mined, that the American "Militia" will, if they land, be defeated by the Spanish "regulars," and that the disheartened invaders will then fall an easy prey to yellow fever and other diseases. When they have been decimated, the fleet of Spain, strengthened by additions, will begin to act, raise the blockade of Havana, and perhaps destroy New York. This at least is the plan put forward, and whether it is the result of an ignorance of America, which in Spain is universal—witness General Weyleee plan for invading the United States with fifty thousand men—or only to conceal projects for making peace, it is impossible to decide. That there are such projects in the air seems certain, but there is no proof that they are accepted either by the Army or the nation, or that they are based on any- thing better than a fancy that if they grant independence to Cuba, "Europe" will intervene. Senor Sagasta, it should be noted, states publicly that war shall be prosecuted "to the bitter end."

The impression that Spain will not fight on the Atlantic has modified American plans. Admiral Sampson has been despatched to Porto Rico to seize San Juan, the port of that rich island, and according to Lloyds' agent, who have no busi- ness to be sensational, he was on Thursday bombarding it. If it surrenders, as it is reported to have done, the Admiral will be recalled, and a large force, sixty thousand men, will be landed within a week or two in Cuba. Once organised on the coast, and " touch " established with the insurgents, the army will threaten Havana from the land side, while the fleet bombards it in front. The Spanish garrison, despising its enemy, will, it is supposed, try a pitched battle, and when it is defeated, Havana will be surrendered. This is a coherent plan enough upon paper, though General Miles may take a longer time to organise his army. He him- a. elf, hevrever, says that he is going "soon," and we think it ts Clear that some information has decided the Washington Administration to "strike quick and strike hard," and risk their volunteers against Spanish regulars. The American War Departments, however, make great efforts to keep their secrets, not hesitating even, we fancy, to put off pertinacious inquirers with carefully concocted "crams." It is a point for casuists, but is not an interviewer in war time an ally of the enemy, who may fairly be deceived P Our account of the destruction of the Spanish fleet in the harbour of Manilla was so accurate that, although Com- modore Dewey's despatches have at last reached Washington, we have nothing to correct. The destruction was, as we said, complete ; while the American ships were almost un- harmed, and no American was killed. It appears, however, that the Commodore, though he captured Cavite, has not bombarded Manilla; and he is rather curiously situated. He lies with his squadron in the harbour out of range of the forts, and cannot be attacked because there is nothing to attack him with. At the same time, he cannot attack Manilla, firstly, because he does not wish to exhaust his whole stock of ammunition, and secondly, because he has no troops with which to take possession. The Navy Department at Washington is providing for both contingencies. A large and swift steamer laden with ammunition left San Francisco on Monday for Manilla with artificers and two hundred and fifty Marines on board, and three thousand or five thousand troops are to follow as fast as transport can be pro- cured. The Commodore, who has been created an Admiral and thanked by Congress, and who exhibits in dealing with his enemies a spirit of chivalric courtesy, will, however, have to wait for at least five weeks, which will be weeks, one can conceive, rather trying to an impatient man. The Spanish garrison meanwhile occupies itself in keeping down the natives who are in insurrection, and have, we believe, seized all the islands except the part of Luzon commanded by Manilla.

No revolutionary outburst has occurred this week in Spain, though some of the symptoms are disquieting, and armed riots have broken out in many places. The people, however, except when they are driven wild by poverty or the failure of work resulting from the war, which in Catalonia especially is most serious, appear inclined to wait for the Army, which, again, is waiting for its Generals. These latter have formed a central committee in Madrid under pretence of consulting on military interests, and will, it is believed, induce all the regiments to act together. It is expected that in order to avert revolution the Queen will summon Marshal Martinez Campos, and that he will try to hold down all parties in the name of the child-King. He is supposed to be favourable to peace, but that must depend upon its terms, and Senor Sagasta has publicly declared that not only he himself but any successor will continue the war "to the bitter end." The Court, it is said, relies upon European intervention, but of this there appears to be no symptom beyond vague discus- sions among diplomatists, while the resources of the Treasury are rapidly declining. The Finance Minister on Tuesday extorted some bills by declaring that he was at the end of his means, bat the Bourses of Europe fancy that means to meet the next coupon have been advanced by French finan- ciers on condition that Cuba is given up. On the whole, the attitude of the Spanish people may be described as one of angry expectancy, with a strong wish for a competent Dictator, who is apparently not forthcoming. Marshal Martinez Campos, though a good soldier and an honest man, lacks originality and civil nerve.

The French elections were held on Sunday amidst signs of general apathy and lassitude, 25 per cent, of the electors abstaining from the polls. The total result, according to the Times' correspondent, has as yet been the return of 180

Moderate Republicans and 31 Rallied Republicans, 136 Radicals and Socialists, and 36 Monarchists. No less than 180 second ballots are required, and it is calculated that when all have been declared the numbers will be 316 for Government and 265 for Opposition, leaving M. Meline, who was returned unopposed, with a majority of about 50, which, if the Rallied shift about. may be on any day a minority of 12. It follows that M. lifeline must either submit to the Radicals, to avoid a coalition, or accept a defeat, and either may be dangerous, because the Army is sick of uncertain and Radical Administrations. Of those defeated, M. Jaures, the Socialist orator, M. Charmes, the Colonial; Chauvinist, and M. Deloncle, the Anglophobe, are the best known ; but sixty- eight new men have been returned, of whom M. Drumont, the leader of the Anti-Semites, is the only man known abroad. He has been sent up by Algiers. Altogether the new Parlia- ment is an unsatisfactory one, with a singular deficiency, for France, of men of genius or distinction. M. de Blowitz, a keen though prejudiced observer, is evidently most despon- dent. Nothing is known of the tendencies of the new Chamber on foreign policy, but we venture to predict that it will be more interested in Spanish and Italian affairs than in either West Africa or the Far East.

Another Latin people has fallen on evil days. The Revolutionary party in Italy, long wearied by the failure of many of their hopes from unity, by the weakness of the Royal Government, by the imbecile factiousness of the Chambers, and by the terrible weight of taxation, which their spokesmen declare absorbs 12s. in the pound of all earnings, have availed themselves of the high price of bread to call their forces into action. In Milan, in Como, in Turin, in Florence, and throughout the old Neapolitan Kingdom, there have been risings marked by overt resistance to the soldiery, by animosity to tax-gatherers, particularly at the octroi stations, and to the rich, and by outrages committed by women, who seem maddened by their poverty. In Milan the rising had all the character of an insurrection, the people erecting thirteen barricades, of which some were only carried by artillery, and fighting so desperately that the Government is afraid to publish the numbers of the killed. The railway stations were only defended by bodies of cavalry, and great guns were mounted in front of the Duomo. The poor are displaying a kind of courage of despair, rioters even throwing themselves down on the railway-lines in order to stop the trains. It is a most ominous sign of the wide diffusion of the revolutionary spirit that the Lombard peasantry marched on Milan and were only driven back by bayonet charges.

The Italian Government behaves like every Continental Grovernment. Instead of insisting on the Chambers re- moving the pressing grievances, which they could do by abolishing certain taxes, and suspending the levy of municipal duties, the Ministry rely entirely on repression. The state of siege is proclaimed in each disturbed city, all Italy is placed formally or informally under martial law, and rioters are treated as if they were invaders. Liberal newspapers are seized, Socialist leaders are arrested in batches, a rigorous censorship is exercised over telegrams, and in Lombardy any man who mounts a cycle is sent before a Court- Martial. As the troops are faithful, and the respectable classes gravely alarmed, these repressive measures suc- ceed after much sacrifice of human life, but at the coat of the popularity of the dynasty, of the governing Conservative party, and even of the Army. The Kmg is cool, and seems determined, but though a perfectly brave man, he is not an original one, and neither he nor his advisers com- prehend how deep-seated the discontent is. Italy has been taxed to the bone to produce an Army which in its first grand battle was defeated by a half-civilised African chief.

Mr. Harold Finch-Hatton has published a letter written by him on April 5th, in order to explain why it was that he resigned his seat for the Newark division of Nottingham- shire. The world was not exactly waiting in agitated sus- pense till his real reasons for resigning could be given, but his letter laying down his dissatisfaction with the Unionist Government is, nevertheless, a spirited and amusing per- formance. Mr. Finch-Hatton tells Lord Newark, to whom the. letter is addressed, that he came to his "momentous decision" because both the foreign policy and the domestic legislation of the present Government are "entirely opposed to the traditions and principles of the Conservative party." The Conservatives promised to help distressed agriculture, but they only passed the Rating Act. The last Irish Land Act was dishonest and unsound, and "if any further evidence were required that, whatever the Govern- ment may be in name, they are Socialists in reality, it is to be found in the Employers' Liability Act." The Chinese policy of the Government is, of course, condemned root and branch? and Mr. Balfour's first speech on China is declared to be "one of the most amazing confessions of incompetence that ever fell from the lips of a responsible statesman." Mr. Finch- Hatton's letter should prove of considerable use to the Govern- ment. Englishmen, and especially English Unionists, are not fond of screaming and exaggeration, and when they see the Government attacked in a way so entirely out of all pro- portion, their impulse will be to close their ranks and support their leaders,—not to cheer the young gentleman who is hurling stones and calling names from the pavement.

The Spanish War and the terrible condition of Italy are having, or may have, a marked effect on the equilibrium of Europe, and may very possibly greatly strengthen the posi- tion of France. The sympathy so openly expressed for Spain, and against America, by France, as well as the aid of the financiers, tend to increase the influence of France over Spain, and may even end by placing the Iberian Penin- sula at the virtual disposition of the Republic. At the same time, the Triple Alliance must be greatly weakened, if not actually broken up, by the state of Italy. This will, of course, enormously strengthen the position of France. But this improvement in the international status of the Re- public will be entirely counteracted if France acts towards us in West Africa in such a way that, even if war is avoided we have the sense of having been treated unfairly and with enmity. Such a result would almost certainly throw Germany and England together. But by a rearrangement of forces of this kind France would lose all, and indeed ten times more, than she will gain by Spain's dependence and Italy's miseries. The point is one worth the attention of French publicists and statesmen, though in all probability they will entirely ignore it.

We greatly hope there is no truth in the statement that two white regiments are at once to be sent to Wei-hai-wei. If our new secondary naval base is to be garrisoned, it should be, first by Indian troops, and later by a local force of, say, four Chinese and one Indian regiment under British officers, and a guard of a few hundred Marines. The plan of scattering our precious white regiments in little dots all over the world is most dangerous. If we are to garrison Wei-hai- wei with two white regiments, nearly a tenth of our new supply of men will already have been used up. But an extra force of twenty-five thousand men was declared to be impera- tively necessary long before we had taken our new station. Another reason against locking up white regiments in Wei-hai-wei is to be found in the fact that, thanks to the Canadian Pacific Railway, we could, in case of need, send men there from home in a wonderfully short time.

In the House of Commons on Friday, May 6th, Mr. John Ellis took the opportunity afforded by the Colonial Office vote to raise the whole question of Rhodesia and the Chartered Company. His speech deserves warm praise for its statesmanlike character, and for his refusal to make party capital out of the subjects with which he dealt. After reasserting his confidence in the paragraph of the South African Committee's Report which entirely exonerated the Colonial Secretary and the Colonial Office from having received "any information which might, or which should, have made them aware of the plot [i.e., the Raid] daring its development," Mr. Ellis turned to the subject of forced labour in Rhodesia. "Here was a company possessing a Royal Charter, and agents of the right hon. gentleman the Colonial Secretary came home and stated that under our flag com- pulsory forced labour existed, i.e., to ensure profit to private traders what was practically slavery existed." As an English- man he was proud that we had abolished tie kourbash in Egypt, "but surely we were not going to take credit for that and yet introduce a worse system of forced labour in these territories in South Africa." Mr. John Ellis, and Sir R. Reid, who followed him, also condemned the new administrative scheme for Rhodesia, and severely criticised the financial position of the Chartered Company. Mr. Wyndham, in what was oratorically a very able speech, defended the Company, and denied that the rehabilitation of Mr. Rhodes in South African nolitics meant any increase of race-hatred.

Sir William Harcourt in his speech made some sound criti- cisms on Mr. Rhodes and the Company, especially in regard to the gold law. His chief point, however, was his condemnation of Mr. Rhodes's proposal, now accepted by Mr. Chamberlain, under which the Chartered Company would have power, if it chose, to favour British, as against foreign. imported goods. Sir William Harcourt, and later Mr. Morley, strongly objected to the Chartered Company being allowed thus to discriminate in 'favour of British goods. It was, they declared, a complete reversal of our economic policy. Mr. Chamberlain naturally retorted that it was absurd to forbid the Chartered Company to do what we have allowed Canada to do and what all the self- governing Colonies will be able to do when once the Belgian and German treaties lapse. To this the Opposition leaders, in effect, replied that we do not allow Crown Colonies to discrimi- nate against the foreigner, and that we ought not, therefore, to allow a Chartered Company to do so. We agree in theory, and being, as we are, Free-traders to the backbone, we regret anything which may encourage Englishmen beyond sea to give up the advantages of free competition in a free market. At the same time, we hold that freedom is greater even than Free-trade, and would not dictate a special fiscal policy to any self-governing community. But Rhodesia is bound, sooner or later, to be a self-governing Colony, and is in any case likely to shape its Customs policy in agreement with the Cape. Under these circumstances, then, it does not seem to us worth while to insist that the Chartered Company shall not give a preference to British goods. To do so would savour of pedantry, and we Free-traders have far too good a case to spoil it by an academic rigidity of attitude.

Mr. Chamberlain's reply on the whole case was a dialectical masterpiece, but we greatly regret to see that he favoured the notion that we have a right to compel the lazy blacks to work, —to force them, that is, to earn an honest living by the sweat of their brow. We absolutely deny this right. It is neither founded on justice nor expediency. Forced labour de- moralises the white men to whom the privilege of using the ,_Trnee is entrusted, and it prevents the far healthier and sounder system of "work for wages" coming into existence. If the whites are forbidden to force the blacks to labour they will soon find other and much more effective induce- ments. The way to make the native labour problem insoluble for all time is to institute slave or quasi-slave labour. Mr. Chamberlain ended his speech by a defence of Mr. Rhodes. To abolish the Charter would offend South African opinion. Again, it was impossible to put Mr. Rhodes on an "Index Expnrgatorius." Mr. Rhodes bad been Prime Minister of the Cape. Are we sure that he will not be again ? But if he becomes Prime Minister at the Cape no Government could refuse to recognise him. Why, then, put this exclusion on him in a case where he can do no harm? Mr. Chamberlain ended by what was almost a panegyric on Mr. Rhodes and Rhodesia, and scored a good debating point by noting that the Opposition never seriously asked for the punishment of nr. Rhodes. That is, of course, the weak point in the position of the Opposition. As a party they no more wanted Mr. Rhodes punished than did the Unionists. The net result of the debate is that Mr. Rhodes is to be given another chance to redeem his pledges to drive us safely to the promised land of a British South Africa which shall be healthy, wealthy, and united. The last time we let him have the reins he drove us straight into the ditch. If he does that a second time a great responsibility will rest on those who have helped him on to the box again. We have no more space to devote to the speeches, but must just note the fact that Mr. Courtney's was a most valuable contribution to the debate.

On Monday the House of Commons witnessed an amusing scene when Mr. Dillon, representing the Irish Members, tried somewhat feebly to condemn the financial part of the Irish Local Government scheme, under which the Irish landlords are to have half the Poor-rate which they now pay, paid for them by the State, and the Irish tenants are to receive half the county was. This, the essential financial basis of the Bill,

was fiercely opposed by Mr. Lambert, an English Radical who represents an agricultural constituency. He objected to the proposed " doles " being made by the State. "The Government had turned themselves into a gigantic dole. distributing agency." Mr. Cripps, who spoke next, applied a most neat and effective extinguisher to Mr. Lambert's eloquence by pointing out that the latter had voted for the "dole" of half the rates given to the agricultural interest in England. Mr. Lambert retorted, amid laughter, that he had only voted for the second reading of the English Agri. cultural Rating Bill and against the third reading. We shall be curious to see whether Mr. Lambert, when he goes down to South Moulton, will explain to his constituency that though he may have voted for the second reading, he really did his best to stop the Rating Bill being passed and the farmers relieved of half their rates. In the end, the financial Resolution was carried by 140 (186 to 40).

We are glad to note that in the House of Commons on Thurs- day Mr. Balfonr, in answer to a question from Mr. Seton- Karr, refused in positive terms to entertain the notion of establishing public granaries, i.e., "Government food storage," nor would he even agree to a Royal Commission on the question. The Government is perfectly right. No doubt the facts that we depend for our wheat-supply upon foreign nations, and have no large supplies in hand, are serious facts, but if wisely and fairly considered they will be seen to provide arguments, not for a vast public speculation in corn, which will upset the trade in grain, and so the automatic supply, but for a larger Fleet. Meantime it cannot be too clearly stated that the present rise in the price of wheat—wheat is 58s. a quarter as we write, and may be 60s. before these words are in our readers' hands—is not due to the war but to the shortage in the world's supply of corn, and to the speculation based upon that fact. Not a single cornship has been interfered with, or is likely to be interfered with, by the belligerents, and there has thus been no physical check to the supplies. We have mentioned the speculators in wheat, but we are not inclined to condemn them so readily as we see them con- demned in certain quarters. We are by no means sure that they do not perform a very useful function in putting up the price a little in advance whenever there is a shortage. A rise in the price of corn at once checks waste in its use, and automatically throws a part of the demand upon other cereals and other forms of food, and thus decreases the risk of real famine. The rise in price, in fact, compels the due husbanding of our supplies.

We did not mention last week the plan proposed by the Indian Government for meeting their currency difficulties, for we were not sure we understood it. It is, however, when examined a simple plan, and, we must add, at best a very doubtful one. It is, briefly, to reduce the volume of the rupee currency by melting rupees down as they reach the Treasuries, and so compelling traders, in despair at the price of money, to use gold, which, again, is to be raised in England by a loan of 220,000,000, and forwarded to India in instalments of E5,000,000 a piece. That will, the Government think, raise the value of the rupee to a permanently stable position. We doubt it. Traders will not bear the high rates which with a deficient currency will be demanded for the usanoe of money, and will make contracts in little bars of unstamped silver. Even if the rupee is raised, it will be at the cost of a market rate for money which will make commerce nearly impossible, every- body competing for an article made artificially scarce. The gold imported will, no doubt, be purchased ; but it will be purchased by traders for remittance and re-exported. We confess we distrust all these elaborate schemes exceedingly, and believe that in the end, if a gold currency cannot be introduced as in England, the rupee must be thickened till it is really worth is. 6d., and the Mints then reopened to coin. the new " Siccas." The cost will be very great, poseiby sixty millions, but a rotten currency means ruin.

The by-election in West Staffordshire has resulted in the return of a Unionist, Mr. Henderson, but by a greatly reduced majority,—namely, 803, as against 2,348 in 1892. In 1895 the seat was not contested. In South Norfolk the Gladetonian has carried the seat by a majority of 1,330. In 1895 the Unionist majority was 836.

Bank Rate, 4 per cent.

New Consols (21) were on Friday, 111.