NEWS OF THE WEEK.

TIORD SALISBURY has been ill all the week with influenza. The attack has not been very severe, bat there has been much fever, and the peat is so fatal to the elderly that considerable alarm has been created. The Premier, it must be remembered, is now sixty-eight, and has once at least passed through a very serious illness. The events of the last twelve months have harassed him greatly, and it is believed that he will shortly go abroad to recover tone by a short abstinence from work. His double office as Premier and Foreign Secretary makes his position a trying one, and though, like all good administrators, he avoids details, he cannot, like other heads of Departments, content himself with orders. He must explain them in despatches which, as they often involve war or peace, must be thought out with exceeding care. His difficulties have not been diminished by the growth of an opinion abroad that he has determined to avoid war at any price, and that he is greatly at variance with influential colleagues, especially Mr. Chamberlain. Both opinions are unfounded, as the French Government in particular may have reason to discover. Lord Salisbury is in hearty accord with Mr. Chamberlain, and while perhaps more conscious than the people that England is already overburdened with territory and watched with jealous suspicion by powerful rivals, he is the last man to surrender what he believes to be her rights. Radical misrepresentations have in this instance done serious international harm.

A determined attempt was made on Saturday to assassinate the King of Greece. He was driving unattended with his daughter, the Princess Marie, along the sea-coast abcnt three miles from Athens, when he saw at the side of the road two men, one of twenty-five, and the other younger. They fired rifles at the horses, and then jumping down, knelt and fired twice at the King. The first discharge wounded a servant sitting on the box, but the other two missed altogether, and the men, seeing they had failed, made off in the direction of Mount Hymettus. The King, who was per- fectly cool, threw himself before his daughter, and shook his stick at the assassins, a passionate gesture which helped to disconcert their aim. They were arrested next day, and confessed they were members of a secret society which had ordered the execution of the King, as a traitor to Greece, the suspicion being apparently that he had betrayed the national Army. The elder man, whose name is Karditzis, has a small post in the municipality, but was formerly a sergeant in the Artillery, and the younger, whose name is Kyriakos, is a mason. Both had been engaged in the Cretan insurrec- tion. The attempt, which is attributed to the fury excited by a portion of the Press, has called forth an unexpected amount of loyal feeling, and has completely rehabilitated the King in the eyes of his subjects, who realise the truth that it is the dynasty alone, and its connections with Russia and Great Britain, which save them from subjugation. The Greeks pro- test eagerly and truly that assassination is not one of their habits, but the incident has deepened the European feeling that they are an unreflecting people, suspicious, impulsive, and prone to anger,—in short, Southern.

It is nearly impossible to form a definite opinion as to the probability of a war between America and Spain. Jingoes, silver men, peace men, Spaniards, and native Cubans are all making statements which have no relation to facts, while the chiefs of the two Governments, with very anxious faces, are trying to keep smilingly silent. We can therefore only state an impression which, though based on a careful study of the few fads obtainable, may prove ultimately erroneous. We believe, then, as at present advised, that both Washington and Madrid expect war without desiring it ; that both are arming as rapidly as they can ; and that both are thinking over possible alliances, Spain with France and Russia, and America with Japan, which wants the Philippines, and could double the American Fleet at an hour's notice, —if Russia would permit. Great efforts are made on both aides to gain time,—by Mr. McKinley because the arsenals are not yet full, by Seiior Sagasta because he must elect a more obedient Parliament. The cause causans of war will not be the accident to the 'Maine,' whether that occurred from the outside or the inside, but some much broader demand, which Washington will base upon some official "reports" upon the condition of Cuba which, when published, will stir American feeling to its depths. Their publication is being postponed for that reason; but it cannot be delayed for ever. The French Foreign Office, in dread of a financial crash in Paris, is suggesting mediation, but will in the end make the mistake of threatening a people who at heart believe that nothing in Europe is strong except Great Britain.

The German Members have quitted the Bohemian Diet, and the two races, it is stated, are for the present irrecon- cilable. The Cisleithan Parliament, after meeting for a few days, will therefore, it is expected, be prorogued, and the Em- peror, declaring the present Constitution unworkable, will revert by proclamation to the old one under which the pro- vincial Diets elected the central body. That is, Cisleithan Austria will become an avowedly Federal State, as Mr. Gladstone once prophesied it would, but the Dual arrange- ment will remain unchanged. Dr. Emil Reich, whose view we discuss elsewhere, and who knows Austria through and through, clearly believes that the Emperor will go a step farther, that he will reduce the powers of the central Parliament and increase those of the Court of Administration, a half-judicial, half-administrative body, the authority of which is already very great and not unpopular. There will be no civil war, and no recurrence to what English- men understand by despotism. The plan seems adroit, but it remains to be seen whether, if it is adopted, the Germans will submit to it, and whether it will not weaken too much the general taxing power of the central Assembly. In view of the position of Austria in relation to Europe and to Hungary, the latter result could not be endured for long.

It appears to be nearly settled that the German Emperor will be able to pass his Naval Bill. The Centre or Catholic party hold the balance of power in the Reichstag, and their leader, Dr. Lieber, whether moved by orders from Rome or by German popular feeling, has accepted the Bill, which provides for a steady increase of the German Navy for seven years. There is still a thorny question to be settled as to the method of meeting the increased coat, but as the Imperial Government will borrow all the money rather than be delayed in its plans, this difficulty will not impede the increase of the Fleet. Tbere seems to be no doubt that the seizure of Kiao-chow is highly popular in Germany, especially in the Catholic provinces, and has swept away the growing impression that the Emperor is a talker rather than a man of action. The Germans believe, in fact, that he has tapped for them a new source of wealth, and so thinking, either condone or approve his violence of language. This success has deeply gratified the Emperor, who just now greatly needs it, as, in addition to his usual troubles, he has a controversy with the smaller States on a question of considerable importance. They, led by Bavaria, wish to keep the fullest control of the discipline of their armies, but the Emperor wishes to subject them all to an Imperial Military Court. He will probably win, but the matter is one which greatly irritates the traditional pride of the subordinate, or, as they think themselves, the allied, dynasties.

The French really are an unaccountable people. On Thursday the Times' correspondent in Paris forwarded a series of letters which are positively amazing. In the first Captain Begonen, of the General Staff, informs M. Trarieux, Senator and ex-Minister, that his evidence in the Zola Trial is an infamy, that his heart beats in sympathy with the traitor Dreyfus, that his "soul is naturally akin to all equivocal souls." "Denounce me to my chiefs," continues this Staff officer," or conceal yourself from my sword for fear that by the colour of your blood it may be too clearly seen not to be French blood." In the second letter M. Trarieux in most temperate terms forwards the insulting letter to General Billot, and asks that Captain Begouen may be requested to apologise. In the third General Billot re- fuses the request, inasmuch as the quarrel is a private one. In the fourth M. Trarieux informs the Minister of War that he has informed the President of the Senate of the correspondence, and in the fifth General Billot, evidently having received a remonstrance from that high functionary, states that Captain Begouen has been reprimanded by himself in presence of he Chief of the Staff. It is not difficult, in presence of incidents of this kind, to see what power is ruling France, how keenly it resents the Dreyfus discussion, and how eagerly it must long to see Parliamentarians placed beneath its heel.

Sir E. Ashmead - Bartlett on Tuesday raised a debate by moving that it was indispensable to maintain the independence of China. The Government had no difficulty in accepting this Motion, and it soon appeared, to the disgust of the fire-eaters, that upon the Far East the Ministry and the Opposition were agreed. Sir William Harcourt explicitly denied all intention of weakening Lord Salisbury's hands, uttered friendly words about Russia, and maintained that it was unworthy of a great nation to act on a policy of sus- picion. We mast be prepared for competition, and no one was in any other way denying our rights. Mr. Curzon agreed, though he observed that should circumstances change we might abandon our attitude of reserve, and took occasion to repeat, with a certain emphasis, that Russia and Germany had assured us that Port Arthur and Kiao-ohow should remain open ports. The "integrity and independence of China" were, he said, "matters of intense solicitude to the British Government." We seize no territory ourselves, and should not regard such seizure by others "with a welcoming eye." Mr. Curzon also cleared up a doubtful point. He declared that China had opened her internal waters to the trade of all nations, "which means that we shall be able to take British merchandise in British ships not merely to the ports recognised by Treaty, but to every riverside town and station in the whole of the interior of China," a statement which makes of that " concession " an agreement of vast commercial importance. Mr. Curzon ended with a high compliment to the "independence and resolute personality" of Sir Claude Macdonald, now British Ambassador in Pekin. That word " independence " means something, and in the interest of modern diplomatic history we should much like to know what.

We notice that Mr. Curzon is almost entirely without hope that China will do anything for herself, or will become any- thing but an object of grasping attack to foreign Powers, attack from which she must be protected, if at all, by an exertion of British strength. Everybody on the spot agrees with him, and it is foolish to contend with experts when they are all of one mind. And yet at heart we confess to a strong lingering doubt whether the experts are all right. It may prove that it is the dynasty, and not China, which is so near its death. The Chinese have gone on for three thousand years defeating or absorbing all enemies. They are a people who dread neither death nor pain, they can make almost any- thing, fine ironwork included, and they number among their three hundred millions many mountain tribes who can fight like Ghoorkas. Their internal organisation, though rather federal than united, is durable and strong, and they all acknow- ledge that they must have among them a single "Father," to be implicitly obeyed as the vicegerent of heaven, and the pro- tector of earth from the dangerous wrath of spirits, foreigners„ and bandits. Within living memory an enormous number of them perished in great heaps for what they deemed a "Cause," and their dissidents, whether Massulman or Christian, meet death cheerfully rather than give up their cherished ideas. It is to us almost incredible that such a people should per- manently consent to see a country of which they are at once conscious and proud, carved and sliced by white men whom from their very hearts they detest and despise. We have not an idea whence the movement of revolt is to come, but we can see very clearly that a new dynasty with brains, courage, and a new capital might make very short work of European pre- tensions. Even Russia could do little against a million or two of riflemen with bags of millet and a willingness to die.

The situation as regards West Africa remains much what it was. In the French Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, Prince d'Arenberg spoke of the recent "treacherous assassination on the frontier of Dahomey of M. de Bemis, abused the Niger Company, and hoped that M. Hanotaux would defend French rights. M. Hanotaux, who, as usual, read his reply, stated that the Commissioners of Great Britain and France were actively at work, and that "if they are meeting with certain difficulties inherent in the very nature of tIke complex ques- tions which they have to examine, there is every reason to hope that they will finally discover the elements of an under- standing, so much to be desired, between the two countries." He had confidence in the friendly dispositions of both. Governments and in the positive conciliatory instructions which had been given in common to the officers on the spot. "In Paris the work of the Commission is proceeding regularly,. and I am not afraid of betraying the secret of its delibera- tions in saying that already the ground has been considerably cleared. I hardly need say that the rights and interests of France are being defended with perseverance and energy, but without excluding the idea of discovering, if need be by reciprocal concessions, the 'equitable solutions' anticipated in the very document which provides for the meeting of that Commission." This hubbub of words may mean anything or nothing. For ourselves we think it fairly arguable that it points to concessions by France, and so to an equitable arrangement. Up till now the difficulty has been to get. France to meet us in the slightest degree. Still, the situa- tion, as we point out elsewhere, is very critical, and must. remain so as long as the French think we are not in earnest.

On Friday, February 25th, Mr. Brodrick brought forvrarci the new Army proposals in a speech of very considerable power. The vote for men for the coming year exceeds that of last year by nearly twenty-two thousand, and, taken with last year's- increase, makes the addition to the Army over twenty-five thousand,—the largest increase ever proposed in time of' peace. After mentioning that we have now two hundred and twenty thousand men serving with the colours, eighty thousand men in the Reserve, and about one hundred thousand men in the Navy, and that if you count the Militia, Volunteers, and Yeomanry, every year one man in every four of those- who attain the age of eighteen enters her Majesty's service in one form or other, Mr. Brodrick explained his scheme in detail. Provision is to be made for three army corps for' home defence, with five guns per thousand bayonets and 'sabres. For minor emergencies a force of ten thousand men is to be available without calling out the main reserve or transferring men from one unit to another. (This is to be accomplished by the new arrangement under which men will be liable to be recalled during their first year in the Reserve without a general mobilisation, their Reserve pay daring this time being doubled.) No battalion is ever in future to be reduced below six hundred, no regiment of horse below three hundred and fifty-six, and no battery below one hundred. Of course, to accomplish all this more men are wanted, and they are to be attracted by a clear is. a day and "all found." Unfortunately the War Office refuses to put the matter in this -clear, and therefore attractive, form, but talks about 3d. a day P stra and 2d. a day less. In addition there is to be an -attempt to enlist men for three years, and a certain amount -of decentralisation and War Office reform. It will not in future be necessary for a General officer in command to ask leave of the War Office before he can appoint a cook.

After Mr. Brodrick's remarks, Mr. Arnold-Forster might -very fairly have said, 'If you require a monument for me re- print the speech of the Under-Secretary for War.' Instead he -confined himself to expressing his great satisfaction that the War Office had yielded to the demands of the reformers in so -many and in such important ways. His chief criticisms were .directed against the refusal to form training depots and against the failure to attract recruits by offering to the soldier a real • career. He also expressed his regret—and here he has our warmest sympathy—that no proposals are made for taking boys at sixteen and training them to be soldiers, paying them, -of course, only as boys till they become men. Generally, he -considered that the Army difficulty would never be thoroughly -met until the Army was divided into two classes,—men who were enlisted for service at home and abroad, representing long-service men ; and men who were enlisted solely for home service, representing three-years' service men. Mr. .Arnold-Forster ended his speech by saying that no fewer than twenty-five of the changes he and his friends had asked for -five years ago had now been granted. The debate that -followed showed that as a whole the House was fairly well satisfied. One thing was quite clear. The War Office could at this moment have whatever it likes to ask for. If, then, it has not asked for enough or for the right things, the terrible =responsibility incurred is entirely its own, and cannot be shuffled off on the long-suffering Commons.

On Wednesday afternoon Mr. Alfred Lyttelton introduced the Benefices Bill into the House of Commons. The object of the Bill, he explained, was to minimise the chances of a oommunity having a bad parson appointed. The Bill pro- posed, firstly, to forbid the sale of next presentations, and to -stop evasions of such a restriction, and thus to do away with -one of the sources from which came unfit parsons. Next, parishioners are to be given power to object to the appoint- ment of unfit persons ; and the Bishops are to have their right of refusing institution to unfit persons increased. One would have supposed that proposals in principle so sound and so reasonable would have secured the second reading -of the Bill without debate. On the contrary, it was strongly opposed, by Mr. McLaren, mainly on the ground that no -compensation was given for the prohibition placed on the -sale of next presentations ; and by Mr. Carvell-Williams, -on the plea, among others, that while there were provisions to prevent unfit persons being appointed to livings, there were none to prevent unfit persons being patrons. Surely that is a strange argument. It might be perfectly sound to prevent unfit persons being returned to Parliament, and yet not to inquire into the character of the voters. After several -speeches on both aides, Mr. Balfour announced that a Govern- ment Bill on similar lines would be introduced by them next day, and the second reading was then agreed to without a -division. We trust that the Government Bill will turn out to be a thorough and workmanlike measure, and especially that it will make the parishioner's right of objection a reality and not a farce.

On Thursday the House of Commons was engaged in a some- what laborious and confused discussion of the supplementary vote of 285,000 for Uganda. After a ridiculous speech from Mr. Labouchere, who wished to assemble the people of -Uganda, "establish some kind of government [P with Mwanga as the Patriot King'], and then withdraw," Sir Charles Dilke urged that Major Macdonald was responsible for the mutiny. Mr. Curzon in reply allowed that the Soudanese had serious grievances, and in effect admitted that they had not been wisely handled. He would not, however, agree that the blame could be placed on Major Macdonald. Besides stating that the &test news was hopeful, and showing that the worst results of the mutiny were now over, Mr. Curzon explained that the military resources of the Pro. tectorate were to be entirely reorganised. The old Uganda. Rides are to be disbanded, and a new force is to be raised which will consist of seven hundred Swahilis, seven hundred of the Soudanese who have remained faithful, and four hundred men recruited in India. Mr. Curzon also mentioned that a native regiment, seven hundred and fifty strong, had been des. patched from India, and that three of its companies are already at the Lakes. All this is, of course, very right and proper, but the real safeguard of Uganda will be the railway. But for Sir William Harcourt's opposition that would already be at Lake Victoria.

The County Council Elections, which took place on Thurs. day, resulted in a smashing defeat for the Moderates. Though the returns are not absolutely complete as we write, it seems pretty certain that the elected members of the new Council will consist of seventy-one Progressives and of forty-seven Moderates, or a Progressive majority of twenty-four. Ten Aldermen have also to be elected, and if these are all Progressives, as they doubtless will be, the Progressives will have fourteen out of the nineteen Aldermen. This will make their total majority on the Council up to thirty-three. The chief feature of the Election is the Progressive gains in the working-men constituencies. Poorer London has, in fact, gone strongly Progressive. In all probability this is due to the widely held, though erroneous, belief that the Moderates wished to split London up into cities of the rich and cities of the poor. We cannot feel any sense of terror at the result of the elections, for Englishmen are, as a rule, sobered, not made drunk, by victory. We do not, therefore, expect to see any very serious attempt made to shunt the Council on to Collectivist lines.

The Pall Mall Gazette of last Saturday gives an interesting account of Mr. Reid, the millionaire "adventurer," in the six- teenth-century sense, who is going to develop Newfoundland. In 1893 Mr. Reid, who, we believe, is the son of a Scotch- Canadian contractor and engineer, signed a contract to make a railway across the island. He received as part of the price two and a half million acres of waste land. This vast terri- tory he is now going to develop, and he also proposes to take over and work all the telegraph and railway lines, and docks in the island. Mr. Reid's new concession is to last fifty years, and he is to pay 2200,000 for it, but to get also another huge land grant. There are, it appears, gigantic coal. fields in the interior, and these Mr. Reid is going to develop. and, in connection with them, the other mineral resources of the island, which are of vast extent, and include oil, nickel, antimony, asbestos, manganese. and iron. According to the writer in the Pall Mall Gazette, who, it must be said, some- what spoils his subject by his jocularities, Mr. Reid also con- templates developing a short Atlantic passage of about fifty hours between Galway and the East Coast of Newfoundland. Thence passengers and mails will cross the island by rail, and. finding another steamer in waiting for them, will be quickly transferred to Sydney, which is on the mainland, and the terminus of the Canadian railway system. Whether the fogs will prevent this we cannot say, but if not, and Galway becomes the point of departure, there will be yet another argument for the Irish tunnel. Then there will be through carriages from London to Galway, and after two days and two nights at sea the traveller will be in America. The Daily Mail of yesterday, writing of Mr. Reid, says that he and his plans are very popular with the people. It is conceivable that if Mr. Reid succeeds he may become the richest man in the Empire.

The annual return relating to the constituencies of the United Kingdom, published on Thursday, shows the total

number of electors to be 6,528,629, an increase of 68,555 over last year. On a fair basis the representation of the three

countries would work out as follows :—

England and Wales ... 528 Members, instead of 495

Scotland ... 68 72 Ireland ... ... 74 „ 103

The Englishman is not a very quick-moving or quick-brained person, but surely even he will some day notice that it is rather foolish to go on giving Ireland thirty more Members than she has any right to and England some thirty less.

Bank Rate, 3 per cent.

New Consols (2,) were on Frilay, 112.