I N the Far East the question of war or peace still appears to hang in the balance, but on the whole it seems likely that there -will be no war. If Japan meant war, we doubt...

Times Vienna correspondent, we can only notice the most striking passages. The references to the renewal of the Triple Alliance were rendered remarkable by the emphasis on the...

Regiment of Infantry was convicted on Tuesday of ill-treating private soldiers in six hundred and ninety-eight cases—in one of which the victim had become totally unfit for...

last Saturday, the Government asking for a renewal of the authorisation to continue at their discretion the " most-favoured-nation" treatment of Great Britain and the British...

each Delegation read a loyal address to the-Emperor, who replied with a Speech from the throne ; and in the afternoon the Hungarian Delegation met to discuss Supply and hear...

any case.

made a remarkable speech at Toronto on Friday week. Like other critics, he observed that he could not be sure whether Mr. Chamberlain had thought out his proposals. If they...

effort to open the mines to white labour. Our most reluctant and limited acquiescence in the resort to Chinese labour, even as a temporary experiment, was given under a...

We do not believe that the American Legislature would desert the protected manufacturer to help the farmer. They would be far more likely to reply to retaliation by an...

our official and military relations with Tibet, which may be commended to the attention of all who wish to be informed on the nature of Colonel Younghusband's Mission. The...

the serious state of political unrest in Russia. Frequent murders of officials take place, and even the Social Democrats, who are nominally on the side of law and order, seem to...

week we noted the movement in favour of a Referendum. Now the Labour Importation Association, the rival of the African Labour League, has waited on Sir Arthur Lawley to protest...

Monmouthshire constituents at Tredeaar on Friday week. The most effective part of his speech was that, in which, by way of comment on Mr. Chamberlain's " new history" of the...

able and independent Johannesburg mine manager who lately resigned one of the best posts on the Rand because he differed so profoundly from his employers on the subject of...

on by artificial means P In time the United States will re- quire its food supplies for itself, and then will be the chance for Canada and Australia to become the granaries of...

Camberwell and in Lewisham to fill the vacancies created by the deaths of Sir J. Blundell Maple and Mr. John Penn. In Dulwich Dr. Rutberfoord Harris, the Conservative and Pro-...

Tariff Reform League a Commission of experts would be formed to frame a model tariff. " Then, whenever the country is ready to give us a mandate, we shall be able to offer it a...

from figures, and dealt entirely with the broad principles of his scheme. All doctrines must be revised in time, and Free-trade was not an inspired creed, and beyond the need of...

at which Lord Rosebery delivered two important speeches. He criticised with much acuteness and a great deal of wit Mr. Balfour's attempt in his recent speech to shift the...

Mr. Churton Collins, letters from whom appeared in the Times during the course of the past week, are endeavouring to awaken publie opinion in regard to the purchase of the MS....

on Friday 88k.

MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S SPEECH AND THE BY-ELECTIONS. R. CHAMBERLAIN was delighted with the result of the by-elections,—so his chief organ in the Press informed its readers on...

THE Russian Socialists have managed to put out a programme. What difficulties had to be surmounted before this could be done it is easy to imagine. It has been adopted in a...

I N his speech at Edinburgh Lord Rosebery had an amusing passage complaining good-naturedly of the low view of his character and prospects taken by the Press. To him it must be...

T T is difficult to conceive a combination of circumstances establishing a more constraining claim upon British aid than that created by the present misery of Macedonia. For...

T HE Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to Lord Asheombe obliges us, though with little hope of decreasing the heat and bitterness of the controversy, to deal once more with the...

I T is not in human nature to remain long contented with a social or political creed or policy, and sit in virtuous acquiescence without thought of questioning. Not in Western...

THERE is a passage in the seventh book of Plato's " Republic " which is perhaps worth recalling at a time when the great explorers in physical science are lighting on...

S IR HARRY JOHNSTON'S proposal, made in the correspondence columns of the Times, that the island of Achill should be acquired to make a reserve for British animals has a certain...

HOW TO SAVE THE FREE-TRADE UNIONIST SEATS. [To TITS EDITOR OF TITE "SPECTATOR. ") SIR, — Free-traders cannot be too grateful to you for stating plainly "that the Free-trade...

12th) that grati- tude and the desire to make Free-trade " absolutely safe" should lead Liberals to "do a deal" with the Free-trade Unionists " on the lines of the 18S6 compact"...

beg leave to say that I think your plan for enabling Liberal Unionists to retain their seats would prove fatal to the main object with which they, like myself, first became...

characteristic of the Spectator to be fair to those who differ from it in opinion, and I therefore venture to address to you a protest against your advice to the clergy of the...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] Ste.,—I have been expecting to see the following quotation from the Letters Missive of Edward VI. in this connection:— "Forasmuch as the...

on the position of Con- servative Free-traders in the Spectator of December 12th, I am tempted to send you copies of letters I have addressed to the Conservative and Radical...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:] SIR, — Ignorance of facts, and the unjust comments of "Rude Donatus " (December 12th), convince me that he cannot be a regular reader of the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:'] Sts,—In your issue of November 14th, in mentioning the success of the Ladies' Empire Club as a meeting-place for women from the various...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIE, — From the cabled reports it appears that a public meeting, called at Johannesburg on Monday to protest against the rushing through of...

[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE SPECTATOR. " ] SIR, —When we hear the shout of " Wolf ! " it is always some comfort to reflect that we have heard the alarum raised before when no wolf...

OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,--4 am enclosing the following cutting from the Feuille d'Avis de Newhard of yesterday (December 10th) in the hope that you may be able to publish it,...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—There seems to be some misunderstanding as to the action, or rather inaction, of the Judges in Miss Cave's case; at any rate, some...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIB,—I regret to notice that you do not quote Sir Michael Hicks Beach's speech at Bristol on Tuesday week. He seems to have Profited by the...

120 THE EDITOR OP TEE " SPECTATOR.1 SIB,—The action of the Welsh County Councils recently must surely cause every one to doubt the policy of the above Act. Although myself a...

" SPECTATOR. "] SI11,—As you have published in the Spectator of December 12th Mr. C. B. Upton's sharp attack on my little book called " Recollections of James Martineau," I hope...

[To THE EDITOROP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, — I should be much obliged to you if you could find space to insert the enclosed note in your pages.—I am, Sir, &c., 23 St. Andrew...

SIR, — The writer of the article on " Obscurity in Literature" in the Spectator of Dezember 12th appropriately instances the aesthetic value, in Keats's famous line, of the...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR. "] SIR, - I read your article on this subject (Spectator, Decem- ber 5th) with much interest, and I am quite prepared from my own experience...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, — In reading the thoughtful article on " Obscurity in Literature" in the Spectator of December 12th, I was especially interested in...

[To Tnr. EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR,—Your article on Mr. Herbert Spencer in the Spectator of December 12th is, to my feeling, very fair and appreciative; but in one...

[To VIE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, — In your excellent, though somewhat belated, notice of two of the volumes of " The Victoria History of the Counties of England "...

HAKLUYT'S VOYAGES.* IT is a strange omission that this age, so rich in reprints, did mot give us the English Voyages of Richard Hakluyt long ago. For not only is this great work...

STARLINGS IN NOVEMBER. THIS month is mournful to the starved eyes, And for its mouldering sweetness to the sense, With its soaked, matted grass, and its smeared skies ; But...

m.o. EDITOR 07 TKI "SPECTATOB..1 Sta., - 4 should be grateful if you or any of your readers could inform me as to whether the words from St. Augustine's writings to which...

landscape on a nutshell, or to sum up the character of a race and a complex political problem in a short essay. It needs a delicate feeling of proportion to avoid a false...

A FAMOUS fox-hunter, the late Mr. George Lane-Fox, being asked his opinion of hare-hunting, answered with:a courteous sneer : " I have always understood it to be a most...

HOWEVER baseless may be the pessimistic views as to the economic situation of the country which are now being pro- mulgated for political purposes, there is one aspect of the...

Miss Harraden is never actually un- readable, it must be confessed that Katharine Frensham is not a particularly convincing book. The characters do not seem alive, and their...

TWELVE STORIES AND A DREAM.• WE can imagine an unsympathetic reader of Mr. Wells's new volume contending that instead of being called Twelve Stories and a Dream it would be...

(Longmans and Co., 28. 6d. net), is one of the " Handbooks for the Clergy "appearing under the general editorship of the Rev. A. W. Robinson. Professor Collins rightly insists...

and Windus. 65.)—Who would have thought of selecting as a heroine Caroline of Brunswick ? It is true that at one time she was a popular favourite. But the feeling was not so...

[Under this heading ice notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Benjamin Franklin. By Joseph D. Choate. (Harrison and Sons.) — Here...

6d.)—Mr. Stevens has given us in Adventures in Hiveland a very pleasantly written little book treating of the life of the bee. The author has sought by means of a fairy-tale to...

Nelson and Sons. 5s.)—These "Bible Stories " are from the Old Testament. They are told in simple language for " children who are too small to understand the Bible when they hear...

by W. E. Barnes, D.D. (Methuen and Co., 2s. net). Dr. Barnes sets forth in a very sober and convincing way the arguments which have led critics to divide the Book of Isaiah into...

GIFT-BOOBS. The Gayton Scholarship, by Herbert Hayens (T. Nelson and Sons, ls. 6d.), is a "school story," more full of incident, one might say, than real school life happily...

the many volumes of sermons which reach us, but we must find space for a few words of welcome to a volume which may be described as the firstfruits of a ministry which cannot...

6s.)—We have seen, we think, better work by Mr. Oxenham than he has given us here. This does not, however, mean that this is not good. All the earlier part is indeed excellent....

2s. 6d.)—Mr. O'Byrne continues his adaptation of Celtic legends to the wants and tastes of young readers. It must bo understood that he treats them with a certain method. They...

story of adventure. The "longshoremen" are, of course, smugglers, the date of the story being about a hundred years ago. Endless are the crimes which these gentlemen commit, and...

(Hodder and Stoughton. ls. net.)—This is one of '" The Bookman Biographies," a well-written summary of the facts of Tennyson's life, illustrated with portraits—there are twelve...

Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—John Parmenter was incumbent of a chapel at Wingham, in Kent (now a vicarage of £157 gross value, with £1,368 impropriated tithe) between 1570 and 1629. He...

5s. net.)—Cheshire has a great variety of interesting places in it. Its capital tovrii, with its old houses and almost complete circle of walls, has hardly a rival in England....

and C. Black. 7s. Gd. net.)—This edition is preceded by a prefatory note, and by John Forsteee essay. And it is illustrated with reproductions of a number of water-colour...

by their titles may be mentioned together. These are The A B C of Stamp Collecting, by F. J. Melville ; and The A B C of the Rifle, by Herbert A. Jones (Henry J. Drane, ls. each).

as prompt as usual in accommodating itself to the wants of the time. In this volume, accordingly, we have the "British Share of the World's Commerce," " Statistics of Trade for...

annual, now in its fifty-sixth year, continues to increase in range and bulk. It has now reached seventeen hundred pages, and gives, perhaps, four times that number of...

we have, following up Anthony Trollope's "Three Clerks," Charles Reade's Cloister and the Hearth. This, as our readers are probably aware, is a novel of unusual length. (It...