known, the rumours of a speedy Dissolution have rapidly multiplied, a great many of both parties holding that there will be a dissolution before Easter. If this should be so,...

T HE Emperor of Russia has apparently made up his mind to a course of action, and it is not a wise one. Nihilism is to be met by repression alone. The Emperor himself will, it...

most incredible character, but they all point to two facts. The citizens of the capital believe that some tremendous outrage— perhaps the firing of the city—will be attempted on...

the general suggestion that if you are to punish Obstruction at all, you must do it by striking at the individual offender. Moreover, he promised to aid the Government in...

on Obstruction on Thursday night. He suggests that when a Member shall be " named " by the Speaker or the Chairman of Committees, as guilty of obstruction, the matter shall be...

in- tended to move, in relation to the second resolution, that the rule adopted be adopted as a Sessional Order only, not as a Standing Order, till the experiment had been...

his Budget on Tuesday, and, as usual, the reporters are utterly puzzled by the system of presenting the accounts of three years at once, the perfected accounts of 1878-79, the...

published articles intended to show that the Russian Government, in fortifying Poland, is endeavouring to con- vince the Russian people that there is danger from Germany. The...

day. The Republicans of Pennsylvania have already in- structed their delegates to the National Republican Con- vention, now fixed for June, to vote for him ; and on February...

great question of the policy of the Afghan war, in a speech of great force and no little closeness of reasoning, which, however,. instead of confining itself to the newer...

old charge that Lord Northbrook and the Duke of Argyll , cannot be trusted to know the drift of what they themselves did in 1873, and that to his mind they did, in effect,...

of Mr. Plimsoll, it is at least obvious enough that he has learnt the secret of pulling the strings which move the Government. His first great outburst certainly passed a Mer-...

has captured Colonel Synge, an English officer employed by the Embassy at Constantinople to distribute a relief fund, and his wife, a lady, it is said, of Greek extraction. They...

in the French Chamber of Deputies, during the discussion on the General Tariffs Bill. He defended the commercial treaty of 1860 with England, and showed how enormous were the...

have come to an end when Mr. Plimsoll made, yesterday week, a fall apology to the Members for West- minster and Guildford, against whom he had made use of language at once...

arrest for debt enjoyed by Peers and Members of Parliament. He held that the privilege was of no value, and that all men should be equal before the law ; and will therefore, we...

tion is almost sure to stop all progress ; but we must mention Mr. Norwood's Bill for extending County-Court jurisdiction. The Member for Hull proposes to raise the jurisdiction...

present condition of its London reports of political speeches. On Monday, Mr. Grant Duff delivered, at Northallerton, a most able and effec- tive reply to Mr. Cowen's recent...

much more languid than it ought to have been, on the Septennial Act, and proposed a resolution that the duration of Parliaments ought not to extend beyond five years. He was...

I T is of little use to discuss the reports, rumours, and narra- tives now coming in daily from St. Petersburg, many of which are clearly inventions, and many more based upon...

THE DEBATE ON OBSTRUCTION. T HE Liberal leaders and the independent Liberals have alike been wise in offering their hearty support to the Government in their effort to remove...

I T is impossible to deny—and we certainly have no intention of denying—that the condition of the Continent just now is very grave. Its three greatest States are armed to the...

E XCEPTING only that Mr. Grant Duff, in his speech at Northallerton, makes the mistake of taking credit to the Leaders of the Opposition for that want of firmness and pre-...

T HE speech of Lord Beaconsfield on Friday week, in answer to the Duke of Argyll's masterly exposure of recent policy in Afghanistan, was marked by two noteworthy features. The...

Tuesday has resulted in a verdict which certainly does not err on the side of severity. It is plain that if Mr. Justice Hawkins had been in the jury-box instead of on the Bench,...

T HE Lord Chancellor began the very lucid and able speech in which he introduced his scheme of Land-law Reform, on Monday last, by an emphatic statement of his approval of the...

I T is making much of a trifle, to be zealous on the subject of the monument to Prince Napoleon in Westminster . A.bbey at all. We suppose, if the truth were known, the...

I T is difficult, when one reads, as we have all been doing day after day for a fortnight, accounts of the explosion in the Winter Palace, not to ask ourselves whether the new...

"THE NORMAL STATE OF THESSALY." [TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECT ATOR.1 SIR,—The answer made by Sir Stafford Northcote on Friday last to Mr. Samuelson's question with regard to...

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.] SIR,-It is really too bad that the much-abused Greeks of the Hellenic Kingdom should be made in any way answerable for the doings of certain...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Indeed, your reviewer is in error about the Gostinoi- Dvor. The enclosed advertisement will satisfy you that there is in Moscow both an...

THE DUDLEY GALLERY. WE fear the tendency to be satisfied with low aims, to. substitute good workmanship, for high ambitions, to please the vulgar, rather than the select, to...

SONNETS. I. Au, yes ! we have a mind within a mind,— Which keeps its counsel to itself, and deems The issue only ours. Thus do we find A lost self waiting 'mid the broken...

his letter on the Liverpool election, published last week, though dated from the Incorporated Chamber of Commerce, in no way reflects the opinions of that body, which is...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin, — I do not know whether the rule applies to country dis- tricts in Ireland, but in this city, and I have no doubt, in the other Irish...

THE MEMOIRS OF MADAME DE REMUSAT.* MEMOIRS, we should have thought, were the last kind of literature to be worth translating. The taste for this peculiar sort of scandal is,...

Books" should ever be waged again, it is obvious that the 'Moderns' will fight, and will always continue to fight, at an advantage. Their army is continually receiving...

Ii is discouraging to think that political economists should still, in these days, have to write refutations of the old, old fal- lacies of Protection. It is humiliating to be...

HERE is an eminently readable book, written in English, by rt Russian lady. This is in itself a noteworthy fact. But it is by no means the only or even the principal noteworthy...

Is the bitter cold of this winter, it was some comfort to take up a pleasant-looking book, the scene of which was South Africa, and hope for a sort of reflected warmth and...

Reviews and Discussions : Literary, Political, and Historical. Not Relating to Bacon,. By James Spedding. (C. Kegan Paul and Co.)—Mr. Elpedding has here collected a number of...

a marked advance in arrangement upon its predecessor. A good deal of criticism, not always favourable, was bestowed upon this work, and has been received, we are glad to...

speeches. More than a third of the volume is occupied with a reprint of the prefatory essay prefixed to the Synoptic Gospels in the "Speaker's Commentary," a well-written and...

reader must not be discouraged by a somewhat unpromising begin- ning to this tale. When he reaches the latter part of the first volume he will find the interest increase, and...

Yonge sometimes writes in a way that somewhat tries the patience of an over-worked reviewer. There are some books—very few, it must be owned—of which one reads every word, and...

(Griffith and Farrar.)—This first tale, which gives a title to the volume, is a charming little love-story, of which we shall not spoil the interest by revealing the novel and...

Gillmore amply justifies his nom de plume of " Ubique." He takes his readers pretty well all round the world, beginning at home in England, and taking them by way of Gibraltar,...

Regan Paul and Co.)—Mr. Taylor took up his quarters at a convent of the Premonstrant Order, in a corner of Gnienne ; nor is there anything more interesting and more pic-...

Donna Quixote is scarcely equal to "Miss Misan- thrope," it is still a good novel. The heroine is left a widow under very romantic circumstances, and devotes herself to making...