FROM JULY 2nd TO DECEMBER 31st, 1904, INCLUSIVE. TOPICS OF THE DAY. A BSOLUTISM, the Growth of ... ... Alcohol and Revenue ... ... ... Alps, the Call of the ... ._ .. ... ......

impregnable. General Kuropatkin, however, in a despatch to the Czar of June 27th admits that he has been out- flanked, and that the three passes, Mo-tien-ling, Fen-shui-ling,...

Fleet in Port Arthur, made a great effort to escape. By assiduous labour he had got his wounded ships in some sort of repair, and had exploded the Japanese ships sunk in the...

the theatre of war, but Friday's telegrams bring news of another raid by the Vladivostok Squadron. Early on Thursday morning six Russian torpedo-boats, sup- ported by three...

the armistice granted in order that the Envoys sent by the Dalai Lama to confer with Colonel Younghusband should be able to reach Gyangtse. This may be a device to gain time,...

reveals in a letter to a brother-officer, written at New- chwang, at least one of the causes of Russian failure in the Far East. The officers, he says, are so divided by their...

the 28th, and was received by the free city with enthusiasm. He was entertained at lunch in the Rathhaus by "his Magnificence "the Burgomaster, who in his speech thanked his...

America that the Democrats are not quite content with the choice of Judge Parker as the candidate to be accepted at their Conven- tion. He has little "personal magnetism." They...

captured at Tangier by the brigand chief Raisuli, were, we are glad to record, released on June 24th, and have returned to the city. They have not, they say, been ill-treated,...

week. In the House of Lords on Monday Lord Newton raised in a lively speech a debate on the subject of compulsory service and the Report of the Royal Commission. Lord...

so- called efficiency is to be set up for the Auxiliaries which will have the effect of very greatly diminishing the numbers of the Volunteers. It is intended, we opine, to get...

received with all possible cordiality and state. The German Emperor was evidently proud of his new Fleet, and must, one would think, have been slightly disappointed when the...

Beckett, we must note the very grave facts adduced by him to justify his Motion. He declared that the shortage in the Army amounted to eighteen thousand men, and contended that...

last week on the Kaiser Wilhelm IL' Mr. Kent Loomis, the brother of the Assistant State Secretary of the United States, was travelling to Paris, carrying a treaty from his...

Lord Rosebery on Saturday last made an unusually decided speech to a great audience of miners assembled for a festival in the grounds of Lord Durham's residence, Lambton Castle....

of Protection would end in Home-rule. A leading article in Thursday's Daily Telegraph on the secession of the Unionist Free-traders from the Liberal Union Club gives a...

held at the Hotel Metropole to consider the question of sending delegates to the new Liberal Unionist organisation founded by Mr. Chamberlain,—a body founded, in fact if not...

• during the week done little but discuss the Licensing Bill, On Wednesday, however, Mr. Balfour gave notice of a Resolution "guillotining" the discussion of the Bill in sec-...

great deal of interest through- out the country. The Ministerialists, though they are straining every nerve, have clearly no great confidence that they will be able to keep the...

THE UNIONIST FREE-TRADERS. W E are glad to note that during the past week the Unionist Free-traders have been shaking off the apathy which has too long distinguished them, and...

independent and beneficial political action to the King is not one to be encouraged. It tends to break down that veil which under our Constitution shrouds the personality of the...

is at once vulgar and unreasonable. The assertion that they cling to office in order to retain their salaries is positively silly. To one half of the Cabinet salary is of no...

speech of the Secretary of State for War made during the debate of Tuesday confirmation of the fears we have so often expressed that it is the intention of the Government to...

are very applicable to ourselves. We may draw the moral without being disturbed. by the fact that the case is still under investigation, because we have no intention of dealing...

C OUNT TOLSTOI'S remarkable denunciation of war published in the Times on Monday must have set many people thinking on the grave question which it raises. Abstract idealism,...

F OR most of us half the pleasure of knowing consists in telling, and half the pain of knowing is taken away by confiding. There are men who would refuse to be told the most...

W HILE thousands of visitors are taking daily delight in the beauties of the Thames, and thousands inore will be enjoying the first week of July at Henley, few of 'them realise...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—It can hardly be doubted that Lord Dundonald broke the rules of office so as to justify the Canadian Government in dismissing him. But...

THE FREE-TRADE UNIONISTS. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Can you enlighten me with regard to the course which the Free-trade Unionists are expecting events to...

[To TRH EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1 SIR, — I read with great interest your article on "Chinese Labour and the Empire" in the Spectator of March 26th. Having formed a part of...

f To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, — In the recent argument before the House of Lords, much of the time was occupied with the question of the right of Churches to...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In your issue of June 25th Mr. Balfour's phrase, "Those of us who are in favour of Colonial Preference," is assumed, in my opinion...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR, — Allow me to supplement your valuable criticism of the "New Sayings of Jesus" by a brief note on the second of The phrase "kingdom...

seen in your issue of June 18th a letter written by an Adjutant of Volunteer Artillery. Being an officer in the Volunteer Artillery, and knowing how that branch is treated, I am...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOB."] Sfit,—Referring to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Auxiliary Forces, in your article on the subject in the Spectator of June 4th...

Volunteer commissioned officer, I have read with much interest the correspondence in your recent issues on the above subject. May I be permitted to say that the differences of...

[To Telt EDITOR OP THE " SPROTATORM SIR,—The daily papers on Friday week had three columns of Birthday Honours, in which the Army figured in large numbers. The Senior Service,...

pro ME EDITOR OF THE " SVECTITOR.1 you allow me, on behalf of the London Council of the Boys' Brigade, of which Mr. R. G. Hayes is chairman. to make again this annual appeal to...

[TO THE EDITOR OP TIER "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—In the Spectator of June 25th there is an appeal on behalf of the above Committee, and the statement is made that employers are...

SIR,—Is there not danger that indemnities given to dismissed factory girls might act in a double way, sometimes bringing forth the truth, sometimes what is not the truth ? For...

SIR,—A request has lately been made to the members of the Surrey County Cricket Club, asking them to help the Com- mittee to find employment for the large number of young...

views on this most vital question, I venture, as a Volunteer of varied experience, as private and officer, in artillery and infantry, to join in the discussion. In considering...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:9 SIR,—I can only reply to your correspondent in your last issue that if he thinks, as he seems to think, that scientific inven- tions change...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIE,—I enclose a list of over eighteen hundred signatures to a memorial against the proposed overhead electric tram- way through...

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."1 SIR,—On a point of equity, I write to you. In the Spectator of June 25th (p. 991) one of your reviewers, in referring to a story of my...

[TO THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR-1 Sin,—My attention has been drawn to a paragraph in your issue of June 18th in which the reviewer of the memoir of Sir William Flower...

AMERICA TO-DAY.* MOST students of politics are agreed that America stands on the threshold of a new career, a development to which her past history provides no parallel. Her...

TWO HOMES. MY home was in the Island that we love, Set in the seas. The heaven alternate smiles and frowns above; The stately trees Beset the hedgerows, and the fields are gay...

MONSIEUR DUMONT on the first page of his famous book, now translated for the first time by Lady Seymour, declares that his own personality is not interesting to him, and then...

BuDGE has gone beyond all his predecessors in the amplitude of the material with which he supplies the student of Egyptian religion. These two stately volumes, with their...

was contained in the pamphlet, England in South Africa, published in 1900, when to Con- tinental critics the issue of the war still seemed quite un- certain. That ardent and...

THE QUEEN'S QUAIR.* Mn. HEWLETT has kept a long silence, and has broken it with a story which, whether we like it or not, we must acknowledge to be the result of diligent study...

BUCKLE'S "HISTORY OP CIVILISATION." Introduction to the History of Civilisation in England. By Henry Thomas Buckle. New and Revised Edition, with Anno- tations and an...

S. Whinnery. (Macmillan and Co. 69.)—This volume is primarily intended as a handbook for the inexperienced city official and for the urban citizen; and, written as it is from...

new novel, The Antipodeans, Mr. Mayne Lindsay gives a solution of the problem as to whether heredity or environment is the stronger factor in determining character. His hero,...

this Japanese story is or is not true to life the present writer has no means of judging. It is, however, full of wistful charm,—though the charm is so elusive that it is im-...

Sir John Barnard Byles. A New Edition. With Introduction and Notes by W. S. Lilly, LL.M., and Ch. Stanton Devas, M.A. (John Lane. 3s. 6d. net.)--Byles's editors claim for him...

6s.) —Miss Braddon has boldly written a story of about fifty years ago. This is a date which is usually left as a sort of backwater in the annals of fiction, for it is...

by Luke Owen Pike. (Eyre and Spottiswoode, and others. 10s.)—Mr. Pike furnishes a learned introduction in which he describes various sets of legal records. It will be discreet...

6d.)—This is an interesting volume, for, indeed, it has much to attract others besides those who are connected with the Blundell School at Tiverton. There are twenty-five...

are glad to see this descriptive memorial of an exhibition which excited, and that most deservedly, much interest. The University of Oxford, the Colleges, and some private...

new to be said about the Annual Register, because, though the reason may have a somewhat paradoxical appearance, there is so much that is new in its contents. To review what we...

Story of Westminster Abbey, by Violet Brooke-Hunt (Nisbet and Co.) The author has been peculiarly successful in bringing out the human interest which belongs to the famous...

[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Delphi. By G. K. Allen Bell. (Blackwell, Oxford. is. net.)— Prize...

is the first to appear, though the fifth in order of subject, of a series of "Text-Books of English History." Mr. Hassall has acquired the art of keeping due proportion where...

6s.) —Mr. Philpott tells under this title the " Story of the [London] School Board" for the thirty-four years of its existence. He has a good. right to do so, for he began his...

Putnam's Sons. 3s. 6d. net.)—The " Doctor " and the "Rambler" hailed from the States, and the Rambler was, further, a practiser of the arts of photographing and angling. They...

King and Son. ls.)—This Guild is described as an "organisation of the women connected with Industrial Co-operative Societies." These societies, which are not as well known as...

E. Crump. (Sweet and Maxwell. 3s. 6d. net.)—The authors modestly claim the merit of putting the information that a Magistrate is likely to want on the spot in a convenient and...

much in this volume which may be praised without reserve. Chap. 19, for instance, contains much useful information, gathered from Blue-books and the like, about the conditions...