will give definite orders to their newsagents for a copy of the " Spectator" to be reserved for them each week till countermanded.

T HE Italian successes on the Isonzo front surpass in interest and importance every other military event of the week. We heartily congratulate our Ally on a great military feat...

is sure to be succeeded by another storm, but this week there is little to record measured by the standards with which the titanic fighting in France has made us familiar. One...

captured two lines of Austrian defences, and the Austrians were evidently becoming greatly concerned for the safety of Trieste. The third and last Austrian line on the present...

sea were quickly taken. Heights that had once seemed almost inaccessible to the Italians were abandoned by the Austrians, who had not time always to destroy the guns which they...

our vital arteries is provided by the Admiralty return, issued on Wednesday night, of our losses from submarines. The losses of our merchantmen were lower than in any of the...

to discuss terms of peace, as it is still uncertain what countries will be represented. The French Socialists have taken an unexpected step in wishing to be represented. German...

addressed his troops on the Arras front recently. The words of the speech were reported in Thursday's papers. No longer did he speak of gigantic annexations and glorious...

the Russian Armies in the field and trying to convince the soldiers of the necessity of a new offensive. There is no doubt that the Russian Government most sincerely recognize...

States last week and crossed the border into Canada, profoundly impressed, as he told his Toronto audience on -Saturday, with his American experiences, which had revealed to him...

pessimism, and insists ,that beyond all question the Germans knew precisely where they were going and when they were there. They may, we are told, only have killed shopping...

suggestion .en its treatment of the subject by declaring—which is no doubt true per se—that anti-aircraft guns are of very little use, and insisting that we must have "...

its use of the word "invasion " that it employs it again in its second paragraph, and declares that the aeroplane is " the really formidable instrument of invasion." We are next...

torpedoed and sunk without warning in the Megiterranean last Saturday. She was struele by a torpedo at 6 pan., and again by another torpedo at 8:a0 pm. Evidently, theZertnans...

the Daily Mail meantime to be, depressed lay this grim picture of 17,000 planes circling round one's devoted head, a little reflection will enable the householder to ask, almost...

which), published a " leader " on Monday headed " Invasion by the Air," in which we are told, precisely as in the Times, that the aeroplane, and not the Zeppelin, is the really...

aeroplanes— the first .raid of anything like this magnitude—occurred on the evening of Friday week. It is believed that there were at least six teen aeroplanes. Those who heard...

and by Sir Wilfrid Laurier, who described England as " the home of Liberty and the terror of its enemies," and said that Canada was never so proud of England as she is to-day....

doing to. win the war Y " should be soothed by the impressive statement in Tuesday's papers. Within seven weeks of declaring war, Ameries has -adopted a Selective -Draft law...

a perfectly reasonable and unsensational line in regard to the raid, we regret to say that the Times and Daily Mail both showed signs of that excitable and neurasthenic mood...

we have only been at war for lees than three years, so we can hardly be expected to understand that the life of a British father, mother, or child is as valuable as that of a...

America is given by the Secretary of the Navy. He states that, despite the efforts of the Navy to keep their plans secret, the position and destination of the American destroyer...

on an important mission to Russia, and has been replaced in the War Cabinet by Mr. George Barnes, another very able representative of Labour. Mr. Henderson's great personal...

or more reasonable than that loyal and Ministerially instructed persons like ourselves should suggest that we should only use grain and sugar and other foods for food purposes,...

16th published a letter from a manufactu er of sweets who applied to the Ministry of Food for permission to use one hundredweight of malt which he had in his possession for the...

with King Constantine. In an interview with the Times corre- spondent, he said that Constantine, " having once been a King, has become no more than a party leader. Between him...

will stand no nonsense from the agitators against conscription, whether they are German agents or Pacificists, or mere politicians fishing in troubled waters. Riots organized by...

victims would have to be the Ministry. After all, it was not " fanatical " advocates of War Prohibition like the Spectator, but the Minister of Agriculture, who told us that we...

movement, and it was fiercely hinted that the Prohibitionists might have to be regarded as the very worst kind of " scab " or " black- leg." Then beer suddenly appeared in the...

Drink problem is to be found in the protean character of Beer. At the very beginn ing beer was discovered to be a kind of milk, and piteous appeals were made for the poor cow...

during the past week exercising the minds of newspaper writers and readers—the immediate cause of this perturbation of spirit being a letter by a working collier, Mr. Meadows,...

ineptitude it would be difficult to find a parallel to this wonderful letter. Apparently at the Ministry of Food they consider that malt is much too precious to enter the mouths...

April 5th

WAR AND DISTRACTION. W AR is like the conduct of life in general. If it were possible to carry out literally certain copybook rules as to strategy, tactics, and the combat, war...

of late in the forward sections of the 1. American Press and in the writings of our own news- paper correspondents in the United States certain signs of impatience with the...

heard a great deal about the principle insisted on by the new Russian Government of " No annexation and no contributions " ; " contributions " meaning, of course, vindictive...

O N Wednesday the Austrian Reichsrath met, and thus what not long ago seemed to be an imposSible event has happened. Moreover, it met without what are known as the " German...

P ATRONAGE is a passion. Most ambitious men long for it either as an intensely desirable adjunct of success or as an actual essential of it. The proverbial happiness of past...

T HE following series of letters was addressed by " A Student in Arms " to Canon Cremer. They throw an interesting light on the development of Donald Hankey's mind, and on his...

(Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] PROPORTIONAL...

THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTITOR...] Sia,—Abraham I.incoln closed one of his speeches ou the slave question tits: " Let us not be diverted by appeals beseeching true Union men to...

[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sia,—The project of a Convention to frame a Constitution for Ireland is probably based upon the American plan of dealing with work of this...

" SPECTATOR.") Ste,—The soldier on home service does not get a potato ration, and therefore cannot " save " any of it for planting purposes. Any potatoes he gets he buys out of...

(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."] Sze,—I had an excellent loaf of brown bread made from malt and wheaten flour, containing twenty per cent. of the former. It was a little...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] gm—Side by side with the warning issued to the A.S.E. by the Ministry of Munitions would it not be well to placard some such appeal as the...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] read your article on " Revolution and Monarchy " with interest; indeed, I may admit that as a Scot I read it with pleasure. if Carlyle is...

THE " SPECTATOR."] venture to think that the enclosed communication, which I have received from a friend who is a volunteer munition worker, limy interest your readers. He is a...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Sta,—Will you allow me through your columns to tell near relatives of soldiers whose sight has been lost or seriously injured at the front...

(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SpEcTiroR:1 Ste,--I am afraid the explanation of your correspondent as to the cause which determines the -filling of dew ponds does not bear scientific...

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—In view of the successes of our troops in Palestine, and in regard to the important questions of economy now before us as a station,...

cro THE EDITOR or rag " SPECTATOR.") , Sia,—The following, received to-day (May 25th) from the Major of a battery in France, speaks for itself :— " Would it be possible to get...

[To THE EDITOR. QP :THE "SPECTATOR.") Sae,—I should vary much like to know how the Nationalization of Drink will do away with -private interest in selling drink, and so improve...

[To THE EDITOR Of THE "SPECTATOR."] 5111,—The recent feeling of exasperation seems to have been mainly caused by the conduct, not of owners of racehorses, but of the haunters...

(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPZETATOR.") SIR,—I see that one of your correspondents is asking for a rule for cooking cornmeal mush, and enclose one taken from the Century Cook Book,...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTAT0a."3 ilia—Last July came the news of Sir Victor Horsley's death in Mesopotamia. We ought to have some record of his life and of his work ; we...

THREE BOOKS ON THE PROBLEMS OF SPIRITUALISM.t Sin Wricerair Butnsrrr, a well-known man of science, a Follow of the Royal Society, and also one of the principal founders of the...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—As all its readers know with pride, the Spectator is interested in every good work that aids, however indirectly or in however small a...

SHEFFIELD IN A TRENCH. "Misr would I like to see? " No fear ! Not London—no, nor Windermere, Nor Paris with its sky so clear— Give me a look at Sheffield. I have it in my...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") Ilia—Knowing the great interest that the Spectator has always taken in the works of Jane Austen, I, as one of her biographers, would like...

Matthew Arnold, " when a noble nature, poetically gifted, treats with simplicity or severity a serious subject." This definition is recalled and illustrated by a good many of...

IT is -a pretty subject of speculation whether Herbert Spencer's work will ever experience a new period of authority and renown. At present his fame suffers an eclipse which not...

In The Innocents at Home Mark Twain tolls us of a Nevada farmer who made his fortune silver-mining and " went to Europe and travelled. And when he came back he was never tired...

Introduction by William Archer. (Macmillan and Co. 2s. net.) --Professor Collin, the distinguished Norwegian critic, is a warm supporter of the cause of the Allies. A number of...

Louis Raenmekers. (John Lane. Gd. net.)—M. Cammaerts describes very clearly in this pamphlet the successive phases of Belgium's martyrdom under the rule of an enemy who has by...

for the Overseas Club and Patriotic League of Britons Overseas, has in its May number a stirring message from the Prime Minister to the hundred and fifty thousand members, and...

Miller in the new number of the English Historical Review (Longmans and Co., 6s.). It was founded by Kassander, King of Macedon, in 315 B.c., and named after his wife...

net.)—Hazlitt's engaging essays on Shakespeare have been included in the " World's Classics " just a century after their first appearance. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch contributes...

Walks in this column does not necessarily preclude subse q uent ream] To Verdun from the Somme. By H. E. Brittain. (John Lane. 2s. Gd. net.)—Mr. Harry Brittain gives a very...

4s. 6d. net.)—These two attractive and stimulating lectures, delivered at Princeton in 1915, supplement the author's well-known essay on Romance. One deals broadly with the...

racy, rattling verses describing wild adventures in the bush, with beasts of prey, or savages, or the more dangerous Ger- mans, show that British East Africa has already...

Monro's new poems are full of ideas, but too often lack poetic form. The title-piece consists of twenty-one brief sections, each in a different metre or rhythm ; it would need a...

Walker. (E. Arnold. 7s. Gd. net.)—The author of this agreeable book volunteered as a medical officer in General Botha's force which, by its dashing strategy and its great...

3s. 6d. net.)—Lady Jellicoe says very truly in her preface that " this is not a men's war,' as wars have been hitherto, but one in which both sexes throughout the Empire must...

(Chatto and Windus. 2s. net.)—The first Lord Lytton's spirited metrical versions of Serbian ballads and of the lament over the battle of Kosovo, when Serbia was beaten down by...

— Four plays by the celebrated. Belgian poet : The Dawn, The Moister, Philip II., and Helen of Sparta. As drama, The Cloister is easily the most distinguished and impressive,...

the Duke of Newcastle, Messrs. Allen and Unwin have begun to publish a valuable series of shilling handbooks on the British Empire. In the first volume, Dr. Watson Chico gives a...

(Macmillan and Co. 2s. net.)—A collection of attractive plays for children by an American writer. They are intended primarily for ciassroom use, but are quite suitable for more...