NEWS OF THE WEEK.

THE long illness, watched with such keenness of sympathy by all English-speaking men, has ended at last. Mr. Gladstone died at Hawarden at 5 o'clock in the morning of Thursday, expiring, as most strong men do, with- out apparent struggle, and cheered to the last by the devoted attention of his wife and his children. He had been afflicted for months with a cancerous affection of the nose, which did not disfigure his face, but was incurable and beyond reach, except through an operation, which it would have been too dangerous to try. He had also during the last two years shown signs of debility of the heart's action, and it was this at last which killed him. He was eighty-eight years of age. The last months of his career, we regret to record, had been full of pain, which must at times have amounted to agony, but he had had an unusually long, and, we should think, an unusually happy, life, full of varied interests and of great efforts and great successes in the work which attracted him most, blessed with domestic peace, and cheered by the con- sciousness that he was an object of admiration, not to say love, to the majority of those who speak English, and also to Liberals throughout the world. The Italians, in par- ticular, owed him more than even the English. The blunder of his life, which sprang from an erroneous moral conviction, estranged many of his closest friends and millions of his sup- porters; but he was hated only by a minute class, a section of the Irish landlords, who attributed to him their real mis- fortunes and their partly imaginary wrongs. The immense majority even of those who opposed him recognised that he was one of the greatest of men, with powers such as have been given to few, and a nature:full'of all noble impulses, dominated by an inflexible faith in Christianity and the Church. England is the poorer in wealth of character, as well as of capacity, because he has passed away.

Mr. Balfour gave notice on Thursday that the Government would on Friday move either a vote for a national funeral for Mr. Gladstone, or that the country should put up a monument to his honour in Westminster Abbey. The choice between the two will rest with his family, or rather, we suppose, with his aged widow. No man ever deserved a national funeral better than Mr. Gladstone, the author of all our fiscal greatness and much of our internal prosperity ; yet the proposal comes on us with something of a shock. It is so entirely opposed to the inner character of the man to be honoured, who, dignified and even haughty as be was, disliked ceremonial, titles, and parade. He would him- self, we feel sure, much rather be buried quietly in the church of Hawarden, where be had so often assisted in the service. It is always well, however, to do honour to the worthy dead, for one root of progress at least is capacity for admiration, and if the country feels a desire to give stately expression to its feelings of regret, the inconsistency of this method of doing it with the deep and humble piety of the object of honour may well be forgotten.

There is absolutely no news of the war this week. Admiral Cervera, with the Spanish squadron, is somewhere in the West Indies, but where, nobody knows ; and Admiral Sampson is searching for him, but where is a secret carefully kept by the American Naval Department, which has prohibited the giving of information. In the Pacific Admiral Dewey is waiting at Manilla for his reinforcements, and the American Government is trying at San Francisco to comply with the demands of General Merritt, who insists that he ought to have at least six thousand regulars and six thousand trained volunteers if he is to reinforce Admiral Dewey effectually. The invasion of Cuba is again delayed, and, according to some accounts, the organisation of the army of occupation now collecting in Florida presents unexpected difficulties. There are not commissioned officers enough, and no regular non-commissioned officers at all. That must be an exaggera- tion, as there are millions of Germans in the States who have passed through the military mill ; but the truth is that America has been caught unprepared for any but a strictly defensive war. It is probable, moreover, though only Americans can affirm this, that the War Department is in weak bands, and that the President, whose signature, be it remembered, is necessary to all final orders, does not quite know whom to trust. Precisely the same difficulties were encountered by the North at the outset of the Civil War, and were overcome ; but in that war all armies were conveyed by land. The existence of a dividing sea, if only a few miles wide, changes all the con- ditions of the problem.

The brighter hopes excited in Spain by the manmuvres of Admiral Cervera's fleet have smoothed things for the Sagasta Administration. Instead of being superseded by a soldier, he has been allowed to remodel his Cabinet, only pledging it and himself to prosecute the war with energy until the nation cries halt. His new men, however, are not of a kind to give him strength in the country, though they will be more trusted in Parliament, where Senor Gamazo is leader of a group, are more homogeneous, and may have in Senor Leon de Castillo a Foreign Minister believed to be in high favour with the French Government. The plain truth of the matter is that if Senor Sagasta does not succeed in protecting Cuba, or in inducing the Continental Powers to venture on active intervention, he will be superseded either by a military dictatorship or a Revolutionary Junta. The Spaniards will, in the event of fresh disaster, find their position unendurable, and will change their government, if only in a spirit of vengeance. They have reason for their anger too, for the neglect of naval preparation must, if Admiral Montojo's complaints are truly reported, have been of the grossest kind. It is unfortunate that the penalty of neglect will fall on the wrong persons, but it happens so in every epidemic.

The revolutionary outbreak in Italy seems to have missed fire. All the cities are reported quiet, the peasantry have gone back to their homes, and the Reservists are coming out obediently. This "restoration of order" is, however, in part only apparent, the Government of Rome suppressing intelligence with inexplicable success. It is asserted, apparently on evidence, that the movement had been organised by leaders in Paris, that it began prematurely, and that its object was the formation of a Federal Republic in which each State would have been nearly independent. The share of the Papacy in the matter is uncertain, for though this is the Papal plan, the chiefs of the Church earnestly repudiate any tolerance for rebellion. It is believed that the Marquis Rudini will propose some large reforms, and a restriction of the suffrage, the last reduction having made Parliament nearly unworkable; but there is no sign as yet of the reductions of State and municipal taxation, without which there will be no permanent tranquillity. Nor is there any rumour of an approach to France such as would induce the French Chambers to reduce the duties which huve crippled the industry of the Northern Italian towns. The worst signs of all, however, are that everybody condemns the King for inertness, and that no new person whatever, not even a Revolutionary, comes to the front. Genius, including political genius, is endemic in Italy, but there are no suc- cessors of the grand group who in the sixties made Italy, and set up the throne as the visible symbol of her unity.

It must not be forgotten that Italy has almost ceased to be a living factor in the Triple Alliance, and that Germany and Austria would therefore welcome the adhesion of Great Britain with something more than cordiality. It is said that the Germane would not like it, fearing lest it should irritate Russia, and not seeing how a navy, even if supreme on the water, can help them to defend themselves ; but we take that to be an opinion of journalists uttered in a hurry, and not of statesmen. We could paralyse France when the double attack was made. There is an idea also in this country that the German Emperor would demand "a price" for his aid which it might be impossible to pay. We should not our- selves accuse him of anything so short-sighted, but we wonder if it has ever struck the Foreign Office that if any such demand were made, we have the means of complying with it. Germany thirsts for a bit of the transmarine world proportioned to her importance. Well, why should we not exchange our rights in Borneo, the island Empire half as large again as France, which we do not use, for the German " Colony " in East Africa ? Germany could buy out the Dutch claims by a guarantee against insurrections, and Borneo in German hands would be a possession well worth having, while we should be rid of a perpetual cause of quarrel in Africa.

On Friday week — i.e., May 13th — Mr. Chamberlain, addressing the Liberal Unionist Association of Birmingham, made a speech on our foreign policy which, it is no exaggeration to say, has echoed round the world. As we have shown elsewhere, abstracts, summaries, and com- mentaries on the speech give it a far more alarmist character than it assumes when read in full. Though it strikes a note of grave warning, the speech would not, if it had fallen from another man, have called for half the comment. Mr. Chamberlain's words, however, always excite. Mr. Chamber- lain began by noting the assaults made on our com- mercial supremacy by foreign nations—he ought to have added that those assaults seem only to make us richer and our assailants poorer—and then went on to point out that ever since the Crimean War, England had maintained a policy of isolation. As long as the Great Powers were "separately engaged," and working for their own hands, this policy of isolation answered well enough; but now a new situation has arisen. All the Powers have now made alliances, and as long as we keep outside these alliances, and as long as we are envied by all, and suspected by all, we are liable at any moment to be confronted by a combination of overwhelming force. In fact, as Mr. Chamberlain might have said, we have found that the maxim, wherever competition is possible, so also is combination, holds in politics as well as in business.

What is the first duty of a Government, asked Mr. Cham- berlain, when faced by such possibilities ? To draw all parts of the Empire closer together. The next duty is to establish and maintain bonds of permanent amity with our kinsmen across the Atlantic. Terrible as war must be, even war would be cheaply purchased " if for a great and noble cause the Stara and Stripes and the Union Jack should wave together over an Anglo-Saxon Alliance." Mr. Chamberlain went on to defend the foreign policy of the Government by pointing out the actual dangers of isolation. Had we interfered more actively either in Armenia or Crete a combination against us must " infallibly " have taken place. In China we are at the beginning of great events, and have only had a preliminary skirmish, but in this we have done very well. As to Russian diplomacy, Mr. Chamberlain would only say—and he had far better have left it unsaid—" Who sups with the Devil must have a long spoon." The only alternative to the policy we have adopted was war with Russia. But history shows that though Russia may not be able to injure us we cannot injure her without military allies. That is a fact which deserves the consideration of the country.

It would be impossible, ended Mr. Chamberlain, to over. rate the gravity of the issue. It was not a question of a port or a province, but of the fate of the whole Chinese Empire. No more vital question had ever been presented to a Government. Finally, if we were to persist in our isolation the fate of China would be hereafter decided without reference to our wishes, and in defiance of our interests. If, then, we were determined to maintain the open door, "we must not reject the idea of an alliance with those Powers whose interests most nearly approximate to our own." It is clear from these words that what Mr. Chamber- lain means to say is this. It is vital to stop Russia's march towards supremacy in China. We cannot stop her without military allies. Therefore, we must obtain military allies. We do not, for reasons given elsewhere, in the least agree with this statement of the case, but it is obvious that Mr. Chamber. lain's speech was directed against Russia, and not against France as has been so widely believed. Who are our possible allies? Germany and Japan and Italy, we presume. The Anglo-Saxon Alliance is, we take it, only a side suggestion, —an acknowledgment of the now undoubted fact that in the last resort we would never allow America to be crushed by Europe, and America would never allow England to be destroyed by a Continental combination. This is what both nations mean, and that being so, any plan for a formal alliance is a minor matter. Each branch of the Anglo- Saxon race feels, in fact, that if it ever gets its back to the wall it will only have to blow a blast on the magic horn and in an instant it will have at its side an invincible ally.

The impression made by Mr. Chamberlain's speech on the Continent is evidently deep, but the journalists are, we sus- pect, puzzled by a difference between their own feelings and those they are advised to express. In Spain there is savage anger, because Mr. Chamberlain favours America. In France there is an acknowledged fear of an Anglo-Saxon Alliance, which would " control trade," and present too large a mari- time power to the view of Europe. There is, too, a dis- position to weep over the " defection " of the United States from the old friendship with France. In Germany the first emotion was to snub England for wanting other Powers to do her work, but this has been moderated by official pressure, though it is remarked, as usual, that Britain ought to " take up the burden" of the conscription. In Russia there is simple annoyance, and a professed disbelief that America will ever help Great Britain in China. The total result of the speech however, as we understand, is rather a sharp impact on previous official conclusions than the genesis of any new ones.

During the past week the time of the House of Commons has been mainly devoted to the Committee of the Irish Local Government Bill. As a rule the debates have been dull and technical, but Tuesday's proceedings were relieved by a touch of humour. Mr. McKenna moved what was justly described by Mr. Gerald Balfour as an absurd amendment intended to prevent the landlords getting the relief in the matter of rating provided for them in the Bill. Mr. Healy thereupon appealed to the Government not to lend themselves to waste of time by keeping up discussion on this amendment. " The subject has been debated at every stage of the Bill, it was de- bated on the previous day, and now it was the same old game. The spectacle of the old obstructionist intervening to prevent the waste of time, and to prevent a Government measure being delayed by loquacity, naturally caused no little amuse- ment in the House. Ultimately the amendment was rejected by a majority of 173 (251 to 78). The antagonism between the Irish Members and the Radicals has certainly deepened during the discussions on the BilL The Members of the Front Opposition Bench, it is to be noted, either stay away or keep silent, doubtless for fear of causing further friction and ill-will. If they took part in the debates they could not fail to offend either the Radicals or the Irish.

In the House of Lords on Tuesday Lord Kimberley raised nominally the question of Wei-hai-wei, and really that of Mr. Chamberlain's speech, in a manner which was dignified and in the main reasonable, though we wish he had pressed home strongly the essential point,—is it worth while to fight Russia about China, even assuming that Russia is capable of doing all that the most fantastic Jingo thinks her capable of doing? Instead, Lord Kimberley "niggled" over the .question whether Wei-hai-wei was really any good from a military and naval point of view, and tried to get a rather cheap score by pointing out that Lord Salisbury had said China was upright, while Mr. Chamberlain had inferred she was prostrate. Mr. Chamberlain, said Lord Kimberley, had spoken about alliances, but alliances must be made against somebody, in this case Russia. But was this the proper moment to form an alliance, or was it possible that we had already got to the alliance stage with any great European nation ? "I will not believe until I bear it that the Govern- ment intend to enter into an alliance of mutual defence for the purpose of maintaining our position in China, knowing, as we do, that such an alliance could not be con- ducted on the principle of limited liability, but that mutual defence would mean mutual defence in every part of the world."

Lord Salisbury's reply, though far less alarmist than Mr. 'Chamberlain's speech, was far from satisfactory, for it certainly gives support to the very disagreeable notion that the Government is drifting into a policy of maintaining the integrity and independence of another rotten and derelict Empire. Just as we used to be told, and in a sense truly no doubt, that Turkey still had a great deal of fight in her, so now Lord Salisbury tells us that China, after all, has immense latent capacities for resistance. " If you take a wider view, and look into the future, and ask what are the powers of which, for future contingencies, China might dispose, I think you will conclude that, on a wide view of that kind, you never can pronounce that four hundred millions of men who, whatever else they are, are the bravest of the brave, and fear death less than any race we know of, could ever be absolutely prostrate. I do not believe for a moment in the prostra- tion of China in the wider sense." We doubt, but, even accepting this, why is it necessary to be so very anxious about Russia's advance P Are we sure that we do not im- mensely weaken China's real powers of resistance by cod- dling her Government and giving " a knee" to the " embar- rassed phantom" at Pekin. If we do not prop up the Palace, China may very likely go through a great internal crisis, but the forces thus generated will be infinitely more formidable to Russia's advance than the wretched Boards of Mandarins who now rule from the Forbidden City. Lord Salisbury's defence of the taking of Wei-hai-wei was by far the best part of the speech, and, indeed, almost convincing. Wei-hai-wei will clearly be what farmers call "a useful place " for the Navy, and the possession of such a station near what is going to be a great centre of political activity may prove of the utmost importance.

The American comments on the Anglo-Saxon Alliance portions of Mr. Chamberlain's speech are extremely signi- ficant. Taken as a whole, the American Press has responded in the best possible tone to the notion of a close under- standing between the two branches of our race. The Herald, which usually has French sympathies, gives strong expression to the present state of American opinion in regard to England and the Continent. Its utterance is thus summarised by the correspondent of the Times :— ' France is bitter against us and sought to unite Europe against us. Then, suddenly, Mr. Chamberlain warned the world that English goodwill to America might take shape in an alliance. Forthwith the Debuts and other journals dis- covered that something might be said for the United States, and, at any rate, American dollars, always convenient to Paris, seemed likely to remain in American pockets." As we have said elsewhere, no one, either here or in America, wishes to rush offhand into a formal alliance. It is quite enough to have realised that in the last resort the two peoples mean to stand or fall together:

The Irish Extremists are naturally very angry at the prospect of an alliance between Great Britain and America. Davitt, in particular, is so excited that in bhe Times of Wednesday he breaks into hysterical statistics, alleging that of the seventy million people in the Union only thirteen million are of British descent, sixteen of Irish parentage, fourteen Teutons, Slays and Jews seven, French five, Italians two, other Continental races three, and coloured persons seven. The simple answer to his figures is that the Roman Catholic clergy, who are not apt to underrate their influence, do not even claim eight millions as belonging to their Church. Does Mr. Davitt think that two-thirds of all Irishmen in America have changed their faith, or does he claim Irish Protestants as non-British P Mr. Redmond takes another line, and in a letter to the secretary of an Anglo-American dinner, directly accuses Englishmen of hypocrisy in professing friendship, they being permanently jealous of the Republic, and bitter against her. We should have said that the British vice was a rather brutal frankness, and that finesse was an attribute of Irishmen; but one never knows oneself. It will be worth while for English advocates of Home-rule to remember that letter as one of many proofs that it is a permanent object of Irish Home-rulers to sow distrust between Great Britain and America, and that they would, if their separate Parliament were obtained, do their utmost to hamper and obstruct our foreign policy.

The Times of Thursday gives a most interesting account of a letter written to the Gaulais by Admiral Dupont on the French and English Navies. Is the French Navy, he asks, ready for an eventual struggle with the English Navy P "As regards the number of ships now available, as regards facility of concentration of forces, the judicious choice and the preparedness of naval bases, our inferiority," says Admiral Dupont, "is notorious." Since the application of the Naval Defence Act the English have doubled their resources. They have been able to launch within a single year as many as five battleships of from 12,000 to 15,000 tone, eight large cruisers, and twenty-two smaller vessels. "England can now put into line thirty-four battleships of from 9,000 to 15,000 tons, fifty-two large cruisers, and a very large number of smaller vessels, among which should be noted a numerous flotilla of very rapid torpedo-boat destroyers. Besides these vessels, twenty older battleships, for the most part remodelled, may be reckoned as a solid reserve to this already formidable force." What has France, asks the Admiral, to set against this array P " Sixteen new battleships, eight good coast defence vessels, about ten old battleships of mediocre value, and twenty-three modern cruisers." That means, he holds, that the strength of the French Navy is only between a third and a half of that of England. Curiously enough, the Admiral thinks our reserve supply of men is more—not, as we think, less—efficient than the French.

On Wednesday Mr. Chamberlain presided at the annual dinner of the Civil Service, and delivered a very strong but thoroughly well justified panegyric on our permanent officials. In a very interesting autobiographical passage Mr. Chamberlain described how, when he first took office, he entertained a good deal of prejudice against our public officials and their ways. " I had heard a good deal of the cir- cumlocution office, of red tape, and official obstruction, and I fully admit I expected to find a good deal of it where I was going." On the contrary, he found a body of trained experts, as businesslike as any men he had ever met, perfect encyclo- paedias of miscellaneous knowledge with vast stores of experi- ence, all of which they gladly and cordially placed at the service of their temporary chief. " I found every application from the public, however absurd, every complaint, however ill-founded, and every suggestion, however wild and insane, was treated with respect, was carefully examined, and was decided upon with a single eye to the public service and with an evident desire to do justice to every individual." Then he realised the truth of the comment once made to him by a dis- tinguished foreigner : " The difference between your position and ours is that your Civil servants or officials are the servants of the public, but with us the public is the slave of the officials." That is abundantly true. It would be hard to exaggerate the benefits which the country owes to the Civil Service and to the excellent traditions by which it is governed.

Bank Rate, 4 per cent.

New Consols (21) were on Friday, 111.