26 MARCH 1898, Page 15

" HOME-RULE ALL ROUND. "

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—With reference to your article on "Home-Rule All Round" in the Spectator of March 19th, may I be allowed to call attention to a page in our history which the modern Radical is inclined to ignore ? When Cnut, in order to simplify his task of government, divided England into earl- doms roughly corresponding to former kingdoms, he was really introducing the principle of "Home-rule all round." Most historians are agreed that this retrograde step was one of the chief causes which contributed to the success of the Norman invasion. What do Mr. Herbert Roberta and his followers think ?—I am, Sir, &c., W. ALDERSET LEWIS.

St. Leonards-on-Sea, March 20th.