'DARLIAMENT was prorogued on the afternoon of Friday, December 3rd. The King's Speech contained no surprise, but the passage in which regret is expressed that the provision to...

in thc Morning Post of Friday in which Lord Portsmouth, thr Under-Secretary for War under Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman points out that the Peers are not fighting for obsolete...

case.

be overlooked, but "what our people desires in the first place is not to be disturbed in its actual work, whether economic or intellectual, either at home or abroad, in the...

some information about the negotiations between Great Britain and Germany as to the Belgian Congo. It is not astonishing that there has been much false rumour on this subject,...

in the Reichstag on Thursday. The special note of his speech, which was well received by the Conservatives, was his refusal to be drawn into any detailed programme or any...

the week. The Liberals were the first to take the field in force, and Mr. Churchill in Lancashire has been performing feats of physical endurance comparable with those of a...

driven without a brake,-;--neither more nor less than that. No sensible or cautious person in ordinary life cares to take steep hills without a brake, and we shall be greatly...

summarised in the Times of Tuesday. They are very lengthy, and it is admitted that to a certain extent they must be experimental. There is an extraordinary number of con-...

Friday week by Mr. Lloyd George in a characteristic vein at a luncheon given in his honour by the National Liberal Club. He devoted himself entirely to the question of the...

by an enormous crowd—the Daily News estimates it at twenty thousand, and asserts that it was above all thoughtful—and enlivened by some fiery speeches. Dr. Clifford declared...

of Monday the report of a conversation he had lately with the King of Greece. The King, who thought the situation "rather less acute," expressed his appreciation of the good...

Government for raising a foreign loam, and at the same time employing Europeans to reorganise the Finance Depart- ment. The money must in the circumstances be borrowed from...

they were in for the greatest fight that the country bad known for many a generation. Coming to the claims of the House of Lords, Sir Edward Grey contended that their inter-...

estimates of expenditure for 1911, and they are summarised in the papers of Wednesday by Renter's correspondent. The total estimate is £136,826,439. The deficit is estimated at...

and more argument than we are accustomed to expect from him. Except for the usual peroration against the House of Lords, it was a Free-trade speech with only an incidental...

provoke battle than to run away from it; while on Constitutional grounds they claimed to occupy a more reasonable and democratic position than that of the Government. Lord...

the tone of Mr. Lloyd George's speech on the previous Friday, which was not "a form of controversy that was worthy of a great Ministry." They had been told that the whole...

by Lord Lansdowne at Plymouth. Lord Lansdowne scouted the solicitude of the Ministerialists for the Constitu- tion. They were the same gentlemen who, if given enough scope,...

the end of last week the most terrible was the wreck at the mouth of the Mersey of the mail steamer Ellen Vannin.' It appears that she left Ramsey in the Isle of Man for...

Lords and the Country" from Lord MoAeagle. Admitting that he had voted on Constitutional grounds against Lord Lansdowne's amendment while strongly disapproving of the Budget,...

their refusal to restrain the Daily News from fulminating against Chinese labour at a time when their own attitude was so vulnerable. The fact that their own sincerity was...

the Standard, tried at Birmingham before Mr. Justice Pickford and a special jury, ended, after lasting for seven days, on Monday evening in a verdict of a farthing damages for...

Dec. 9111. Consols (2i) were on Friday 821—Friday week 83.

THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN. F ROM every quarter and corner of the kingdom come the confused cries of the electoral struggle, which has certainly been entered into with a will....

AS far as can be gathered from the newspaper reports, • Liberal orators all over the country seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves. They are able to do the thing which they...

T I1E proposal of the Circulating Libraries Association to exercise a censorship on the books which its libraries distribute to the public has excited a controversy comparable...

been extra- ordinarily successful in one part of their work. Their idea of a Constitution was a system of checks and balances, a system under which a complete change of policy...

AZINESS is certainly not the vice of to-day. Even the idle are active, and let off their energies in odd jobs. Occasionally these are found for them by Satan, but more often by...

pities if, from lack of financial support, the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty is not able to preserve to the public for all time the famous...

T HE Tower Bridge has set a difference on the river that Dickens knew; the tide on which Quilp rowed to his counting-house, and Gaffer Hexam earned his grisly living. The...

MARIE ANTOINETTE. rTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SPUTA:FOR:1 Srs,—The centenary of 1789 has gone from us by twenty years. If we could put ourselves back a century, we should be at the...

Lai./ DUTY OF UNIONIST FREE-TRADERS. [To rag EDITOR 07 TRH " SPHCTATOR.1 have read, heard, and considered various arguments why Unionist Free-traders should -vote for...

presume Mr. Hobhouse is a Unionist. I venture therefore to think that your otherwise crushing answer to his letter in the Spectator of December 4th does not quite emphasise...

of Constitutional law, and also as a constant reader of your paper, I am amazed and grieved at the attitude you assume at the present crisis. A Referendum of a Budget or of a...

columns to the perplexed Unionist voter, Mr. Hobhouse, and others. May I add my 'bewilderment to the general stock P Here is a characteristic piece of Radical-Socialist...

[To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR.1 Sin,—I agree with your correspondent " C. M. W." (Spectator December 4th), and from my knowledge of the working classes of the West I am...

[To THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR."' Sin,—Your interesting " Topic " of Saturday last remarks that the Lords might have played their cards better. An important foundation-stone...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—At the present juncture the following passage from the late Sir Henry Maine's "Popular Government" is rot without its significance :—...

[TO THE EDITOR OF TEE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The Los Angeles Times, the largest paper in South- Western United States, speaking of present taxation in England, puts the case for the...

[TO T1111 EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—I have only just seen your number of November 20th, and the article on "French and English Trials" which it contains. In that article...

LTO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Srn,—The letter and editor's footnote in your last issue under the heading of "Girl Scouts" call for some reply from one who has really...

a certain limited sense an advocate of some outdoor organisation for girls planned on lines parallel with, but entirely separate and distinct from, that known as the "Boy...

SIR,—I have read with amazement and indignation the revelations made in Miss Markham's letter in your last issue on this most serious question. The letter carries with it so...

LTO TEl EDITOR OF TEl "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I ask the publicity of your columns for the follow- ing note ?— " There is an impression gaining ground, that, if there is a...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 SIR, — Many sincere English friends of the Russian people, while rejoicing that the former attitude of mutual suspicion and dislike has given...

[To THE EDITOR OF' THE " SPICTATOR."1 SIR,—It is sad no doubt to wrest from Neolithic man the reputation of applying a principle "not wholly understood" in these days,—i.e., of...

[To THE E - Drrox or rim "Erse:Arm:9 SIR, - 21 propos of Professor Dicey's most interesting article in the National Review for December on Blackstone's " Commentaries," may I...

fro THE EDITOR OF THE " Briemroz:1 Suz,—Will the London County Council add to its good works by making a pond round the old water-gate of York House, and so present the gate to...

[To TEE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Sin, — The writer of the article on "St. Andrew's Day at Eton" that appears in your issue of last week asks : "When did the seagulls first...

of the Mothers' Union, represent- ing over three hundred thousand members, desire to express their great satisfaction at the attitude taken up by you and also by the...

or rim "SrzcrAroa."] Sta,—The appointment of Seyd Ameer Ali, C.I.E., to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is not only a deserved recognition of his distinguished...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Srn,—The guarantee fund (see Spectator, November 27th, December 4th) now amounts to 2485 18s. So generous and whole-hearted a response in...

permit me to lay before your readers for their criticism the following theory P The French meteorologists have a word, serein, for which we have no English equivalent. It means...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR"] SIR,—There can be no doubt that one of the chief attractions felt by nearly all human beings towards the stage is that it gives them an...

MR. WILFRID BLUNT AND HIS INDIAN DIARY.* A COUPLE of years ago Mr. Keir Hardie visited India and talked much dangerous and ignorant rubbish to the Hindus. • More than twenty...

or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked "Communicated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with. the mode of...

[" In minibus Tuis sortes meae."—Ps. said. 17.] OLD friend of more than sixty years—. Though spaces long and sad arrears And frequent failings to respond May test but cannot...

Or late the Navy League has been undergoing reorganisation; appeals have been made to the Law Courts- and its manage- ment has been adversely criticised. It is the more satis-...

THE Life of a journalist is not easy to write. Full as it is from moment to moment of intense and vivid interest, one rarely finds sufficient concentration on any one line of...

of the truest poets who have dawned of late on the horizon. This does not mean that he is a great poet,—not yet, at any rate; but he • (1) Wind and Hill. By Geoffrey Winthrop...

Bt Eric Parker.. With 24 Illustrations. London In A Book of the Zoo Mr. Eric Parker writes very pleasantly for the numerous visitors to the Gardens who are not zoologists, but...

four chapters, Ireland, Egypt, the Cape, and Italy. The division is suggested by the " Sketchbook " aspect of her volume. Of this aspect, unfortunately, we can give our readers...

ANNE OP AVONLEA.t IN reviewing Anne of Green Gables we expressed the hope that the author would resist the temptation to write a sequel to that delightful story. We had no...

PIERRE LOTI'S" book is certainly not practical. It is only an the last page that he condescends to particulars. That we may not do him an injustice, we will quote the paragraph...

"THE book of life has wide margins ; lend me a pencil." This is the motto on the title-page of Mr. Lucas's new and delightful book of essays, One Day and Another. They are all...

3s. 6d.)—This is a short but very charming sketch of an American wife who, to escape from an unsatisfactory husband, takes refuge with her little girl in a Shaker colony. It is...

exceedingly clever story opens with the acquittal of the heroine of a charge of murder. The charge, however, is perfectly well founded, and Henrietta Harris confesses to her...

[Under Otte heading we notice such Books of the week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Broken Earthenware. By Harold Begbie. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—Mr....

Co. 6s.)—This is a modern story of an Italian singer who, after snaking a success in London, falls in love with a married man of doubtful reputation who is separated from his...

Dudeney. (W. Heinemann. 3s. net.)—Mrs. Dudeney, having won her laurels as a writer of long novels, now proves to the world that she can write short stories almost as cleverly....

and Co. 3s. 6d.)—A modern story containing the autobiography of the heroine.—The Food of Lore. By F. Frankfort Moore. (Eveleigh Nash. 6s.)—As the reader will rightly guess, this...

and. Co. 8s. 6d. net.)—This book may be read with pleasure and profit as a supplement to Dr. Silvanus Thompson'a forthcoming regular biography of Lord Kelvin. It consists mainly...

Major E. Idolyneux, D.S.O. (A..and C. Black. 20s. net.) —Kashmir is a name which of itself raises such expectations that there is almost inevitably a slight disappointment when...

Duncan of Metlakahtla. By John W. Arctander. (Fleming H. Revell _Company. 5s. net.) — Horse Synopticae. By the Rev. Sir John C. Hawkins, Bart. (The Clarendon Press. 10s....

M. Robertson, MP. (Sir I. Pitman and Sons. is. net.)—The "great question" is of course the Fiscal controversy; and the book is ingeniously constructed so that the reader,...