a somewhat sensational kind. In the course of a statement in the Reicharath on Monday the Prime Minister referred for the first time to the eventuality of a suspension of the...

the serious nature of our financial position. They may be right to show alarm, but at any rate many Continental nations are in a far worse condition. In Germany, even in a...

show themselves in South Africa must be placed the Report as to the condition of the finances of the TransvaaL In spite of the war, the new Colony is apparently able very nearly...

from Washington to Friday's issue, distinctly states that there need now be no fear of the defeat of the Nicaragua Canal Treaty. The Opposition have practically abandoned the...

Bennet Burleigh in a letter to Thursday's Daily Telegraph, despatched on November lst, announces that it has been decided by the military authorities to abandon the use of...

T HE war news for the week shows a very large number of captures and surrenders. In four days no less than two hundred and fifty Boers were secured and several com- mandos...

case.

pool Bank robbery was opened by Mr. Gill at Bow Street Police Court on Monday. According to counsel's statement, Goudie, the ledger clerk, having practised forging the signa-...

to the intentions of the Boer authorities, published on Friday week a striking note on the question of the alleged peace negotiations. After affirming, "from information ob-...

probably the largest gift of property ever made to any educational institution since the world began. Mrs, Stanford, the.widow Of the millionaire who originally founded the...

sudden but wholesome somersault on the subject of duelling. An anti-duelling appeal issued in the Viennese papers of last Saturday has met with a response as unprecedented as it...

County Council on Friday week, and made a long and powerful defence of the agreement between the Post Office and the National Telephone Corn. pany. He began by arguing that free...

County Council at the Hotel Metropole on Monday the lambs and lions of the municipal arena sat down together in great numbers, and Lord Rosebery made a most entertaining speech...

Speaking at the annual meeting of the Scottish branch of the Primrose League in the afternoon, he defended the Government from the charge of lethargy in their conduct of the...

In the course of his speech he cordially endorsed the resolution of the National Liberal Federation, and declared in favour of reopening negotiations with the Boers, of amnesty,...

ment as to murders of natives by the Boers. The despatch deals in all with some forty cases, in eight of which full par- ticulars and the names of witnesses are given, while the...

able anniversary number to celebrate its centenary. This colossal issue, which contains not only a most interesting history of the paper and its successive editors, but an...

date of the Coronation (June 26th) is fixed in a proclamation issued on Tuesday. Next, it is an- nounced that the King has been pleased "to add to the achievement to the Prince...

Brodrick stated that Lord Kitchener was now able to authorise the return of four hundred refugees per week to the Rand, instead of two hundred in a fortnight. The block- house...

representing the various Liberal chiefs each sitting armed with a rifle in a little blockhouse of his own, with a legend underneath that to be effective "blockhouses must be...

New Consols (21) were on Friday 92i.

THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR T HERE are signs that even if the military authorities in South Africa are too fond of singing "Wait for the Waggon" and "The right little, tight little...

races is one of the hardest tasks that can be laid upon a Government. We have, indeed, no right to plume ourselves upon our success in discharging it, for is not Ireland still...

A CORRESPONDENT, whose letter we publish this week, writes to us of the possibility of forming an alternative Government. We confess that no recent arguments and no recent...

w E confess to a feeling of considerable anxiety as to the future of the Volunteer Force. Unless the War Office can be induced to reconsider and amend their decision that...

Legislature of the senior State in the Australian Commonwealth of the principle of compulsory arbitration in industrial disputes is an event of great interest. In taking this...

"9!O the casual observer," we read in Mr. Charles Booth's "Life and Labour of the People," "London street children, especially of the poorer class, proclaim themselves chiefly...

T HERE is a pleasant story of an Irishman. who approached the study of astronomy in a somewhat perplexed frame of mind. He declared that he could see quite well how it was...

Nv HEN the King is minded to meet "his faithful commons" otherwise than by summoning them before him in Parliament, he does it, and wins golden opinions and abounding loyalty,...

THE PROBLEM OF AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE. [To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.'] Sin,—Anything coming from such a deservedly well-known writer as Mr. W. H. Fitchett must always command...

read last night. December 4th (my Spectator reaches me late in the week), your admirable article on Mr. Fitchett's letter• to you.. Your views so forcibly express my own...

feeling of profound alarm at your advo- cacy of the adoption, on a world-scale, of a British naval policy which may be briefly described as that of "the Cinque Ports." In...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.') Sru,—You, in common with many other persons, very frequently observe that there is no alternative to the present Government, which,...

Si, — As you have kindly given me permission to write a short reply to the criticism of your correspondents with regard to my letter in your issue of November 30th, I venture to...

rlo THE EDITOR OP THE 44 SPECTATOD."1 SIR,—In your issue of November 16th I read upon the same rage (757) two editorial statements:— (1) "Without a g•-nnine faith in some shape...

(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—I observe in the Spectator of November 30th an article on the state of political parties in Scotland. In discussing the popularity of...

TEE "SPECTATOR.") Slu,—The Spectator of October 26th met me at Aden, and I do not find it easy to express to you the gratification which was caused to me by the article therein...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Referring to your observations on the above subject in the Spectator of December 7th, will you permit me to mention that - the 'proposal...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sta,—In discussing "The Foundations of Our Foreign Policy" in your issue of December 7th you question whether there is any objection to our...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR." 3 Sin,—Mr. Murray's letter, and your comments on it, in the Spectator of December 7th, suggest another plan akin to Mr. Murray's, and to my...

THE LAST OF THE OLD IMPRESARIOS. THE recent death, after a long and chequered career, of Colonel Mapleson, known to the fathers and grandfathers of the present generation of...

a gulf it is that separates rich from poor, how total the lack of sympathy, when such a proposal as that put forward in Mr. Murray's letter in the Spectator of December 7th can...

WITHERINGTON AT COLENSO. [The well-known war correspondent, Mr. Bennet Burleigh, relates in the Daily Telegraph an incident, which was reported to him by the Boers, of a...

TWO BOOKS ABOUT FENEL ON.* THESE two books about Fenelon, rather curiously appearing almost at the same moment, fit very conveniently into one another. Approaching their...

interesting book makes a timely .appearance. The death of the Ameer has reminded us of the dangers and difficulties which one day may threaten us in Afghanistan. Not even South...

of what is somewhat fantas- tically called "Cooperative TraveL" Every month about as many men and women start from England to make the Grand Tour—and something more—as used to...

Ii' the ideal biographer is he who best effaces himself, M r , Barry O'Brien has no claim to the title. He plays a part, minor, indeed, but not insignificant, in the drama of...

THE VELVET GLOVE" THE popularity of Mr. Merriman is neither to be gainsaid nor to be regretted,—very much the reverse. For here is; a. writer who in hardly any single...

Brothers. 6s.) —It is not often one comes across a novel in which the tragedy is so complete and so uncompensated as in The House Divided. Mr. Marriott Watson here follows the...

have received Leviticus, edited by J. A. Paterson, D.D. Dr. Paters= adopts the conclusions at which the students of the Higher Criticism have arrived as to the date and...

Co. 68.) —In Lady Mabel Howard's novel, The Failure of Success, we have a woman who keeps a fortune that does not belong to her, in order to win a min whom she knows to be in...

Edwards. (Macmillan and Co. 6.)—Calumet K. is a brisk and characteristic example of the American novel,—the romance of Labour in which the hero is the "emergency man" who does...

and Sons. 6s.)—This is a volume of realistic stories of bush life by Mr. Lawson, author of "The Country I Come from," and it will be eagerly read by men and women who have...

[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week as have not bees reserved for review in other forms.] Poems from Victor Hugo. By Sir George Young. (Macmillan. and Co. 6s....

6s.)—This story is written in a somewhat rugged and abrupt manner, suited, however, to the character of the Yorkshire dalesmen and of the country "where the wild wind blows on...

of Wales's feathers. Within are portraits of the Prince and Princess. We must say frankly that we do not like these decorations. There should be, we think, but one kind of orng....

6s.)—The plot of this novel is interesting, but its working out depends too much on chance meetings and lucky coincidences to. make it quite satisfactory. Squire Girling was...

(Methuen and Co. 3s. 6d.)—This is a careful and thorough study of one of the most important questions in the whole range of Christian antiquities. Of course, the subject is too...

Harry Roberts (J. Lane, 2s. 6d. net), we have The Book of Bulbs, by S. Arnott. Hardy, half-hardy, and greenhouse and stove bulbs are the three divisions, and it is wonderful to...

these there are four books,—(1) Introductory (Is.), giving anecdotes from British history, with brief descriptions, Ix., from Britain as it was before the Romans down to Queen...

Co. 2s. 6d.)—Mr. Cumming writes on his title-page : "Public-Houses are Public Necessities." That maxim indicates the line which he takes. The "reformed public-house" is his...

is reprinted from the twelfth, which sppeared with Dean Stanley's final revision in 1881 (just a year before the biographer's death). It contains, we should add, the noble...

(John Lane, Is. 6d.), the latest volume in a very pretty reprint of the novelist's works. It will be interesting to hear the result of the reissue. Is Trollope out of favour or...

as usual with changes, improvements, and additions, all calculated to keep up its character as the general referee. Of new matter, we may mention the late Census, the Australian...