16 JANUARY 1909

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NOTIOE.—With this week's number of the " Srno.r.cron" is issued,

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gratis, an Eight-Page Supplement, containing the Half-Yearly Index and Title-Page,—i.e., from July 4th to December 26th, 1908, inclusive.

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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H E most important piece of news this week is the accept- ance by Turkey of the offer made by the Government of Austria-Hungary to pay a sum of 2T.2,500,000 in considera- tion...

On Wednesday Siamil Pasha, the Grand Vizier, made a remarkable

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speech on the general political situation to the Turkish Parliament. The speech, which was read by Fuad Bey, the First Secretary, began with a history of recent events. Last...

Turning to the financial situation, the Grand Vizier explained that

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the Treasury lacked funds, and that the Government were compelled to ask permission from the Chamber to raise loans • for the reorganisation of the Army and other necessary...

i * * The Editors cannot undertake to return Manuscript, in any

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case.

The Army had made great strides since the revolution, and

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though the Fleet had been allowed to fall into disorder, the expenditure of ZT.300,000 in the last few months had made it possible to commission all its efficient units. Sir...

We have dealt with the whole question elsewhere, and will

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only express here our great satisfaction that the most dangerous and difficult of the problems connected with the crisis in the Balkans has been settled. There seems little...

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The Times of Tuesday publishes a deeply interesting narrative of

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the experiences of Signor de Filippi, who was continuously engaged in ambulance work in Messina from January let to the 5th. Signor de Filippi, who gives a vivid picture of the...

Ordered by the Sultan to protect the new Ffedjaz Railway

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from the Bedouin, he was at Damascus with only a small force when, on the proclamation of the Constitution, he was instructed to disband his followers and summoned to the...

The Times special correspondent in Northern Mesopotamia —the borderland between

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Arabia and Kurdistan, covering the vilayets of Mosul, Diarbekr, and the eastern part of that of Aleppo—contributes a remarkable account, in Monday's issue, of the downfall of...

At Bethune in France on Monday four murderers, members of

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a notorious gang, were executed. There had not been an execution in Franco since 1905, and only the recent strong expression of opinion in the Chamber in favour of retaining...

On Monday Mr. Tillman, the American Senator who was charged

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by Mr. Roosevelt with having been concerned in a questionable land transaction in Oregon, defended himself in a speech before the Senate. The charge was made by Mr. Roosevelt by...

Signor do Filippi, who estimates the number rescued, out of

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a population of a hundred and thirty thousand, at three thousand, regards the talk of rebuilding Messina as premature, as the ruins cannot be properly cleared away for two or...

Turning to foreign affairs, Kiamil Pasha described the negotiations with

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Bulgaria • and Austria-Hungary. As to the Cretan question, that must belong to the four protecting Powers, who had promised to achieve a settlement in accord- ance with Turkish...

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Our attention has been called to the fact that the

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Academy of Saturday, January 9th, p. 652, contained the following statement :—" Mr. Bottomley is either a rich man or he is not. If he is rich he should pay his own way. If he...

On Monday Mr. Haldane addressed a large meeting of employers

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of labour at Glasgow in support of the Territorial Force. The provision for home defence could not be adequately made, he declared, without the co-operation of the nation. It...

On Thursday both the House and the Senate carried on

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a general hue-and-cry against the President in what the Times correspondent says were excessively bitter terms, charging him with "Executive usurpation." Autocracy was...

We do not think we are misrepresenting Mr. Haldane when

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we say that the tone of his speeches inclines one to the belief that he is not very far from the ideal of universal training. To insist that it is the essential duty of our...

Monday's papers contained the text of the important agree- ment

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provisionally signed by the representatives of employers and men in the shipbuilding trade. This agreement immensely strengthens the guarantees for the avoidance of strikes in...

Bank Rate, 3 per cent., changed from 21 per cent.

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Jan. 140. Consols (2i) were on Friday 83i—Friday week 8311.

Itr. T. M. Healy, M.P., has written a characteristic letter

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to the Rev. P. Finegan. After stating his readiness to sign a memorial protesting against the "importation of distant u ndesirables " into County Louth at the public expense, l...

A valuable article on the working of the Prevention of

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Corruption Act (1906) appeared in Thursday's Times. Under this useful Act only fifteen prosecutions have so far been authorised. In twelve cases convictions have been...

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MR. CHURCHILL AT BIRMINGHAM.

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F OR brazen political impudence, for flagrant paradox, for unblushing sophistry, Mr. Winston Churchill's speech at Birmingham on Wednesday would be hard to beat. We say nothing...

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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THE EUROPEAN SITUATION. T ITRKEY has accepted Austria's offer of £2,300,000 as compensation for the annexation of the provinces. That is good news for all who care for the...

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THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. T HE Historical Association, which opened its

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third annual meeting on Friday week, seems to us to be doing as good a work for education as any society of the kind, and we hope it will receive the support and, the increase...

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THE ECONOMICS OF DESTRUCTION. -T HE new taxes imposed by the

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Government for the relief of the earthquake districts should realise . sonie £2,500,000, in addition to the £1,200,000 granted 1 .roinediately from the Budget surplus. The...

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THE TREATMENT OF INEBRIATES. Nv - HEN we call to mind the

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amount of discussion which raged last year round the question how to make it more difficult for a man to get drunk, it is refreshing to find some attention paid to the question,...

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SOCRATES AND THE REVELATION OF GOD.

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T HE Christian reader will not need to be reminded that it is not in the Hebrew Scriptures alone that he will find the aspiration of the ancient world for a further revelation...

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SECRET SERVICE. between the President and Congress, but our paraphrase

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fairly represents the tone and sense of the dispute. And we cannot help saying that Mr. Roosevelt is in the main right and Congress in the main wrong,- For the proper purposes,...

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A THAMES BACKWATER.

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I T is one of the q uietest of Thames backwaters, and Perhaps the best time of year to see it first is the ) 2 1eaMi of April or early in May, when, if you choose, you 4 1,2V...

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CORRESPONDENCE.

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THE NAVIES OF THE WORLD. V.—THE RUSSIAN NAVY. [TO TEEN EDITOR. or vrnc " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Ten years ago a supreme effort was made by the Russian Government towards the creation...

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THE IRISH LAND QUESTION, at will.

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"'Men before cattle.' He might as well cry : 'Men before look back in wonder on the time when it was counted lawful turnips,' "—and and expedient for an individual to retain...

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PRAGMATISM AND RELIGION. mei , TUX Nnume OF miii. "episcv,ToR:1 SIR,—Will you

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allow me, as one who has taken some part in the interpretation and defence of pragmatism, to add a few remarks to the article which appears under the above title in your issue...

[TO TIER EDITOR Or Tea "SPROTATOR: . ] SIR,--Your readers must be

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grateful for the able and interest- ing article on "Pragmatism and Religion" which was con- tributed to your last issue, as the subject is being discussed iv. so many circles at...

[TO TUE EMOR OV TUB "SPROTATOR.1 Sin,—A paragraph from Mr.

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William O'Brien's paper, the Irish People, is reproduced in a letter in last week's Spectator charging the Estates Commissioners with scandalous conduct in their distribution of...

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I I 1 E SNOWSTORM AND THE UNEMPLOYED.

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Si ITO THE EDITOR or THU "SPECTATOR...I Si ITO THE EDITOR or THU "SPECTATOR...I Now that the snowstorm is gone, I would crave the e P l tality of your columns to offer some...

FAMINE RELIEF IN INDIA.

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[To TIM EDtTOR Or Tax uSPR0TATOF..1 SIR,—In your article on "The Problem of the Hour" in the issue of October 17th, 1908, you say that the Government of India, in organising...

OLD-AGE PENSIONS.

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[To TIM EDITOR OF THU "SPROTATOR.° BIE,—Our local charities were brought under the control of one body of trustees by a scheme of the Charity Commis- sioners in 1868. The...

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THE EARTHQUAKE.

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LTO THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOE.1 Sin,—Do not the accounts of the ebb and flow of the great earthquake waves in the Straits of Messina contain a strong resemblance to Homer's...

THE MEANING OF "RADICAL SOCIALISTE." [To THE EDITOR OF TEE

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"SPECTATOR. 0 . 1 SIR,—Muoh confusion hoe been caused in the minds of English newspaper-readers, in regard to the recent Senatorial elections in France, by the unaccountable...

THE HEAD-MASTER OF ETON AND THE GERMAN SCHOOLBOY. [To T

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10 EDITOR 07 TIE " SP ROTATOR."' SLE, — One of the horrors of exile is the inability to send a letter to the papers in time, and modern memory is verY short. A German Pr6fessor...

FRIENDLY SOCIETIES AND TAXATION OF LAND VALUES.

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rTO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.'] SIR,—A Report issued last week by the Registrar of Friendly Societies shows that the number of members of Friendly Societies is 14,606,869,...

FAINFI AND ARITHMETIC.

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[To TH E Eorron Or THE " SP ROTATOR:] Six,—I observe that the terrible catastrophe in Sicily has been frequently described as a severe trial to faith. There is perhaps no more...

SCHOOL-BOOKS AND POLITICS.

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;To THE ED/TOR OP THE " SPECTATOR." j is a common device when unwelcome arguments are strong or facts inconvenient to assume a jocular attitude. "Schoolmaster"s" jocularity...

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THE LYNCHING OF A GREEK IN . CONSTANTINOPLE.

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LTO, Till EDITOR OF THE " SFECTATOR."] too, have lived the best part of my life in Turkey, but I cannot agree with the conclusion of your corre- spondent ." Interior Resident"...

THE RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT.

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[To THE EDITOR OF TUE " SPEC rat TOR." J Sin,—In the last issue of the Spectator, after quoting certain facts from my article which appeared in the last number of the Englislt...

ST. PATRICK.

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[To THE ED . STOR OF THE 0 SPECTAT010 . 1 Sin,—In your kindly notice in the Spectator of November 21st, 1908, of my little book, "Stories of the Irish Saints," you ask : "Was...

11 B. W. T. STEAD AND THE ALLEGED SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPH

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OF PIET BOTHA. LTO THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR." J reply to the question asked by your reviewer in last week's Spectator (p. 63), I may say that the portrait of Piet Botha...

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POETRY.

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'EX PARTE " PORTRAITS. [" Pictures like these, dear Madam! to design Asks no firm hand and no unerring line ; Some wand'ring touches, some reflected light, Some flying stroke,...

ART.

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THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY AT THE NEW GALLERY. Cowl: said that his success depended upon his power of finishing a picture in the same spirit as he began it. All painters are...

NOTICE.—When Articles or "Correspondence" are signed with the writer's name

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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...

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BOOKS.

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THE POETRY OF WILLIAM BARNES.* Trtm beauty of dialect in literature is one of those qualities common enough in works of art which it is far more easy to aPpreciate than to...

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THE RACIAL QUESTION IN HUNGARY.* WE advise every one who

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reads Mr. C. M. Knatchbull- • Hugessen's book to read also that of "Scotus Viator" (Mr. R. W. Seton-Watson), which comes very opportunely as an undesigned answer to it. The...

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RECENT PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE.*

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PROFESSOR SORL1TT and Mr. Hardie have done well in giving to the world another volume of the late Professor Adameon's lectures. The former volume on The Development of Modern...

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AFTER WATERLOO.*

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MAJOR FRYE, whose reminiscences have been edited by Mr. Salomon Reinaeh, was an English soldier of some culture and considerable attainments. He had Horace and Virgil at his...

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A NEW TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL.*

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IN no poet is thought so closely wedded to form as in Virgil. His spirit seems somehow to be lost, to pass into "the vast and wandering air," when once separated from the living...

PARALLEL PATHS.* This "Study in Biology, Ethics, and Art" contains

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many .deeply interesting pages and many brilliant and suggestive Parallel Paths a Study in Biology, Ethics, and Art, By T. W. Bolleiton. -London : Duckworth and Co. [te. net.]...

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THE STORY OF A LIFETIME.*

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LADY PRIESTLEY has ample reason to consider that her reminiscences are worth recording, for as the daughter of Robert Chambers—author of The Vestiges of Creation, and member of...

NOVELS.

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AN IMMORTAL SOUL.* THE modern novelist must be often tempted to re-echo the old saying, pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt. No matter how unfamiliar and apparently fresh his...

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Maya. By P. Laurence Oliphant. (A. Constable and Co. Os.)

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- -The motto of this book, as well as tho name of the author, euggest to the mind of the reader another Laurence Oliphant whose work, in later life at any rate, had an oven more...

Oremus. By the Rev. J. R. Cohn. (Parker and Co.,

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Oxford. 38. net.)--Mr. Cohu has given us a very able book on a very difficult subject. It would be unfair to say that it is too philosophical ; for, indeed, the difficulty is...

RHADABLID NOVELS —The Broad Road. By Annie S. Swan. (Hurst and

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Blackett. 6s.)—This is a cleverly contrived story, With a suspense well kept up to tho end and several characters drawn with more than average force.—The Lady and the Lackey. By...

The Square Mile: a Story of Ways and Means. By

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Horace W. C. Newte. (Alston Rivers. 6s.)—This novel belongs to what may be called the modern photographic class of fiction. The hero is a bank clerk, and the book is concerned...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Under this heading los nofice such Books of the week as have not boon reserved for roview in other forms.] The Lincoln Centennial Medal. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. 25s. not.)—The...