28 MAY 1921

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The issue of Old Ireland to which we refer is

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dated Saturday, May 21st, 1921. In commenting on the overwhelming returns of Slim Fein candidates in the Southern elections—it will be remembered that only four Unionists were...

We learn from the Irish Independent of Friday last that

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Dail Eireann, the Sinn Fein organization, has forbidden the sale of British-made agricultural machinery, margarine, biscuits, boot polish, soap, and pictorial calendars. As...

The Pope last week sent Cardinal Logue a subscription of

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£2,770 for the "White Cross," which has been ostensibly founded to relieve distress in Ireland. In a covering letter the Pope ventured to "exhort English as well as Irish calmly...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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NE of the most wicked and unmeaning of the Sinn Fein outrages was committed on Wednesday, when the Dublin Customs House was raided and burnt down. The Caste= House was the most...

It is a common complaint on the part of those

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who would be willing, if possible, to draw a distinction between the more or less open Sinn Fein organizations and the secret societies of assassins, that the Sinn Fein...

All the official books and papers were lost in the

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fire. No sooner had the raiders imprisoned the officials in the central hall than they set to work throwing petrol and lighting it throughout the building. The place was already...

Readers expe g difficulty in obtaining the

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" Spectator" regularly and promptly should become yearly subscribers. The yearly subscription' including Postage to any address in the United Kingdom or abroad, is £2 3s. 4d....

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The Polish Government appealed last week to President

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Harding-to influence' the favour of the Poles in Upper Silesia, insinuating that the Allies were moved less by " prince plea of justice" than by their material. interests. Mr....

The Sinn Feiners of Newvastle . perpertrated a series of outrages last

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Saturday night. They set fire to a large number of- stack- yards in the Tyne valley and to -a paper-mill near Jarrow;' they tried at Jarrow to blow up the gas main. At...

M. Briand, the French Premier,. made an important and.. reassuring

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speech on: U.pper Silesia in the Chamber on Tuesday. As for the plebiscite, he said that the British Commissioner's' proposed'boundary between the Polish and German zones would...

The miners' strike is now in its eighth week. There

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is no apparent change in the situation, but the Prime Minister on Wednesday invited the coal-owners' and miners' representatives to meet' him on Friday, and there may be . a...

Adly Pasha; the Egyptian Premier, announced' on Thursday, May 19th,

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that he would head the delegates, including three of his Ministers mad' two ex-Ministers, who are to come to London next month to discuss the future relations of Egypt and...

A typical instance of Sinn Fein humanity occurred last Saturday.

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On Friday night a cripple named John Byrne was walking in a Dublin street when he was shot from behind by some gunmen, who fired at him again as he lay wounded. He was taken to...

The railwaymen'e and transport workers' executives, in the absence of

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Mr.. J. H. Thomas, who is in America; last week reaffirmed their decision that' foreign coal' must not be handled at the docks or on the railways. They - professed...

When the House of Commons reassembled on Thesday discuss the

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Navy Estimates, Mr: Eyree-Monsell, thee new Civil 'Lord; announced 'that the Fleet would soon consist only of oil -- burning ships. The advantages of oil over coal are...

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In this connexion, as the Manclteater Guardian points out, considerable

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attention ought to be paid to the statement in the circular that the Government are prepared "to review any questions of policy that may be raised by auggested.reductians."...

Mr. Kellaway, the new Postmaster-General, has made a bad start.

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His department had underestimated its expenditure by the trifling sum of £3,500,000. Therefore Mr. Kellaway has decided, without asking leave of the House of Commons, to...

We are glad to see that a large and influential

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meeting was held at the. Albert Hall last Saturday, at the instance of Our Dumb Friends' League, to protest against the exix:rt of worn- out horses to the Continent. The facts...

On Tuesday a Treasury circular was issued requiring the Departments

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to reduce their expenditure for next year by £113,000,000—that is to ‘say, by 20 per cent. The circular is signed by Mr. Hilton Young, the new Financial Secretary to the...

We cannot allow the appointment of Sir Edward Carson as

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a Lord of Appeal to pass without offering him our good wishes. His new work, though important, and it may be arduous, will be a comparative rest after his fiery, adventurous,...

We have often acknowledged that when. Mr. Asquith, pursuing his

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fatal policy of letting Ireland go her own way, allowed the Unionists of Ulster to arm he committed a bad technical error. But it passes our comprehension how anyone can pretend...

Lady Bancroft, Who died on Sunday at the age of

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eighty-one, was an actress of genius who will always have a place apart in the history of the English stage. She had the good sense in 1865, when she was managing the Prince of...

Lord Robert Cecil opened a debate on the second reading

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of the Finance Bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday. The Government's White Paper, he said, showed some consciousness of sin, but did not promise amendment. The...

Bank Bate, 6i per cent., changed from'? per cent. Apr,

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28, ' 1921; ,t$ per cent. War loan was on Thursday, 88,1; 'Thursday week, 88; a year ago, 86i.

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TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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BRITAIN AND AMERICA. T HE dinner of welcome to the new American Ambassador may well prove one of the milestones in the history of the English race. In form it appeared little...

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THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS.

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T ' Government, in our opinion have made a great mistake, and have greatly prolonged the strike, by not reminding the men at the very beginning of one of the essential facts in...

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THE ENTENTE. T HE black squall which .. was blowing over the

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relations of France and Britain when we wrote last week has given place to a smiling sea, as we felt sure it would. M. Briand has enjoyed yet another of his parliamentary...

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- THE MEANING OF THE EGYPTIAN RIO.

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A LTHOUGH the rioting in Egypt has been bad from III the point of view of casualties, it probably has a less serious significance than some former Egyptian risings. This time...

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THE PROSPECTS FOR THE CLIMBING SEASON.

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I T is difficult for any climber, at all events for one of the older generation, to think of the Alps just now without at the same time remembering one whO hoped this year to...

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FINANCE—PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.

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BANKING ON ITS TRIAL.—THE POST-WAR PERIOD. (To THE EDITOR OF z" SPECTATOR."] explained in my last letter that two of the main features of banking during and since the war were...

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[To mz Horroa or THE " Sescresoa."1

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Sin,—In reference to your article on May 14th on this subject, it may interest your readers to know that nine months ego an organization on almost identical lines to that...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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[Letters of the length of one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] A LEAGUE OF GOOD CITIZENS....

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")

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Sra,—Any such League as that which you advocate would no doubt be most useful to the community. I fear, however, that the machinery of the recent Volunteer Force could hardly be...

[To THE EDTTOR or THE "SPECTATOR."] [To THE EDTTOR or

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THE "SPECTATOR."] Sru,—While I am more than in accord with you as regards the vital necessity for some such League or Alliance as you suggest, I am convinced, from my own...

(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")

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Sra,—Your correspondent " Loyalist" seems to think that it will quite answer the purpose of, and, indeed, be an improve- ment on, the proposed League of Good Citizens if a...

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DEMOCRACY AND CIVILIZATION.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sza,—In your issue of December 25th last you printed a letter of mine concerning disarmament and its necessity to save civilization. Have...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sut,—The following, with its

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message of triumph and comfort to the living, is the last quotation" in Dr. 'Bridges' "The Spirit of Man," and gives all that is wanted in a War Memorial Inscription :— "Holy...

INSCRIPTION FOR A WAR MEMORIAL. [To THE EDITOR OF THE

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" SPECTATOR.") Siit,—At the unveiling and dedication of a churchyard cross in pious memory of the men of Fylingdales who gave their lives in the war A.D. 1914-1918, which...

(To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR."] Sut,—On the War Memorial

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Cross at Upton, Chester, standing at a corner of cross roads on the approach to the village, is the inscription:— " Their memory hallowed in the land they loved." Also, on the...

• [TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sut,—Permit me to

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suggest the following line from a sonnet on Scott's Death, by Sir E. Brydge (quoted by Lockhart) :— " The glory dies not, and the grief is past." Annan, Dumfriesshire.

. THE DANGERS OF COAL-MINING.

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(To THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATCIB.") S/R,—In the discussion excited by the coal strike, great play is often made by the suggestion that mining is an occupation so...

WHO ARE THE MINERS, AND WHY SHOULD THEY BE A

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PRIVILEGED CLASS? [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sut,—Your article is admirable. We who live in a mining district are tired of the half-heroic, half-pathetic figure that...

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THE ORGY OF MURDER.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."3 SIE,—The same day (May 21st) that I read this article in your columns, I read in Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry (1830), by...

DESPERATE SAYINGS.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Anatole France somewhere imagines an observer from another planet examining our world through a giant telescope and detecting patches...

THE FRENCH DEVASTATED AREAS.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Will you do a good charity the favour of calling the atten- tion of your readers to the matinee organized by the British League of Help...

POETRY.

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THE NIGHTINGALES. To ROBIN FLOWER. Musrna upon imperishable things, Honour and love and sorrow, as I walked I came where water murmured of the hills That flow down from the...

THE WAKEFORD CASE.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR,—We desire to make a Public Appeal. The Bishop of Lincoln has been. involved in heavy expenses, which, it is estimated, will amount to...

THE IRISH LANGUAGE.

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(To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIR,—" A Southern Irishman's" statement in last week's Spectator, that "not one Irishman in 100 can even read Irish letters—not One in 1,000...

THE CAMBRIDGE DIVINITY DOCTORATE.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR...] Sza, — I hope sincerely Dr. Melville Scott may extract an answer from the Board for Theological Studies and a much-wanted explanation of...

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ART.

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EXHIBITION OF CARICATURES BY MAX BEERBOHM AT THE LEICESTER GALLERIES. Is there, I wonder, a tendency to take Mr. Max Beerbohm's caricatures a little too seriously ? No one...

THE TIEFATRE.

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EVERYMAN THEATRE, HAMPSTEAD.-1.111: SHAW SEASON. IT is a delight to see Mr. Shaw's plays well acted. Nowhere are his peculiar qualities better displayed than in Major Barbara...

The Editor cannot aicept responsibility for any article, poems, or

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letters submitted to him, but when stamped and addressed envelopes are e'en* he will do his beat to return contributions in case of rejection. Poems should be addressed to the...

NOTICE.—When "Correspondence" or Articles 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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BOOK.

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BERNADOTTE AND.. NAPOLEION..* BaRriAnorrn. makes - a shaggier figure. in history. Lithe first place,, he was one, of the few people who not, only contrived, to see- the...

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RELIGION IN POLITICS.*

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Mn. ARTHUR PONSONBY writes with such evident sincerity that we like to read his reflections and homilies even when we profoundly disagree with them. It was a truism of the...

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VICTOR HUGO.*

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Menem DucLeux, English by birth and French by adoption, has done much to interpret each country to the other, but she has excelled herself in her new Life of Victor Hugo, which...

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PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION.*

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Sra Jostan STAMP, who used to be the assistant secretary of the Board of Inland Revenue, has published an able and witty book—originally written as the Newmarch Lectures of...

IN THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS.* Masa who find modern writers over-tolerant

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and somewhat anaemio may be commended to Miss Donaldson's spirited account of her wanderings in the Western Highlands. It is a book of • Wanderings in the Western Reatanaa and...

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A LIFE OF CRICKET.* Is a man justified in making

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cricket the main occupation of his life 1 The title of Mr. Warner's book suggests the question, and, if you have doubts about your answer, the reading of it will incline you to...

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PAUL VERLAINE.*

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"I HAVE endeavoured to furnish a definite, it may be a particular, aspect of the works and life of Paul Verlaine. I have endeav- oured to do this with sympathy and with that...

FICTION.

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THE PLUNGE.* MANY of us are subject to the infirmity of indulging in day dreams in which we assign to ourselves heroic rotes. Alphonse Daudet in one of his novels introduces a...

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POEMS WORTHY OF CONSIDERATION.—Tht Fires of Baal. By Austin Clarke.

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(Maunsel and Roberts. 3s. 6d.)—A narrative poem in blank verse. "The secret golden coils of labyrinthine palaces" is a typical phrase. Mr. Clarke neither rises to the sublime...

The Royal Insurance Company has published a revised edition of

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its well-known and useful little publication, The Rides of Golf, which may be had free at the company's offices. A supplement explains the main differences between the pre- war...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequerd review.1 Journal of the Parliaments of the Empire. Vol. II., No. 2. (Empire Parliamentary Association,...

READABLE NOVELS.—The Cotton Broker. By John Owen. (Hodder and Stoughton.

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8s. 6d. net.)—A vigorous character study. The cotton background is vividly and romantically contrived, but the real interest of the book centres in the inter- acting...

POETS AND POETRY.

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THE DEATH OF ORPHEUS.* MR. HOUSMAN'S The Death of Orpheus shows, unlike most poetic dramas, a good deal of dramatic sense. The theme of it is the enmity felt by a rout of...

Main Street. By Sinclair Lewis. (Hodder and Stoughton. 8s. 6d.

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net.)—The story of a city girl's struggle to adapt herself to the conditions of life as the wife of a doctor in a small town- ship in the Middle West. The author's detailed...

Chronos : A Handbook of Comparative Chronology. By R. J.

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Hart. (Bell. 7s. 6d. net.)—We are glad to see a new and revised edition of this excellent book by the late Mrs. Hart. It is modestly described as "Chronological Notes in...

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Loughborough during the Great Civil War. By E. W. Hausman.

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(Loughborough: Echo Press. la. 6d. net.)—Mr. Hensman's essay, based on the local records and the news-letters of the time, is a useful contribution to the history of the...

The Royal Academy Illustrated (Judd, 3s. (Id. net), published by

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authority of the Royal Academy, is the sixth annual issue of this publication. It contains about two hundred good reproductions of pictures and sculptures, mostly by...

The Diary of a Yeomanry M.O. By Captain 0. Teichman,

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D.S.O. (T. Fisher Unwin. 128. (Id. net.)—The author saw a great deal of hard service as medical officer to the Worcester Yeomanry, first at Suvla, next in the slow and steady...

The Backbone of Africa. By Sir Alfred Sharpe. (Witherby. 16s.

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net.)—The former Governor of Nyasaland describes conoisely three journeys which he made before and during the war through Nyasaland, the country east and west of Tanganyika, and...