French gunboats forced the passage of the Bangkok river. At 6 in the evening, preceded by the steamer Jean Baptiste Say,' they began the ascent of the river, and were at once...

Bangkok. The blockade nominally began on Wednesday, but three days' grace was given to neutral ships to leave the blockaded port, — a fact which seems to show that the French...

the financial clauses in a very powerful speech, in which he argued that in his three entirely separate financial proposals for Irish Home-rule, Mr. Gladstone had adhered to but...

case.

O N Thursday evening, the final application of the guillo- tine Closure produced a scene which will long be remembered to the disgrace of the House of Commons. The Irish Members...

but it seems unlikely that it can now be averted. Meantime, the secretaries of the Federated Coalowners have published a statement of their case. In 1888, certain advances in...

of half-a-million looked, said Mr. Chamberlain, as if Irish Home- rule were a plant of such sickly growth that it required to be watered with British gold. He did not see why...

informing of the financial debate, though it did not cover quite so large a field as Mr. Chamberlain's. He maintained with Mr. Chamberlain that a half-million surplus for...

markable speech,—one by Mr. Fowler on Friday week, one by Sir William Harcourt on Monday, and one by Mr. Gladstone, born out of due season, on Tuesday. Mr. Fowler practically...

tine the remainder of the Bill. Mr. Gladstone's new financial clause was only added to the Bill by a majority of 21 (312 to 291). Thus the financial relations between England...

to the ferocious speech" of the Prime Minister. His. remarks were in excellent taste, and no doubt completely turned the tables on Mr. Gladstone ; but we hardly think that it...

had ceased, when he was able to single out Mr. Cham- berlain, only because Mr. Chamberlain had made a proposal to get rid of the six years' delay in making final arrangements,—...

at Malta. The Court finds, first, that the loss was due to the Commander-in-Chief's order ; secondly, that after the collision no mistake was made ; thirdly, that Captain Bourke...

asked her Majesty's Government on what principle the present Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland had acted with reference to the acceptance or refusal of addresses." Lord Cadogan re-...

before both Houses of Parliament. In the Lords, Lord Onslow carried by 19 (55 to 36) a resolution declaring in effect that the betterment scheme incorporated with the London...

July 21st, contains an interesting account of how M. Waddington tried last autumn to pin Mr. Gladstone down to a promise of evacuation, and of how the great opportunist con-...

a charming idyll of the lake in St. James's Park. On the 8th of this month a dabchick'a nest, " made fast to the dipping boughs of a black-poplar," broke from its moorings and...

Paddington, and received their hearty assent to his contesting Mr. Shaw-Lefevre's seat in Central Bradford at the next General Election. They resolved, moreover, to return Lord...

tation from the Duchy of Brunswick, made one of his " nasty " speeches. During the past twelve months he had been "the object of the most flattering attentions from various...

New Consols (2k) were on Friday 98H----11.

its foundation with all the pomp and ceremony required by a " Quingentenary,"—that is the appalling word applied to the event. The chief incidents of the day were the holding of...

river Mekong, which, rising in Tibet, flows down the Indo- Chinese peninsula, dividing it into two unequal parts. After leaving Chinese territory, the river flows through one of...

during Mr. Chamberlain's last protest, would be hardly credible, did we not know how apt human nature is to Happy Family," ask himself what would be the satisfac- where it would...

find substantial victory over a foe unsatisfying and even THE withdrawal of the French Minister from the tantalising, without some signal display of the vindictive Siamese...

T HE Parliamentary debates on the financial clauses of the Home-rule Bill will probably convey very little to the electors without a good deal of help in interpreting the...

SHE Lords' amendments to the London County Council 1 Bill, have brought up the old difficulty for the Radicals, what they should do with the House of Lords ; and the Daily...

L ORD FINGALL, who, in Thursday's Pall Mall Gazette, avowedly writes as the exponent of a considerable class of educated Irish Roman Catholics, with whom he has taken counsel,...

I T is with great pleasure that we note Lord Farrer's vindication of the Cobdenic ideal, pronounced at the annual meeting of the Cobden Club. That vindication was not unneeded....

action of the Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland in regard to certain ad- dresses lately presented, or proposed to be presented, to him, was very well expressed by Lord Kimberley on...

T W O letters which appeared in the Spectator of July 22nd, strikingly illustrate in different ways that loss of national self-confidence and governing faculty to which we have...

I N the little selection of " Wellerisms,"* which has now reached a second edition, and which Mr. Rideal would have improved by omitting the degenerated Wellerisms of "Master...

of the egg-robbing craze, which collectors dignify by the title of " oology," is the almost total disappearance from the Highland lochs of the beautiful ospreys, or...

of its birth. When an institution has really reached the honourable age of five hundred years, during the whole of which period it has nobly sustained its first tradi- tions,...

ECHOES FROM AUVERGNE. La Bourboule. Duanse the greater part of our stay, the theatre here• was devoted to comic and other operatic performances, which I did not care for, and...

THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIB, —Your description of that "signal instance of Radical perversity," whereby a group of Radicals " systematically decry their own country," as a...

[To THAI EDITOR OF THI " BEZOTATOR.1 Six,—In your most powerful article, headed "The Excuse for Gloom," in the Spectator of July 22nd, you lament the loss of political instinct...

LORD SALISBURY AND THE " BOMBAY GAZETTE." [To THE EDITOR OF THE " $PECTATOR7] SIR,—My attention has been drawn to a statement, quoted by you in the Spectator of July 22nd, from...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —In your article on electric eels, in the Spectator of July 22nd, mention is made of Humboldt's description of the capture of...

[To Tan EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, I have been fairly successful up to date in resisting the- temptation of attempting to put a critic right where it seemed to me he was...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] you allow us to repeat in your columns this year an appeal which was so well responded to twelve months ago,. that we are encouraged to make...

[TO THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR. "] Sin,—Sir William Fraser's very uncanny story in connection with the murder of the Duchess de Praslin (Spectator, July 15th) can hardly be...

[TO THE EDITOR. OF THE 66 SPEOTAT3E.'] SIR,—With reference to the remark in the Spectator of July 22nd, we are glad to say that we have a new edition of " Todd's Parliamentary...

[To THE EDITOR OF THE 6 ' SPEOTATOR."] SIR,—The tastes even of cockroaches must differ. Our English variety here have asked for no culinary assistance, but have devoured the...

THE imagination of Goethe pictured the ice-age. " If a great cold," said he, " covered the larger part of North Germany with ice, when the water was of the depth of 1,000 ft.,...

the motive of one of her earliest novels, which many of her readers have pro- bably forgotten,—The Doctor's Wife. In the new book we see how much of knowledge and craftsmanship...

the wake of Mr. Mowbray Morris's admirable monograph on Montrose, and Mr. Mark Napier's older and invaluable but polemical Vindication, may fairly be said to complete, from the...

Fon many reasons this is the most remarkable historical work which has recently appeared. It is valuable for the new light which it throws upon a particularly dark period in...

five- hundredth year, Mr. Tuckwell's book on Winchester as it was fifty years ago appears with appropriate aptness. It is certainly one of the most readable books which has...

THERE can be no doubt whatever that Mr. Marion Crawford's Pietro Ohieleri takes a very high place among the novels of the year. If it does not take a corresponding position...

Verbum Dei. By Robert F. Horton. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—We cannot object to Mr. Horton's setting up a high standard of preaching. He was speaking to the ministers of the future ;...

the Medieval Period. By J. Starkie Gardner. With 57 illustrations. (Chap- man and Hall.)—This is one of the Art handbooks of the South Kensington Museum. It is proposed in a...

Bramston. (Seeley.)—This volume contains seven stories, touched with the skill and grace which Miss Bramston never fails to give to her work. "The Women's Revolt," an Italian...

volume gives us a history of Old Testament criticism in a biographical form, its fault being that the bio- graphical element is not made sufficiently prominent. The fact is that...

and Practice. By Philip Gilbert Hamerton.. With numerous illustrations. (Adam and Charles Black.)=—This is a reprint of two articles by Mr. Hamorton in the "Encyclopedia...

Lovett, M.A. With 72 illustrations. (Religious Tract Society.) —This is one of a well-known series of books in which the history and features of different countries are...

Chesterfield. With numerous Letters, now first published, from the Newcastle- Papers. By W. Ernst. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—The- author deserves credit for the diligence with...

Son.)—This volume consists of articles by various authors, reprinted from the Scottish Geographical Magazine, looking at the- question of Imperial Federation from different...

Co.)—This is one of a series of " Books about Books." The subject, Book-Plates, has become a favourite excuse lately for research among collectors ; and the literature of the...

social study " points out evils definitively enough, and does well not to do more than hint at remedies. Dr. Helen Brent is a very wise and reasonable person, and distinctly...

Co.)—This is a collection of papers and lectures by the late Mr. Sedding. The last words of the book, " The chances of more cordial relations between architect, sculptor, and...

Dasent. (Printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode.)—This volume of the Acts of the Privy Council is not as interesting as some preceding ones. While in Edward VI.'s reign and the first...

and Co.), appears in a fifth edition. It would be ungracious to say an unkindly word of verse in which there is so much sweetness and tenderness. Still, one feels that the power...