6 MAY 1916

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We have no desire to clamour for any man's blood,

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or that the British nation should do anything for mere purposes of revenge. We cannot doubt, however, that if any men ever deserved to be shot for rebellion they were Clarke,...

No one in the present case can say we are

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defending conventional bloodthirstiness, for the other way of dealing with an insurrectionary movement has just been tried and failed egregiously. The more extreme section of...

As to Sir Roger Casement we cannot speak freely, for

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as we write he is still untried. We are sure, however, that his trial will be a fair one. We must add that if he is found guilty and con- demned to death we see no grounds why...

But though we hold that stern punishment must be meted

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out to the leaders—i.e., the men who misled the miserable revolters of Dublin, now a dejected band of some three thousand prisoners— we have every hope that the Government may...

Of course, neither we nor anybody else want to shoot

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a lunatic, and if true lunacy is declared by competent experts in Sir Roger Casement's case, even. if he is guilty, he will not be shot.. But by lunacy we do not mean...

The other event we have to record in special detail

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is the shooting of three of the seven leaders of the insurrection, the men who signed the proclamation of the co-called republic. The men in question, Clarke, Pearse, and...

We record elsewhere the actual events of tho seven days'

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street battle, but two matters call for special notice. The first is the resig- nation of Mr. Birrell, which was announced by himself in the House of Commons on Wednesday....

We shall be told, of course, that shooting rebels is

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no remedy, thatirishinen have long memories, and that if the Government act strongly Ireland will never compose her quarrel with England and Scotland. We do not believe a word...

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

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T HE great event of the week has been the crashing of the Irish revolt, or perhaps we should say of the desperate street fighting in Dublin, for, in spite of the destruction of...

*.* The Editor cannot undertake to return Manuscript in any

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case.

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The British and Irish troops, Regulars and Territorials, and the

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Coristabulary seem to have done all that was asked of them in this most trying experience of street fighting, showing bravery, endurance, and ingenuity, witness an armoured ear...

Some of our readers, though, we admit, a very minute

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minority. have reproached us with the indifference or callousness with which they allege we last week and on other occasions treated the serious blows that have fallen on the-...

On Friday week the House considered the Bill of which

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Mr. Asquith's summary was given in the public report of the secret Session. The Bill met with the .usual fate of compromises made to please everybody. It was evident that it...

In addition to Tuesday's raid a daylight raid on Deal

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tookplace on Wednesday. The windows of a church were broken, the roof of a house blown off, a public-house seriously damaged, and a good many windows smashed. Seven bombs in all...

The following facts in regard to the course of the

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Dublin revolt can safely be recorded. General Sir John Maxwell arrived there last Saturday to administer martial law. The military plan was to clear the many houses occupied by...

A Zeppelin raid on a large scale on Scotland and

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the North of England took place on Tuesday, the number of aircraft being " at least five or six." One of them is thought to have been hit. A Press Bureau statement issued on...

Of course the offer in many cases would be rejected,

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and those who rejected it would have to be put on their trial. Those who accepted the Government's offer to enlist would, we believe, keep faith in accordance with the gallant...

Dublin has lost its noble Post Office, the Royal Hibernian

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Academy, and many fine buildings in Sackville Street and the neighbourhood. There was considerable looting of shops and famine was scarcely averted. In the wild turmoil of...

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The surrender of the garrison of Kut, after a siege

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lasting one hundred and forty-three days, was announced on Saturday last. A ship with provisions had been despatched as a forlorn hope, but v. as captured by the Turks, and in...

An instructive record of a month's aeroplane losses on the

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Western Front, compiled from the official reports issued by the British, French, and German Headquarters, appears in Tuesday's Times. In all seventy-two machines have been...

While dealing with war news we may add that there

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have been rumours of grave disturbances in Berlin, in which a good many people are said to have lost their lives. It is further rumoured, pre- sumably in connexion with these...

We regret to have to record the sinking of a

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British battleship- H.M.S. Russell '—which struck a mine in the Mediterranean on Thursday week, with the loss of twenty-six officers and about a hundred men. Rear-Admiral...

It was announced last Sunday that the Fellows of Balliol

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College, Oxford, had cleated Mr. A. L. Smith, the well-known History Tutor of the College, to be the new Master. It is a curious proof of the importance attached to the...

On Tuesday the House reassembled. The Prime Minister began with

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a public summary of some of the information given in the secret Session. He let us know the fact, of which we may well be proud, that " the total military and naval effort of...

The Bill for general compulsion was introduced into the House

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of Commons by the Prime Minister on Wednesday. Its provisions are briefly as follows. Liability to compulsory enlistment is imposed on every male subject in Great Britain,...

With regard to the Western Front there is very little

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of special importance to record. The French, however, have had some very promising successes at Verdun, where they have been taking the local offensive. In these actions our...

On Thursday there was nothing to indicate what is likely

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to be the upshot of the communications between America and Germany. According to the Washington correspondent of the Morning Post, Count Bernstorff has informed his friends that...

The death of Lord St. Aldwyn on Sunday last, which

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followed with tragic suddenness on that of his only son, who was killed in action only a few days previously, removes one of the ablest and most respected of Conservative...

Bank Rate, 5 per cent., changed from 6 p.c. Aug.

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8th, 1911.

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THE GREAT UNKNOWN.

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A VERY great deal has been said both for and against swapping horses in the middle of the stream. Some people denounce such procedure as necessarily a blunder in a high degree....

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

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-COMPULSION. C OMPULSION has come at last, yet not clad in terrors or bringing in its train fierce controversy and passion, but accepted almost universally as an act of...

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RECONSTRUCTION.

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T HOUGH we are so strongly against the perilous adventure of exchanging the present Cabinet for "an - unknown Ministry under an unknown chief, we fully realize that in the case...

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ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR.

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[CONIMUNICA TED.] O NE of the fundamental biological laws is the law of self- adjustment. The individual adjusts himself to circum- stances, to changes in climate and diet, and...

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WILLIAM BLAKE'S HOMES IN LAMBETH AND SUSSEX.

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E VERY one knows the quickening of imagination which comes as the result of seeing the home and surroundings within which some life of great gifts or great achievements has been...

THE ART OF ABDICATION.

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Y OUTH is a fault which, though it is sure to mend, ago does not always find it easy to forgive. To many mature men and women it is true that the attraction of youth is...

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CORRESPONDENCE.

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STATE CONTROL OF THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.—L ITO THE EDITOR OF TEE " SPECTATOR...1 Six,—One of the most remarkable of the many incidental effects of the present war has been the...

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

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THE CIVIL SERVICE AND REBELLION. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.1 Srn,—The fact that the Sinn Fein rebels in Ireland have included some subordinate Civil Servants will...

THE GERMANS.

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(To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPEriTATOR."1 Sin,—Lord Cromer, in his review of Mr. Robertson's The Germane, points out that M. Fustel do Coulanges has said that German civilization "...

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]

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SIR,—Is it not strange that a writer on the attraction of words shoal apply the epithet " meticulous " to the " pursuit of words," as if they were wounded bears in a cave ? The...

THE ATTRACTION OF WORDS.

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[TO TAE EDITOR 01? THE " SPECTATOR."] Sno—In distant Indian days I had the privilege of serving under a kindly and stalwart " Milesian " who had a dislike for the term" Chitta-...

PROHIBITION IN MANITOBA.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR. " ] SIR,—Will you allow me to make a tardy addition to the expressions of thanks for the strong lino you are taking on the drink question? The...

A QUOTATION FROM BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

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[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sra,—I hope you may think these lines from Beaumont and Fletcher's Bonduca apposite to the present crisis at home and abroad :— " Caratach....

A SOLDIER'S POEM.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Will you allow me to note how strikingly the lines by the late Mr. Wilfrid Brinton, quoted in your issue of April 22nd, refute the ....

A SOLDIER'S DIARY.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Fin,—Enclosed is copy of part of the diary of my son now at the front. The part which specially appeals to me is the episode of the hero...

INCOME TAX.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Your correspondent " Zetctes " appears to be unaware of the machinery under which Income Tax is collected and returned to those...

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

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SIR,—In reference to the article by " A. S.," in which he mentions that he has heard of a word for the kneepads used by gardeners, I asked my gamekeeper this morning if he knew...

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ART.

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THE ROYAL ACADEMY. • Tins year we see the Academy clearly as a middle-aged institution quickened by the work of a large number of clever young women. The younger men are all at...

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

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name or initials, or with a pseudonym, or are marked " Communi- cated," the Editor must not necessarily be held to be in agreement with the views therein expressed or with the...

POETRY.

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THE PLOUGH-GIRL. Now, house-work, sure, bes airy done, an' wimmin's han's go light About the cows, an' him, an' pigs, from mornin' up till night. The churnin' never frightened...

" GOING-WITHOUT" DAYS.

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[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPROTATOR.1 Sm,—The nation has been appealed to on two occasions by the Board of Trade to reduce the consumption of meat " with a view to econo- mizing...

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BOOKS.

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THE GRANVILLE CORRESPONDENCE.* ON every page of the two very interesting volumes of correspondence edited by Castalia, Lady Granville, the reader treads on the dead embers of...

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THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.•

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THE elaborate and important history of which this is the twelfth volume is open to certain criticisms of a general kind. Made up, as it is, out of separate contributions by a...

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ART AND RELIGION.*

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MILS. STRONG has placed English readers under a further debt by her latest essay in the interpretation of that Roman art which was so strangely neglected until the close of the...

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HEAD-MASTER AND BISHOP.•

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!Nato'. WBLLDON has played many parts in the sixty years or so of his life, and he has not waited for old age to record his impressions of them. He has been Newcastle Scholar at...

DIARY OF A NURSING SISTER.• Tars Diary was written with

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no idea of publication. We are very glad, however, that the discriminating opinion of some of those who were privileged to read it, and who saw its value, was acted upon, and...

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THE MAGAZINES.

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Is the Nineteenth Century Dr. Shadwell discusses the two great trials before the nation—the prosecution of the war to a satisfactory conclu- sion, and the resumption of civil...

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THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.

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Tug Qmarterly has several interesting articles on subjects directly con- nected with the war. Colonel Blood continues his account of " The Course of the War" in all its theatres...

FICTION.

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RICHES AND HONOUR.* THERE are very few parts of the globe with which we have not been familiarized by novelists within the last thirty or forty years. Tho romantic literature...

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The growing number of students of Russian may be glad

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to know of a new Grammar of the Russian Language compiled by a competent scholar, Mr. Leonard Magnus (John Murray, 5s. net), and of a Practical Pocket Dictionary of the Russian...

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

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(Notice in this column doss eel necessarily preclals su)sepua: reeked British Incomes and Property. By J. C. Stamp. (P. S. King. 12s. Gd. net.)—It would be a refinement of...

Freedom's Battle. By J. F. Worsley Boden, .M.A. (Hugh Roes.

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2s. Gd. net.)—A reprint of a number of "historical essays occasioned by the Great War." Of special interest is " A Plea for Nationality." " The true nationality," says...

Nnw Enmox.—A Companion to Greek Studies. Edited by L. Whibley.

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(Cambridge University Press. 21s. net.)—This monument of scholarship, so vastly different from anything obtainable a quarter of a century ago, has reached a third edition, in...

The South Downs. By "A Tramp."—A practical little guide to

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the South Downs, published by the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, and to be obtained at London Bridge Station (is. 3d. and 7d.). The descriptive notes are...

The Battle of Flowers. By Mrs. H. de Vero Stacpoole.

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(Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)—Mrs. Stacpoole has cultivated a style of writing which is hard, precise, and unattractive. She will have no pleasant unoer- tainty in her book, no...

BOOKS OF REFERENCE. — The Foreign Office List, 1916. (Harrison and Sons.

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10s. 6d. net.)—Here are recorded, as usual, particulars of the men and stations under control of the Foreign Office in London and in the Diplomatic and Consular Services abroad,...