HOW QUEEN VICTORIA AVERTED WAR. THE following passage, from an article in the current number of The Quarterly, is of considerable historical interest. The main facts are, of course, well known, being set out in Sir Theodore Martin's Life, but the Reviewer supplies some additional information :

"During the American Civil War, two envoys of the Confederate States, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, were seized on board an English ship. This insult to the British flag could not be passed over, and a disastrous war between England and the Northern States of the American Union seemed inevitable. The Prince Consort was at that time sinking under his fatal illness; but notwithstanding the anxiety of the Queen on his account, her mind was unceasingly active to devise means of preventing war. We are in a position to state, on the authority of one of the most prominent statesmen of our time, and one who had the distinguished honour of enjoying in a special manner the confidence of her Majesty, that it was the Queen herself, in opposition to the views of her Ministers, and of the distinguished man in question among them, who averted the war. She insisted that the despatch which was sent to America demanding peremptorily the surrender of the envoys should be communicated at once to all the Powers, and the grave consequences of the conflict, from an international point of view, pointed out. The result was an able State paper, sent to Washington by M. Thouvenel, in which he stated that France regarded the act of the American captain who had arrested the Confederate envoys on board an English ship as quite unjustifiable, and expressed the hope that the Federal Government would accede to the demands of Great Britain. Austria and Prussia immediately followed suit, and Prince Gortschakoff, on the part of Russia, urged President Lincoln to surrender the envoys without delay, and with such an explanation as would satisfy English national feeling. These remonstrances from the Powers enabled the Government of Washington to escape without humiliation from an untenable position, and saved England from entering into a war which would, in all human probability, have ended in the disruption of the American Union, and sown the seeds of deathless enmity between England and the progressive and powerful Northern States."

THE SOLDIER'S GREATEST ENEMY. THERE is undoubtedly a widespread impression that, in time of war, the greatest enemy of the soldier is the man he goes out to fight. Even in the army this opinion appears to prevail, and the inventor of a really practically bullet-proof dress would be hailed with joy by any nation, though it is not on record that the military surgeon is treated with that mark of consideration. The truth is that what decimates an army is not the bullet but the microbe. In the fiercest wars of modern times only one-fifth of the recorded deaths could be traced to the fire of the enemy; the remaining eighty per cent. were due to disease.

Much of the disease was caused, of course, by wounds, severe or slight; but small wounds that are often fatal in the crowded military camp would scarcely disable a man in civil life.

Generally, when an army invades a new country it suffers heavily from disease. Malaria is the worst enemy of all. Among the troops in India, forty deaths in one hundred are due to it. The French troops in Algeria suffer even more, it being responsible for half of all the deaths there. But even Algeria is beaten by Florida, where sixty United States soldiers die from malaria to forty from all other causes combined. So much more terrible is this enemy than bullets or spears that, in the British expedition up the Niger some years ago, among 145 white men there were 130 cases of malaria and 40 deaths. And a curious circumstance was the fact that not a single negro of the total of 158 died from this cause.

Another great enemy in war is cold. In the retreat fron Moscow it was a common thing to find soldiers standing frozen to death with their muskets still in their hands. Some years ago, too, a column of French troops was overtaken by snow in Algeria, and in two days it lost 208 men. But it is not the cold alone that kills soldiers. It is the cold plus want of proper food. Very few Polar explorers die of the extreme cold, while, on the other hand, hundreds of thousands died from it in the Crimea, although the thermometer was never very low.

As an example of what heat can do, it is recorded that during the Italian war 2,000 men of one French division fell in the ranks on July 4th. An army suffers more from heat than ordinary people from being massed together, just as it suffers more from cold through being badly fed. Indeed, there is a peculiar susceptibility among crowds to heat; doctors call it crowd-poisoning, and it is especially fatal to

THE INFANTRY OF AN ARMY.

In addition to malaria, heat, and cold, the soldier is killed off by cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery; and some figures show what a bad time he has had among them all. The French army in the Crimea numbered 309,000 men. Of these the Russians killed 20,000, while disease claimed 80,000. In 1811-14 the English army in Spain amounted to 62,000 men. The enemy succeeded in killing 9,000, but disease carried off 25,000. During the British expedition to Walcheren it lost twenty men from disease to one from the instruments of war. And in the sanguinary American Civil War, while 61,000 were killed in battle, 35,000 died of their wounds, and 240,000 of disease. So that in past wars the microbe has certainly proved himself more dangerous than bayonets, bullets, or shells.

In time of peace the soldier is unusually healthy, and, roughly speaking, the health of armies is three times better now than it was half a century ago. For one English soldier that dies now two used to die twenty-five years ago, and four at the commencement of the Queen's reign. And, thanks to advance in medical skill, India, though still three times as fatal to the soldier as England, now only shows one death to twenty deaths in 1837.

EXPENSES OF WAR.

WE should do well to translate this word war into language more intelligible to us. When we pay our Army and Navy Estimates, let us set down so much for killing-so much for maiming-so much for making widows and orphans-so much for bringing famine upon a district-so much for corrupting citizens and subjects into spies and traitors-so much for letting loose the demons of fury, rapine, and lust within the fold of civilised society. We shall know by this means what we have paid our money for; whether we have made a good bargain; and whether the account is likely to pass-elsewhere. We must take in, too, all those concomitant circumstances which make war, considered as battle, the least part of itself-pars minima sui. We must fix our eyes, not on the hero returning with conquest, nor yet on the gallant officer dying in the bed of honour-the subject of picture and of song-but on the private soldier, forced into the service, exhausted by camp sickness and fatigue; pale, emaciated, crawling to a hospital with the prospect of lifeperhaps a long life-blasted, useless, and suffering. We must think of the uncounted tears of her who weeps alone, because the only being who shared her sentiments is taken from her; no martial music sounds in unison with her feelings; the long day passes, and he returns not. She does not shed her sorrows over his grave, for she has never learned whether he even had one. If he had returned his exertions would not have been remembered individually-for he made only a small imperceptible part of a human machine called a regiment. These are not fancy pictures ; if you please to heighten them you can every one of you do it for yourselves.-Echo.

OBITUARY.

NOTICE of the death of the Rev. C. S. Collingwood, B.A., Rector of Southwick, Durham, has been sent us by local friends. He was a member of the Peace Society, and a consistent advocate of Arbitration as a method of settling international disputes.

Another generous supporter of the Society, for at least a quarter-of-a-century, was the late Thomas Barlow, formerly of Stockport, who died December 23rd, aged 72.

We also regret to see an intimation of the death, from fever at Lucknow, of Lieut. and Adjutant H. F. Wethered, second son of the Rev. F. F. Wethered, Vicar of Hurley, near Marlow, whose reply to our Peace Sunday invitation, referring to his three sons in the army, was inserted in our last issue.

AGENTS AND AUXILIARIES. MR. AUGUSTUS DIAMOND, B.A. SHEFFIELD:-On Sunday, January 16th., Mr. A. Diamond addressed the Adult Schools at the Central School and Hartshead, and the Evening Meeting at Hartshead, on the subject of Peace. On Monday, January 17th, he spoke to the Doncaster Street Mothers' Meeting, by invitation of Mrs. D. Doncaster, who also urged the Mothers to influence their husbands and sons.

DEPTFORD-On Thursday, January 20th, at the Friends' Meeting House, High Street, DEPTFORD, he gave the Lantern Lecture," Warriors and their Work," to the Band of Hope, Mr. P. Crawshaw presiding.

BIRMINGHAM.

The Rev. J. J. Ellis reports meetings, lectures, and sermons as follows:

December 12th. At the Sunday Morning Service in the Congregational Church, CANNOCK, a sermon on Peace;

And in the Afternoon an Address on Life Brigades to the Scholars of the Sunday School.

December 15th. At the Primitive Methodist Chapel, DUDLEY PORT, a lecture on the Origin and Progress of Peace Societies, Rev. F. W. Norris in the chair.

December 19th. Peace Sunday Morning, at 11. Mr. Ellis preached at the Moseley Road Congregational Church, BIRMINGHAM, on "Christ an Example of Peace."

At the Conference Hall, Jenkin Street, BIRMINGHAM, at 3 p.m. he spoke on, "Peace Societies and their Aim;

And in the Evening, (6.30) preached at the Congregational Church, St. Andrew's Road, BIRMINGHAM, on "The Peace of Nations."

On the same day, at 11. a.m., the Baptist Chapel, Springhill, BIRMINGHAM, Consul J. Hotchkiss preached on Peace;

And in the afternoon, at 3 o'clock, to the P.S.A., at the Baptist Chapel, Heneage Street, BIRMINGHAM, Mr. Thomas Wright gave an address on Peace.

December 20th. At the Assembly Rooms, Temperance Institute, BIRMINGHAM, Dr. C. A. Berry gave an account of his visit to America, and spoke on International Arbitration, the United States Consul, Mr. G. F. Parker presiding.

December 26th. At the Highgate Mission Hall, BIRMINGHAM, Mr. Ellis gave an address on "The Way in which Women Suffer from War," Mr. E. Ward, Chairman. This was a meeting for women only.

Also at the Ebenezer P.S.A. WEST BROMWICH he spoke on "The Fight for Life." Mr. J. Blackham presided.

December 29th. At the Institute, STIRCHLEY, near Birmingham, Mr. Ellis gave a lecture on "Some Christmas Revels, and the Message of the Bells."

January 2nd.,1898. At the Congregational Church, STRATFORDON-AVON, Mr, Ellis gave an address to the Sunday School on "Progress and Wars of the Victorian reign."

And in the Evening preached a sermon on "David the Soldier no Example for the Soldier of Christ.'

January 9th. At the Wesleyan P.S.A., Bristol Street, BIRMINGHAM, Mr. Ellis gave an address on "Courage, Indian and English." Mr. Price in the chair.

MANCHESTER.

Our agent, Mr. Charles Stevenson, reports that on:December 10th. He spoke at the Presbyterian School. HIGHER BROUGHTON, Manchester, on Arbitration, J. W, Barclay, Esq., in the chair.

December 17th. He lectured on the same subject at the MILES PLATTING Wesleyan Literary Society, Manchester, W. J. Barber, Esq., presiding.

DECEMBER 19th, Peace Sunday. He gave a Peace Address at the HIGHER BROUGHTON CONGREGATIONAL P.S.A., Manchester, R. P. Hewitt, Esq., conductor. At the New Road Congregational Church, BURY, Joseph Ridgway, Esq., gave an address on "Peace and some of its Advantages."

December 20th. At Moss Side Baptist School, Mr. Stevenson gave the lantern lecture "What is War?" Mr. Chorlton in the chair.

... December 26th. At the Edgley Institute, STOCKPORT, Mr. Stevenson gave an address on Peace, Thomas Hindley Esq., presiding,

January 2nd 1898. At the Wesleyan P.S.A., CHEAdle Hulme, Mr. Stevenson conducted a Peace Service.

January 3rd. At the HIGHER BROUGHTON Congregational School, Manchester, he gave the lantern lecture, "What is War?:" January 9th. At ASHTON-ON-MERSEY P.S.A., Mr. Stevenson gave a Peace Address, Geo. Rooke, Esq., J.P., being in the chair: January 16th. At the Methodist Free Church, Oxford Street, MANCHESTER, he gave an address on Peace, C. Brook, Esq., in the chair.

LIVERPOOL PEACE SOCIETY.

January 5th. A lecture entitled "The Crimson Orient" was delivered at the Gidlow Congregational Church, and was illustrated by sixty graphic scenes, chiefly from the late war, which were kindly lent by the Peace Society. The Rev. M. J. Elliott, F.L.S., Wesleyan Minister, late Chaplain to Her Majesty's Force in Egypt, was the lecturer, and his great experience among Greeks and Eastern people enabled him to make every point in his lecture tell. There was a good attendance.

January 20th. The Rev. M. J. Elliott repeated his lecture on "The Crimson Orient" at the Fabius Baptist Chapel, Everton. January 24th. The above mentioned lantern slides were again used, this time to illustrate a lecture delivered by Mr. Archibald Bathgate to the New Ferry Wesleyan Literary Society.

PETERBOROUGH.

The Annual Meeting of the Peterborough Branch was held at the Temperance Hall, Boroughbury, on the 18th January last. The chair was occupied by Mr. A. C. Morton, (late M.P. for the Borough), and among those present on the platform were Alderman Winfrey, Councillor Cliffe, Mrs. Benham, Mystic, U.S.A., Miss P. H. Peckover, Rev. T. Barrass, Rev. R. C. Frew, Mr. and Mrs. Russell, &c. The building was tastefully arranged and decorated for the occasion.

After the Secretary (Mr. P. Russell) had presented the report, the Chairman delivered an excellent address, and was followed by Miss P. H. Peckover and Mrs. Benham. The addresses were interspersed with singing, and after a reading by Mrs. Russell, Mr. Alderman Winfrey moved a resolution deploring the acts of aggression attending the annexation of territory, which was seconded by Rev. T. Barrass and carried unanimously. In the course of a very able speech the mover, Mr. Alderman Winfrey, said he felt there never was a greater necessity for the Peace Society than at the present moment.

On the motion of the Rev. R. C. Frew, seconded by Mr. Councillor Cliffe, a hearty vote of thanks were accorded Miss Peckover and Mrs. Benham for their addresses.

Votes of thanks to the chairman, Mr., and Mrs. Russell brought a most enthusiastic meeting to a close,

The St. Mark's Prize Band was in attendance, and under the able conductorship of Mr. R. Stokes played selections during the evening. The attendance was large.

BOOK NOTICES.

THE YEAR BOOK of the Dutch Peace Society has been published for the twenty-fifth time at the Hague by Mr. F. J. Belinfante. It preserves its usual characteristics of variety and excellence. Besides a report of the Annual General Meeting of the Society, which was held on Thursday, July 1st, in the Hotel Kaizershof, it contains articles on "The Year 1897," by J. B. B., "The Hamburg Peace Congress" by Dr. S. Baart de la Faille, "The Interparliamentary Conference" by Dr. Rahusen, "Peace on Earth," and "Glory" by J. J. L. ten Kate, and others.

LAW AND POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By. Edward Jenks, M.A. (London: John Murray 12s,) This is a new work on "Civilisation under Law," by the Reader in English Law at Oxford, in which he has traced the development of oustom and law in Western Europe from the earliest records down to the sixteenth century. A long list and synoptical table of authorities, to be found nowhere else, makes the work exceedingly valuable to students,

PREJUDICES inay often be more easily undermined than stormed,

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PEACE DAY has once more been kept. The joint meeting of the Societies at Mr. Moscheles' Studio was very successful, and the attendance thoroughly representative. The speaking was of a high order, although necessarily somewhat tinged with despondency because of the circumstances of the hour. A full report is given elsewhere.

THE proverbial longevity of "Friends" seems to be fully maintained. The Annual Monitor gives the following return for the last four years, embracing all members who died in Great Britain and Ireland. The following is the average :-1893-4, 61 years 5 months and 22 days; 1894-5, 57 years 11 months 18 days; 1895-6, 60 years 6 months and 19 days; 1896-7, 61 years 3 months and 5 days.

THE "Appeal to the Nation" on the subject of "Peace," which was issued by the Society of Friends, has elicited a response from our Vice-President, the Dean of Durham, marked by his usual wisdom and Christian feeling. "Thank you for sending me the 'Appeal to the Nation,' with which I am heartily in sympathy. One notes with great regret the rapid growth of militarism' in England, and the corresponding deflection from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Christian Church ought to be very grateful to the Society of Friends for their courage in holding firmly to the truth that warfare is contrary to the Gospel, and that, after all, Christ is the Prince of Peace. But I am very hopeless, and feel that our attempts to create a more wholesome state of public opinion are likely to be very ineffectual against the blare of modern and vulgar Jingoism. The future of Europe is very dark; and we may be drawing near to a great punishment for our unfaithfulness."

[PRICE 1d.

THE death of Miss Frances Willard, which happened in New York, on the 17th inst., from influenza and gastric complications, is a loss to the philanthropic movements of the world. Although more distinctively identified with the temperance movement as represented by the great organisation of which she was the President, she was warmly interested in its Peace department, and in the Peace Society, with whose Secretary she corresponded cordially up to her leaving England. At her personal request Dr. Darby represented the W.W.C.T.U. at the Universal Peace Congress at Buda Pesth.

LADY HENRY SOMERSET has, by a formal letter to Lord George Hamilton, withdrawn from her attitude in regard to State regulation of vice. We welcome the retraction, while we regret the previous confession of faith which has proved so mischievous. We are always pained when a leader of a great movement is tempted aside into the flowery paths of expediency. Her Ladyship gives two reasons for her previous position. She "expected the Government would give every encouragement to every form of elevating agency"; but surely she was aware that the action of the Government did not in any sense aim at moral reform. She also expected that the system she had in mind "would be so drastic and penal in its nature as to make State interference odious and finally impossible." But this, too, would be the method of promoting good by evil. People cannot be coerced into goodness. And with this method we could have no sympathy.

IN an address at Manchester, Mr. Augustine Birrell made some remarks on the present position of the Liberal party which, (with the exception of his exception), we very heartily endorse. He expressed the hope that his audience would be convinced of the absolute necessity of maintaining at its full strength the Liberal party as an instrument of political power. It was their duty not only to maintain it but add to the number of its recruits, and to the fervour of its faith, not merely in programmes, but in what John Bright called the eternal principles of political righteousness and morality. The first duty of the Liberal party was to adhere to its ancient tradition-civil and religious liberty all the world over. Then they must remember that they were deeply involved in the maintenance of Peace, and that war, except in a noble cause, was a horrible crime. What is the noble cause which would justify war?

THE Queen's Speech, which had been anticipated by Ministerialists on so many platforms, before it was read at the opening of Parliament, contained some points of interest for lovers of Peace and humanity, and some which must awaken the sorrow of all true patriots. Amongst these are the following:

"On the North-Western borders of my Indian Empire an organised outbreak of fanaticism, which spread in the summer along the frontier, induced many of the tribes to break their engagements with my Government, to attack military posts in their vicinity, and even to invade a settled district of my territory. I was compelled to send expeditions against the offending tribes for the punishment of these outrages, and to ensure Peace in the future. A portion of the Afridi tribes have not yet accepted the terms offered to them, but elsewhere the operations have been brought to a

successful close."

[The paragraph referring to the plague and famine in Western India would have had more force and relevancy if the resources wasted in waging unnecessary war, and inflicting wicked and wanton misery on the North-West frontier, had been devoted to alleviating suffering and preventing a recurrence of the evils. In justice and equity the resources of India should be used for its benefit not its bane.]

"The Estimates for the service of the year will be laid before you. They have been framed with the utmost desire for economy; but, in view of the enormous armaments which are now maintained by other nations, the duty of providing for the defence of the Empire involves an expenditure which is beyond former precedent." [How childish the reason! Because other nations act foolishly we must also.]

"A measure will be introduced for the organisation of a system of Local Government in Ireland substantially similar to that which, within the last few years, has been established in Great Britain." [If this be done honestly and generously there is hope that the curse of the military occupation of Ireland may give place to the blessings of equal citizenship.]

"Proposals having for their object to secure increased strength and efficiency in the army and for amending the present conditions of military service will be submitted to you." [Ever and always, increase! Give! Give!]

THE debate on the Queen's Speech was also full of interest from the Peace standpoint. The speeches of the leaders of both the historical political parties were those of pacific advocates, or would have been had they not been so sadly contradicted by the proposals under discussion, the adoption of which were a foregone conclusion. The voice in each case was the voice of Jacob, but the hands were the hands of Esau.

THE mild attack of Lord Kimberley was chiefly remarkable for its enunciation of certain points of policy with which every lover of Peace must be in full accord, and with which, so far as words go, the Head of the Government declared himself in substantial agreement. His references to our "perilous enterprises" in the Soudan, the reconquest of which he believed to have no permanent interest for this country, and declared to carry no true advantage either for it or for Egypt, and his criticism of the remark in the

Speech which represented the expedition as a proceeding of the Egyptian Government, and so made it a convenient cover for our policy, were certainly just. Equally so was his protest against "the fatal mistake in India," where "we have a very large English and native army, a larger force than was ever assembled before under a British general, engaged in most dangerous and protracted conflict with warlike tribes." As also was his reference to the vacation speech of Sir Michael HicksBeach --"When a responsible Minister in this country speaks of war, I think Parliament has a right to be acquainted, as far as possible, with the circumstances which are so grave and dangerous that the word war' has to be pronounced." But the force of the rebuke was lessened by the great satisfaction of Lord Kimberley in hearing the declaration of the Secretary for War respecting larger armaments, and his adoption of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach's boastful tone about "holding as high as formerly our head among the nations."

course.

THE Premier's reply would have been satisfactory as to the announcement, "To a military forward policy (in India), I am myself as much opposed as the noble lord," if he had not at the same time declared a forward policy, which cannot but be military, to be inevitable and necessary. "I trust," he said, "we shall be able to perform what is an inevitable conquest by the gentle means of example and gradual interWe must gradually convert to our way of thinking, in matters of civilisation, these splendid tribes. I hope the process may not be interfered with by this frontier trouble. I lament it very seriously." But our method of gradual conversion is to send an army of 70,000 men to harry and crush these splendid tribes, and to carry unsparing destruction through their land. One must confess that the blunt avowal of "the mailed fist" seems to be more honest, and less hypocritical, than such talk attending such deeds.

BUT the chief interest of the speech lies in its remarkable peroration, in which once again Lord Salisbury appears as a Peace Society advocate: "I have only one word more to say. The noble earl has, again and again, in the course of his speech, warned us against excessive acquisitions and the dangers they may bring. I am not proposing to go into detail. I may not, perhaps, attach the same meaning to words as the noble lord, but in the general soundness of his principle, and in the general recognition that it is one necessary for these times, I will heartily concur. I strongly believe there is a danger, in the public opinion of this country, of a reaction to the doctrine of thirty or forty years ago, when it was thought to be our duty to fight everybody and take everything. I cannot but think that is a very dangerous doctrine, not merely because it might incite other nations against us, though that is not to be neglected-for the kind of reputation we are at present enjoying on the Continent of Europe is by no means pleasant or advantageous--but there is a much more serious danger, and that is lest we should overtax our strength. However strong you may be, whether you are a man or a nation, there is a point beyond which your strength will not go. It is courage and wisdom to exert that strength up to the limit which you may attain. It is madness and ruin if you allow yourself to pass that limit. I can assure the noble earl that we

feel the extreme gravity of the crisis in our country's history through which we are passing, and the extreme importance of not allowing any party feelings to bias us in discovering and following the difficult and narrow line which separates an undue concession and undue terror from that rashness which has in more than one case in history been the ruin of nations as great and powerful as ourselves."

IN the Commons the debate was equally interesting from our standpoint. Sir William Harcourt especially, who made a much more vigorous attack on the Government than the Opposition leader in the Lords, was very outspoken. In his peroration, he emphasised a point which, on behalf of the Peace Society, we have been reiterating with all the force of which we are capable. It will be seen that his remarks were endorsed by "Opposition cheers," which were repeatedly renewed. But, unfortunately, Sir William Harcourt and the Opposition, as everybody knows, if they were on the other side of the House, would disregard all the prudential considerations so sagely advanced, follow the example of the present occupants of the Ministerial Benches, and yield, just as they are doing, to the interested clamour for more and yet more millions for military purposes.

SAID Sir William Harcourt, in closing his speech :"With reference to a paragraph in the Speech in which I am especially interested-on the Estimates-I have felt it my duty before to raise a note of warning as to the expenditure of the country. It has been said that there has been no addition to the army for 30 years, whereas, in fact, the army has been increased by 100,000 men, 30,000 with the colours, and 70,000 or 80,000 in the reserves. There has been an increase in the expenditure on the army of 50 per cent., and if we add to that the expenses of the men added to the Indian army, the addition to the expenses of the army has been enormous. We have added £13,000,000 in that time to the navy, and the addition to military and naval expenditure since 1870 has been £19,000,000 a year. This addition, in time of Peace, is greater than the charges on the National Debt for the accumulated wars of two centuries. (Opposition cheers.) I have always warned the House of the growth of expenditure; it is growing, not in arithmetical but in geometrical proportion. The growth of expenditure in this country has been in the last 30 years £27,000,000, and if you add the local subsidies, the total amount is £35,000,000. The resources of this country are vast, but they are not inexhaustible. I am glad to know that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will have a large surplus, and you have this remarkable fact, that in the third year of accumulated surpluses we are told we are going to have unprecedented Estimates, and for the first time in the history of the country, you have got these accumulated surpluses without any relief to the taxpayer. (Opposition cheers.) You will have demands for the army, for the navy, for Ireland, for the West Indies, and I don't know what besides, and before the Chancellor of the Exchequer comes to satisfy these demands I think he will regret those £2,000,000 which he threw away in the Agricultural Rates Bill-(Opposition cheers and Ministerial cries of 'No')-gold taken out of the

Exchequer on the false pretence, known now to everybody to have been false, that the land of England was going out of cultivation. (Renewed Opposition cheers and cries of 'No.') You have a splendid revenue if you administer it wisely and well, but if you abuse it by squandering your resources, by giving doles to favoured interests, by unnecessary frontier wars, and by Soudan expeditions, it is my firm belief that you will exhaust the springs upon which the life of your Empire depends." (Opposition cheers.)

IT is impossible to report all the minor echoes of parliamentary and political debate, in which the speakers have followed their leaders, by repeating their utterances, with varied intonations of tone and emphasis, on these and kindred topics. Another illustration of the pacific advocacy which has blended with discussions in support of warlike plans and purposes, possibly without the consciousness, and certainly the intention, of the speakers themselves, may be found in Sir William Harcourt's speech at Bury, in which, having quoted Lord Salisbury's remarks in the House of Lords, on the opening night of the session, about the dangers arising from excessive acquisition of territory, Sir William said "they were solemn, weighty words, and words of wisdom and warning, and showed the anxiety of a statesman charged with the fortunes of a mighty empire. They were not addressed to theLiberal party, for they were the convictions for which the Liberal party had always contended. Lord Salisbury was painfully conscious of the danger of that vulgar swagger, that wretched scrambling, which was worthy of an ancient kingdom, which already ruled over half the globe. His words were addressed to the rash and reckless men who sat behind him and round him, and above all by his side. It was they and such as they, who wanted to fight everybody and take everything, who incited other nations against us. long as the Prime Minister had the wisdom and courage to adhere to the principles he avowed in the House of Lords, he might confidently count on the patriotic support of all men."

un

It is well known in Court circles, says the Echo, that Her Majesty has declared she will never sign another declaration of war. It is equally well known in Ministerial circles that Mr. Chamberlain has been prevented with difficulty from precipitating a crisis in the Central African Hinterland. And the question now is, Will Mr. Chamberlain force his Sovereign's hand by the sheer necessity of the defence of British interests? At present the British force in the disputed territory is confined to Haussas, otherwise native armed police. But very quietly, and almost secretly, some 200 special service men from Woolwich, Aldershot, Chatham, and Portsmouth have been landed on the Gold Coast. Why, and for what purpose?

THE Jingo temper has been again roused by the news that the French had actually invaded Sokoto, which is within the British sphere of influence in West Africa, and that at any moment a rupture might actually occur. One enterprising evening journal, in fact, issued a flaming placard announcing a great battle in West