BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 62, 10 September 1904, Page 9

BRITISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

SPECTATOR SUMMARY. LONDON, 23rd July. A GRAVE SITUATION. ' A very grave situation has middonly arisen in regard to our relations with Russia. Two Russian cruiwers, (he Petcrburg and the Smolensk, passed out of the Dardanelles ns merchantmen, und proceeded to tiio Red Seu, whore, in defiance of the .Treaty of Paris, thay assumed the rolo of voluntoei' cruisers — that is, for all practical purposes, ships of way. On 15th July tho Smolensk stopped Uie German mail steamer Prinz Hetnrich, and confiscated tho. whole Japanese mail. But another and a far more, irregular act ha« been porpet rated. On the morning of 13th July tho Peterbmrg arrested tho P. and 0. liner Malacca, which wns carrying some forty tons of explosives to Hongkong for tho British China Squadron, mudo prisoners of hor crew, and with a prize crew on board conveyed her through tho Suez Canal to Port Said. Mpanwhile Sir Charles Hardingo has protested to tho Russian Government, and demanded tho immediate reloaao of the vessel. Th« two points in onr contention are the irregular position of the Poterburg and the unjustifiable nature of the seizure. The Russian prosa seems to defend the action of the volunteer cruisers on tho ground that their breach of the Treaty of Paris has been sanctioned by recent custom ; but this is no onsiver when the breach involves an attack upon the rights of another Powor, and, in any case, the seizure of Government ammunition is utterly un« justifiable. Wlxile it is not our policy to deny all proper rights of sonroh 'n time of war, tho rights of neutrals must be carefully guarded, and wo cannot for a moment allow a vessel arrested without reason by an unauthorised cruiser to go before a Russian Prize Court. RUSSIAN ARMENIA. Tho Russian Armenians, like the Finlanders, have resorted to assassination. Tho Vice-Governor of Elizabetpol had mado himself notorious by the scveiitj of his dealings with tho Armonian Church, and on Sunday last, in broad daylight und in a crowded street, he wn» riddkd with bullets from a rovolver. No ono consented to sco tho assassin or made an effort for his, anost, and though a man who is suspected lias beoh seized, tho real criminal is bolioved to have escaped. Great as tho provocation has been, the crime is inexcusable, and is &ure to be followed by measures of greater severity. A murder of this kind always has tho fatal conseque-nco that it justifies the oppressors to themselves. They were oppressing peaceful priests ; thoy aro now punishing men who approvo, if they do not instigate, tho ussassination of pervants of tho State. LORD CURZON IN TJTE CITY. | Lord Curzon, lately Viceroy of India, received on Wednesday at tho Guildhall tho freedom of the City, and made in acknowledgment a singularly eloquent and stirring speech, which it is almost as ' impossible to condense as to condense a poem. T(» theses were the greatness of tho task which we have accepted in administering India, tho infinite variety of Indlnn life, and the nocot.iity of appealing to the imagination and tho hearts of that vast conflp.vios of dissimilar nations whose condition ranges from high civilisation to pure savagery. Ho pointed out how air the problems of government aro exaggerated in India by tin 1 fact that the State must comploto aa well as control tho vast enterprises, such as rail- . way communication, which in England aro performed by private enterprise}

1 and by tho sleepless toil which is imposed upon all who drive the vast mnclihitt. Lord Cunsan was, upon tho wholo, optimist, maintained that loyalty wok increnwing, und scorned nil fears of tho ultimate. lons of India, but believed that from time to timo reconstruction was indispensable within the adtninistration, and that wo muat always watoh that dangerous frontier fivo thousand four hundred miles in length. He strongly defended tho expedition to Tibet, now ruled by a young man whom ho described as "(ho evil genius of his people" ; and ended a remnrkable speech by tho romarkable saying : "Wo havo the power to weld tho people of India into a unity beyond anything they have dreamed of," which, ho thought, would 'be ft blessing to them. la not that a little rhetorical? Would unity bo a blessing to Europe ; and if not,, why i 8 it to be a blessing to a peninsula whioh is nearly as vast imd holds one-third more pooplo? . LORD DUNDONALD'S EXIT. On Friday week Lord Dundonald attended a farewell meeting in Toronto, which before ito close developed into a political demonstration. In tho piwence of over six thousand people lie repeated his attacks upon tho Canadian Government, and declared that they, and not ho, were trampling upon tho Constitution, Sir Wilfrid Laurier's name was received with hissos. It is exceedingly rvgrottablo that a distinguished ooldier like Lord Dundonald should thus throw hinu;e'.t into the arms of the Canadian Opposition and allow his case to bo exploited for local party purposes. Nothing could bo more destructive of Imperial unity than that an Imperial officer should hi found taking sides in local party politics because of a quarrol in which, on any true interpretation of constitutional dootrine, ho was 'hopelessly in tho wrong. DISCUSSED IN THE COMMONS. On Tuesday Mr. Lloyd-George moved, and Mr. Churchill seconded, tho adjournment of tho House to cnll attention to his conduct-. In very temperate and reaHonnblo speeches they called upon- tho Government to uso their intluence to prevent further mischief. Though there' will bo widespread regret that the matter should have been given the publicity of a Parliamentary debate, tho blamo must fall on the Government rather than on their oppouenls. Had they oarlwr ro,ininded Lord Dundonald of his duty as a soldier, there would have been no need to bring tho matter before tho House of Commons. Tho War Oflice, however, has now informed him that ■ his interference in local politics was undesirable, and has requested him to return. So, we trust, ends a disagreeable incident. Wo qannot but express our regret at tho tono of Mr. Arno'.d-Forster's speech. Ho is no friend of the Empire who trios to faston on his political rivals the charge of indifference to the Empire. Tho Empire is no man's and no party's monopoly. Wo have learnt that excellent lesson in regard to tho Monarchy ; when shall wo learn it and enforce it in regard to tho Empire? ARMY REFORM. If the question of Army reform wero not so absolutely vilul to the safe.ty and welfare of the nation, the action of tho Government thereon would be extremely funny. Ninu days ago Mr. ArnoldFoi^ter introduced his scheme with apparent seriousness as a matter of great moment. On Thursday — that is, a week after— when Lord Burghclero in a temporato and able speech raised a discussion in the Lords, Lord Lansdowno, on behalf of the Government, airily informs us that tho Ministry have no settled convictions, in regard to Army reform. He uiusb, he saad. fraukb' state that the paper—

i.e., Mr. Arnold-Forster's ofliciul Memorandum describing his schenio in detail- — ■ , which their Lordhhips bad boforo them ' "(loos not represent what enn bo dciscrihcd as the final opinion of His Ma- ' jetty's Government upon many of the subjects to which it hns roferenco." Then why in tiie nnmo of wonder an as it pro- ■ duced? The country wants to know what nr« the Government's views, not. whnt are not its views on "many subjects." Apparont'.y Lord Lansdowuo und his collwignoa' political creed is that of tho American "boss" : "Well, gentlemen, these aro our sentiments, but if they don't suit they can be changed. " THE TRANSVAAL. In tho Commons on Thursday Mr. Lyt- 1 to It on made the important announcement thnt tho Governineut had decided to grunt representative institutions to the Transvaal, though not at present full selfgovernment. I bat is n wi&e „tcp; but in view of the adoption of this policy tho Ministry have behaved very strangely , in not leaving tho question of, Chineso j labour to bo decided by tho new elected ' Legislature which they are about to establish. In the discussion beforo Mr. Lyttelton's speech Mr. Chamberlain mado a strong defence of Chineae labour. AYo confess, however, that his arguments do not couvince us. They fail to meet the three points on which wo have always insisted — i.e., (1) that the introduction of the Chinese by the Imperial Government, in defiance of the public opinion of the self-governing portions of tho Empiro, dealt a grave blow to tbo cause of Imperial unity ; (2) that by the introduction of Chinese labour "we abandon the idea of making tho Transvaal a white inun's country j (3) that the conditions under whicb the white nien in the Trans- j vaal will alone olloav tho Chinese to bo imported and to labour are conditions which must tend to demoralise the community in M'hich they nro established. THE TARIFF COMMISSION. . Tho body of gentlemen appointed by Mr. Chamberlain to enquire into the condition of our trade and industries, and > to Suggest a tariff to remedy our alleged commercial evils — a body, it may be remembered, ■which, though with no official 1 origin and merely no'ininated by a private I person, assumed the somewhat grandilo- ' quent title of "The Tariff Commission" — issuod a. Report on Thursday dealing with ' tho iron and steel trades. Considering tho parentago and composition of the "Commission," it will create no astonishment to learn Unit they find that our ' steel and iron trade is in a most serious condition, and is relatively declining. As n. matter of fact it is actually increasing, • but then other nations — i.e., Germany and the United States — have increased' moro rapidly in output, and are now ahead of us. Wo are only declining, as Lord Rosebery so well pointed out, if a young orator's gradual proficiency in public speaking means a decline in the oratorical powers of other speakers already proficient. But though the (volume of our iron and steel industries has "relatively declined," its profits h'avo increased immensely, because, <is always happens, we, the Freetrade country, havo tho pick of the industry. The iron and ' steel trade profits assessed to Income-tax in 1895-96 wero £1,934,000 ; they wero ' in 1901-2 £6,600,203. That is a relative decline which wo confess leaves us cold. ITS REMEDY. The remedy proposed for tho relative decline and for "dumping" is, of course, a tariff, or, rather, three tariffs: — (1) A general tariff, M'hich is to bo a low scale of duties on import* from foieign countries which admit British wares on "fair terms" j (2) a preferential tariff lower than the general tariff, and framed to

help "those of onr ' colonies which glvo , (in adcquato preference to British inanu- ' filatures" ; and (3) a maximum tariff di- | elected against ntvtiona who -"shut out our goods by practically prohibitive duties," i Tho "provisional scalo of duties" recommended for the general tariff in respect ' of tho iron and ' sbcel industries is most intructivo. Pig-iron is to pay 5 per cent. ; iron <md steel ingots, blooms, billets, etc., etc., etc., aro to pay 6| per cent. ; wire rods 7£ per cent. ; "sheets" lb per cent. What the maximum tariff is to b© we aro not told. Those who know anything of English industries will realise- what effect such duties must havo in raising tho, price of tho raw material of some of our most flourishing indusI trios. The roply will, we suppose, be that they aro only "socondary industries," and so not worth considering. Well, we confess to being- t>ncb poor-spirited Freetraders that we cannot regard secondary industries as inherently vicious and, worthless. ! A REMARKABLE STORY. Mr. Rider Haggard publishes in The Times of Thursday a, very remarkable story. Ho says that on tho night of 10th July he suffered from a painful nightmare, and while still half conscious, dreamed' that a favourite retriever was dying, that he himself was close to it, and that the dog was endeavouring to tell him tho facts. Tho body of theretriever was found in the Waveney three days after, and investigation seems to prove beyiind doubt that it was killed on tho 10th by an excursion train from Ditchinghiun about three hours before Mr. Haggard's dream. The only grave doubt about the facts — as to most of which Mr. Haggard produces full corroboratives evidence — is as to tho time, for if tho dog was killed later, tho mci-, dent is reduced to n. droam w>hch turned I out true, ar experience by no means unumiul. Mr. Haggard, however, has satisfied himself ns to the mnnner and time of death, and seems convinced that 1 the dog did, either at tho moment of death or after it,' succeed in telling his master what had happened. If tho communication was made -at the mpment, i then we have an instance of telepathy ! betweon a dog and a human being abso1 lutely without precedent ; while if it was made" after death, Mr. Haggard suggests that "some non-bodily but surviving part of tho life or of the spirit of the dog reproduced those things in his mind." Is there not another solution of the lnysitery which has not occurred to ' Mr. Haggard — namely, thnt his own spirit trav> clled in sleep to tho (lying dog, and that .ho roally saw the facts he reports without any communication from the animal? Thore is a good deal of evidence for that kind of unconscious travelling, none for the existence of animals after death.