BRITISH AND FOREIGN PAGE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 229, 20 June 1908, Page 10

BRITISH AND FOREIGN PAGE

LATEST NEWS'BJ OYEESEA' MAILS,

TOPICS.

' — I—:—_ . ■ The Budget. Mr. Asquith's Budget is in all respects adroit/Srid in one respect epoch-making (says tho ."Daily Express"). It. marks the beginning "of national old-age- pensions i'on a non-contributory basis. - Tho proposed five shillings a week to all persons—with some exceptions—over. seventy is • far. ''less than tho demands of tho Socialist party, but it is a beginning, and it establishes a principle which no future Government will be able to disregard. Wo welcome the institution of a saner provision for the needs of tho aged poor. The-workhouse,, in so far os it exists as a refugo for the "too old to. work," is barrack-like and : hurtful to proper . pride. The stigma of pauperism will be romovedv by Mr. Asquith's proposal for some of tho worthy poor, and,- for what it' is, we most thoroughly approve the scheme. . Two points at once suggest themselves on considering tho Premier's Budget speech. The first is that lie is dealing with an exceptionally prosperous year, and,that thero is abundant evidence that the wave of prosperity is, on the ebb. The second, and consequent, consideration isthat he is playing tho old.Radical game of taking no heed for' tjio morrow. Next year, ho will have ,to find at lepst six, millions for old-a&o pen' sions, and much more if that scheme is to be mado really effective, since seventy is not ajMseible (Permanent minimum in ,an trial age when employnient is'difficult to find after forty. . . .Noxt ypr, top, a .million'will have to bo provided 'for. education, ;if oven an approximation to/tie Government education proposals is carried into law, and unless_Mr. Asquith. is false to" all his pledges,, an immense sum'inust ;be appropriated, for: the buildina of warships. , Tie present surplus is all used, and" tho .anticipations of. the coming yoar's revenue ignore, falling trade.. The result will, therefore, be. that, next'year the Chancellor of the Exchequer ijill probably havo : to grapple with an, in-, "ordinate expenditure, with nothing, - or. next to nothing, in hand to help meet it. . The obvious outcomo, therefore, of Mr. Asquith's Budget will bp an; increase in taxation in 1909.; Who.will pay those.increased taxes? ; Peace or War.? . ...

The events',of the last few days (Bays tho . /'Daily Mail" overseas edition of May .9) have . thrown a searchlight of electric brilliancy flpon" the •internal and external proHoms'of our. government in India. ' A bomb factory upon the Russian model has been discovered in Calcutta,, and two Englishwomen'"havo . been destroyed by a cruel' and .';.: dastardly prime. Meanwhile, the rising q{ the Mon- : mands has doveloped ' into informal hostilities >with' the' subiects of the"Anaeek ."We are approaching^'tho most • critical time through which our rule in Asia has over passed. Never has n&tivo disaffection been so widespread and acuto .throughout tho whole extent of our Indian dependency. Never has' been so great tho danger from Afghanistan and the untamed clans 'nominally within our own frontier. The forces of the Ameer's subjects arid of the tribes'within the ,Durand line -are-conterminous. They are animated by tho same .zeal for the same passion for loot, and the- eiriie" 1 antipathy to advancing civilisation. In spite of the ferocity of their local differences, they are animated as-'against ourselves by a natti-'. ral solidarity of ' scntimont tvhicß it would ba futile-.to !denj';;'and'foolish l to ignore.'.! A jehad pre'aohod'.by any Pater tho Hermit of tho border whd.m W may choose to .call i Mad Mnliah, and Bapkod by open or-covert . encouragement !) from V'Kabnl; might ; bring half a''million"fighting men into arms against' us, among some of tho most formidable natural ■ fastnesses on earth. Peace or iirarin this case is one of tho gravost quostions with which the Empire has'ever been confronted. 'Yet that question< is at tho mercy of tho touch-and-go liccidents'df a hair-trigger situation. . The best we can' expect will ho a continuance'of irksome but pacifie relations with' Kabul. The' worst would bo a campaign which might jwsaibly prove,as speat a strainupon our military system as .the Transvaal War itself.. 'Nay, moro, if wo are ever again involved'in a great struggle upon tho frontier, we shall havo to face the simultaneous risk of popular mutiny, working, not by organised military means, but by. bomb-flinging, . and by all the recognised resources of pohiicah outrage in the West. . ' Conosrning inebriates, "Some understanding iliust be reached between the Government and the London : County Council ,as to the Council's Incbri- , ates'-Homes,-and that' without delay; -'Most"'' people must havo noticed that for seme years past women of the Jano Cakehread class, - with their, hundreds of convictions, have almost ceased .to " appear, before ' the' magistrates, and.to mako their hideous exhibitions iri: the streets," writes tho.-"Saturday. Re> view." "This is due to -tho . administration of the Inebriates Acft, arid these unfortunates, who are of ; the semi-idiot class, have beon kept in the- Council's Homoa'pr clsowhoro. At prosent. the Council's Homes, are practically .closed - owing to., the dissatisfaction . of tho Council with tho lower rato of tho. Government grant, which amounts to aboutsixpence a day for each patient. Sir Alfred Reynolds, a visiting juitics of Holloway Prison, ssys that tho result is that the . magistrates cannot administer the Act, and live hundrod of tho. worst fomalo inebriates are alternately on tho streets or in prison ; again, and .-the former scones of.horror and drunken violence reappear:" 'Another phase' of the evil*is that thoso women-bear-chil* ■- drcn, and tha -County Council opened iti | eighty-sevonth school for feeble-minded children the othor day. Where is t.ho economy, not to mention other considerations, of eldsing tho. Inebriates' Homes and..then,builds ing schools for tho proceny of inebriates at , six thousand pounds a school? Tho Home , Secretary hss appointed a departmental com- J mjttea to inquire into the operation cf the j law relating to inebriates and to. their .de- , tontion in reformatories and retreats, and to report what amendments' in tho l:nv and .' . its administration- are. desirablo." Frugal Ambassadors. ' '." c

■"The Diplomatic and Consular Appropriatibn Bill was tinder discussion in the United States Congress, and led to some pointed, allusions to alleged .deviations from Republican simplicity on tho .part of the'Ambas-. • eadors in Berlin, London, and Paris," says tho "Spectator." "Somo of these references wore palpably unfair, and were very properly resented by the friends of tho diplomatists criticiscd. Tho general . conclusion, howover, was. eminently satisfactory; ! It ivas thatj ' diplomatists .who cntortsiii' lavishly do npt, as a rule, exercise any more influence .in affairs diplomatic than those who attend to the business of their-country' regardless of social affairs or of tho wealth they display in living.' At tho samo*time, /we regret that tho proposal for the Govern-' mont maintenance of suitable Legation buildings in foreign cspitals was unfavourably ceived."Death of M. Erallo Ce&hart. M. Emilo Gobi)art, 'tho Academician, died on April 22, at tho age of 69. M. Gebhart. waß a. man of great orudition, and occupied a prominont place in the world of French .classical scholars. For some time ho was lecturer at tho Sorbonno, and all through, his career ho was activc with his pen. In 1904 lio. was elected to the Academy.. But to many, in' spite of his xlmoct unriralled knowledge concerning thc'Grcek and Latin classics and the pleasant, genial ..way in which he so .readily, employed it for the edification of his contemporaries,. either through books or- by mcan3 of newspaper articles, he will bo best remembered as the companion of Ifccnan. • It was he who was tho guide of Renan on his first visit to the-Pantheon—a visit which resulted in the famous "Piero sur I'Acropolo." M. Gebhart always remained faithful to Hcnan, .but:he was strongly opposed to those who so easily claimed the great writer as one, of tho apostles of .thel aiHi-roligious ' jriovement, and it' was Ho|Xvh6 prevented the Combes Ministry from transferring Kenan's remains t.o the Pantheon.' / " . ■ '

French. Students,,in. Berlin. • Writing on tho,, reception given to tho French students in-Berlin the ■ Pan-German ."'Deutsche 'Tag'eszeitung " says it would have been, better if the personal part of tho hospitality had beeii left to tho Berlin students,- although, , ; it''adds, judging from .tho fact that the first wifeh tlio Parisian students oxpressed'when bcjng shown over'tho Reichstag was 'to"havo;4he seats of Hcrr Singer and Herr Bebel pointed out to thom, they havo little in comiHiin with the majority of Gorman students;",'lt concludes: —" Tho manner in which the 'French, guests have been received reminds 'one not of the hospitality of a good house, but of tho pompous display of: the parvenu. It shows a lack of national good breeding' and of international tact which must 1 not'only-; Bo'detrimental to tho object in view,-but mako a painful impression oh the whole nation," " Gormania," the Borlin organ,of the-Centre .party, notes with regret that..there .are ~no , evidences in Franco of such feelings towards' Germany, as have boon manifested towards France by the reception given to the - Sorbonno students. Germany, it continuos,.has,np. need to woo tho favour and the friendship of the French. The Vpeasarii in Literature. ' "Few English writers who have visited'tbis country'of late; years have been more widely known than Mrs'.-"Humphry Ward," writes the- "New ' York'-Outlook." Mrs. Ward's books hiivo revealed, the deep moral seriousnesswhichvis.oharactcristic of her family,-its-generous'culture," its exacting standards, ■and also-:that Quality of distinction which Matth'ow . Arnold',perhaps ■ more than any other. 1 writer of-his'time interpreted with I,the utmost clearness to American readers. Mrs. Ward's-first-public-lecture in this city, delivered/under .the. auspices of the League for Political' Education, was a happy exposition .of ■''The in Literatim) and the Novel," beginning- with the fisherman of Theocritus [and !,tlio..peasant farmer ef Virgil.' /. There", were,' ; Mrs. Ward said, four million working -won- in England in tho sixteenth- coiiturjy and. yet Shakespeare makes no special use' of tho peasant. . Milton's countryman is pjirely, Virgilian; Moliere brings him jn only because he "bears on his back'th'o. woigTit of'"Versailles." Wo .first come'.to tho peasant in tho novel, as the moderns.,soe.him,.;in..the time of Wordsworth and Georgo Eliot. Mrs. Ward specially commended the picture of Yorkshire in' Emily Bronto's. "Wuthering Heights." By this tiMo" tho "peasant" novel was written in all parts'-of'/.Europe.•• "',■.' Tho World's Old Mo;;. , y A remarkable..article in the " Century "

•for May seairis .to annihilate Professor Osier's ' -the6ry<,'that "rtlio effective, moving, vitalising work; .of tho •; worM is done botween tho ages■ of twenty-five and forty."- Anyway, Mr. W. A. N. Dorl.imd' shows in a' most emphatic way what men in all tho fields of intellect havo done when they woro over seventy, or botwecn sixty and seventy, or between "fifty and sixty, or between forty and fifty; and having shown all this' he declares What more need be said? Were tho impossible to come to pass, and the work of the veterans of lifo subtracted from"tho "sum of human achievement," tho-world would not bo virtually.,/where, it is to-day. Hero we''can only givo'somo of tho great things-which havo neon dono by _ the world's did men:—The Biblical limitation of life is threescore years and ten,-sand;'any attainment of years over and beyond thisiagelis by.reason of strength. .Ifjit had'bccnSlecreed that no-man should exceed;tbis stasU.tor# limit, what, then, would ,have been missed from tho*category of tho world's.■achievements? , In the first, place, in [. the sphere of, action,, tho .great Mosaic law, which lies at the foundation of,: and has virtually constituted, the moral law of the nations ever since its evolution, would never havo been . promulgated—at least. as the Mosaic law; Again, Savigny, the founder of modern jurisprudence, .would not have published his famous treatise on "Obligations." Palmers.tpn, would not have attained to Prime Mirjistor;of Ehgland, nor Disraeli have served his 'second term in that office.' Thiers would •rfeVeiv have'; had:* his Tgreat part in establishing the French Republic or have becomo its President; Benjamin Franklin's invaluable 3erricc in Franco would have been lost to his country; Gladstone would not havo becomo the." Grand Old Man" of England and for eleven years ;hav£ held ■ the. Primo. MinisterA«a».V 1 'Vivisection."'

Pending 1 the 'rbpoft' of the lloyal Commison Vivisection, - tho establishment of a : Research'.Def.enfcb 'S'ocioty, virtually formed ,_to adypcato liberty; of vivisection—if y we must employ the barbarous jargon of this controI vorsy—may seem a little premature (says tha '"Guardian") though Lord Cromer and those acting with him evidently assume that on the ovidence _ tho judgment of the Commission must be in their favour. . For sensiblo people the question •■is'-Wfi'iiifcstly one of decree rather than one ofc" Ayo'" or " No." Most people can onjoy -lobstor' salad without frotting over the unpleasant quarter of a minuto for the lobster which' it involves; and once you allow that a crustacean may lawfully be boiled alive for tho':delectatioirof tho human palate, you soon Jnd. that you havo loft none of tho animal creation with any security worth mentioning, so far as principle is conconibd,'against their- use .for whatovor pur-pose-men. may .-think nropor, a fortiori the. purpose of combating diseaso and prolonging human life. Oil pno point tho champions of -research can-' easily yin credit—namoly, .by .avoiding the .dialectical methods'of somo. of the ; most. conspicuous among their adver"sarios. "The'reckloss charges of cruelty which have been brought against a whole class of scientific investigators cannot be too soveroly reprehended.,, And , as tho law must takeI Special heed to the hundredth man who do'es : -wrong,' and : even put tho ninety-nine, who would othorwiso need no coercion, to some trouble on his account, public opinion rightly demands tho of. restriction's on experiments—either those, in force under the Act of-1876, or their equivalent. ;"The.A&odo of, Glory."

*„An extraordinary - impression has been created in France* by tho accounts sentovor „by,'.j;he„London correspondents of tho Paris ■newspapers-of-tho-funeral sorvlco for Sir Henry Campboll-Baiinernian at Westminster, A contrast is drawn botween tho community of . moral sentiments tlioro displayed and the political squabbles over the ■intermoht'lbf.-tho body of Zola in the Pantheon. ...Tho Abboy. holds in its legendary vaults' tho ashes of kings, princes, warriors, statesmen, poots. and artists side by side, •equally honoured; in-thoir graves, and represents, to Frenfhmon a real national Pantheon, • where friends and foes meet and forget their differences in tho atmosphere of the dead glories of the Empire. The "GaiiloiS" gives a'long and eloquent' eulogy of the - principles which govern burial intho • historical Cathedral. It writos:—"To honour tho dead -in memory of»what was excellent in .him i 3-. tho principle. To remertbor his good qualities and to-forgot his faults.-. -In..these aisles'politics, far from separating;- unite. In tho English Pantheon 'domestic" virtues are honoured on the same level rns'.-the highest talents.' But it is .above all tho abode of Glory. . All tho history of the British Empiro breathes again in-these crypts.;. Tho funeral tablets, with inscriptions,'liko victories, rcsbinbley.leavcß'torn' from tho 'livro d'or of .Britain!? triumphs. ~ And pages liko those ,were'- : :not.'vfritton; by party politics. They are" as the blossom of the goniur. of a rnco ■united , iri ono and tjto same ideal of tho great. :'Beyond "and of immortality." Referring to a - similar subject, the "Church Times" says:—"Transatlantic tourists aro ofteii- surprised,' when they visit Stratford-' on-Avonjl to fihd .that the beautiful parish church was'not' built' to rcccivo-' Shakespeare's- honoured bones, and is not dedicated to him, but to tho. .Trinity. Ho lies there only as ono redeemed sinner among many. The French- Republic has turned the Son of Mary out of St. Gonoviovo's church in Paris to fit'it for a' pantheort for tho mighty deitd' of tho new age. But in our national

life', wo still have some-uso for .Christ ami His'saints."