CURRENT TOPICS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 12

CURRENT TOPICS.

Britain and Cermany. Mr. Hyndman, in a remarkable article in the "Clarion," says war. with Germany is •jortain within six years. Here is a summary of what he says: ■ '** There' is not the * slightest doubt that-G©r*-Inany,: under the leadership, of Prussia, is steadily making ready at heavy cost, which ■ the German Empire at present can ill afford, for ft crucial naval-engagement i/i the North Sea, followed; by an Invasion of this country. This is perfectly ..well known to all our )ead--1 ing politicians, and conclusive evidence of tho truth of this' statement" is on record m the iWar Office and it the Admiralty. Everything ; is .being got' ready -\Vith that scrupulous care and minute attenti6n to detail for which the Germans havo been famous in military matters for nearly, half -a century. In regard, to , tho naval no concealment, what- ; over "is even attempted. Within sis.years from date, it is openly admitted oil both sides of the. North Sea fhat the German fleet, designed ,and built speciaUy for thiß Ofie obr ject, will be irt'- a condition, if wo fallow things to take their-course, to Challenge our owi nivy in home waters and very possibly to win. German naval officers avowedly look forward to the day of the great engageBefit, and; driiik their toasts,- oven iii: .the • presence of' foreign guests, ' to their-ewn isuefceis in the: ipprdacliing encounter.; / This: deliberate intention on the part of Germany to fight out the question of our n&valJsecurity to a finish is universally recognised on the Continent of Europe; and the most influential classes in Genriany/as Englishmen who"know' German thoroughly, who visit Germany every year, .and are very ineftdly: with Germans, readily admit;'proclaim that ' England'is the*: eneniy.' ; / ;■ Facts Beyond Dispute. "These vare : facts which are beyond and' which\ are - the.natural and, indeed-,: inevitable outcome of intense commefcial.- and political rivalry; as . human affairs* ;are ordered to-day. The Germans also have'quite'as much right to challenge England's naval,.,supremacy and, to conquer Groat i Britain, if .they can, as -our. itinera.-, had toi beat the naval pretensions of Holland and Franco, or to conquer India and Egypt. 'I will make war upon you,' eried Napoleon, rushing up to our. Ambassador iphis'ante-chamber on the rupture pf tho peace of .Amiens, ' That, siro,' said the EngfinViTnan, 'is your affair*' 'I will annihilate you.' !:That, sire,'- was the answer, 'is our are face to face to-day. with-; a" much j greater danger, than any that ever threatened these shores from Napoleon;.,a danger being deliberately worked up for us day after day,? month, after inorithj and year after yEar,;in Tucoblj-calculating fashion such, as the* great Corßican had neither the-.time . nor the means to devote to -his projects." ' Cerraariy's Troubles. Dr. Thefldor Barth, a distinguished Ger- . toat), "whohas frritton on the United States, writes 4n the "Independent" a striking and . impirtant -article oil ''Germany's: Political P<witM7'; He ;states: "Tho democratisa- ! tion' become an "historical neoessHfr: A' industrial cdmmbnw;ealth with 64j0t)0,000". Jnhabitants and r a-. -Wel|of 3,250,000f00ter5; wnnot' be governed under tne methods': ofleudalisin, absollitisih, and bureaucratism. !AU as well as financial, ; - ,'root ii£the 'diSfiarffiony between M'onoi^'dVMdVbiirSobsolete' constitutional 'velqpmeiit. Political Germany limps far' behind economic and ; scientific Germany. , That is the chief 'reason. of all oiir difficulties' in our : home and 'tli 6uf fcreign policy." ■

: 6!r w! 'ftamsay. ' ' s ' Thei Congrosa :of- the French Association for the, : Advan6Bm6nt of Science was opened' on Attgusi'' 3, ' :,, s?beti' the gold medal'or'the [Association . was to Sir William ' Ramsay. ,Sir' ; William', in thanking the' : Congress. for the honour dofle him, spoke in'cordial teitns of tho entente cordialo.be l tweei•-France fthd. Great Britain. "There are maiy 'bonds he said "between Francev.and--Greik. Britain; :It lihsgono '60 far, that a French expression—entente cor- ■ becoine ' English. The: scientific ' .works -the two; countries 1 are destined' to ropplement: each :other. ' If, in this order of ideas, I'hare been able to do something. I shall not; have';laboured in vain." 1 Sir ; William's Oispeech -was'' greeted ' with prolonged and cordial cheers. ■> Cruel Thoughtlessness. A ©oramittecnof tho Lords : has issued a Blno Book dealing with the importation, of . tho plumage, of rare birds. -TTlio committee finds :not merely that many beau- . tifnl. species stem to bg doomed to early extinction,' but that. the cruellest methods . axe used, in, securing, the plumage. It Seems to be hbpeles.s/to,'appeal to tlie less tthouglit- ■■ ful classes '.of ..women. on. this question ;; (savs. the'''Daily. News"). "While egrets-are, fashthey will wear.. \lt is difficult' to understand..why,hats cannot be sufficiently, trimmed' with' flowers, ribbons, and ostrich feather?,;' all 'of .which can be' employed. with: out. the^^sUghtest'.'suspicion of cruelty.:'. But. since ffiany, women'are so devoid of ; imaging otion as to be iiniible to realise the paiii-and suffering at the cost of which, their-; fine' been.'procured, it is to be hoped that legislation on the lines, indicated in the repo'rt'.may sooii be undertaken. Establishment not Essential. WritWg-in--.tho.-:- '!Chijrch Quarterly," tho ieditor,':Dr. Headlam, says''We are quite prepared.to advocate tho principle of .Estab-; lishftieat. where lit; is wise arid possible. We do not.: wish to the. Establishment of the-Ohurph of England; but the visit ; to ns of .the reprosentativei) '[ of the non-estab-Jished Churches of America and the daughter communities; beyond the sea is a clear and definite.'proof\ tha:t this prinoiplo of::Estab-. lishment, however valuable, is not essential, and to sacrifico to it our principles would be to barter gold for brass. But, further, ; nearly half the-; ( Church of England and almost all the. Nonconformist bodies" unite'in doubting the value, of Establishment."

londori's'Eleotrioity. To all the. millions of people in London, rich rafl/popETalike, whether in their units or cheap electricity was scarcely loss'important , than cheap and abundant .'fpod,' said.; Mr. WiriSt'on Churchill in the House of Commons. Anyone who stood between London and an absolutely modernised and unified, system of eloctrical supply stoodbetween the,people of London and easements; of the-'conditi6ns'*'of their daily labour andthe eipansioirbf prospftrity and employment/ This was the fifth consecutive year ini which liroposals made to'furnish, London with a, bulk supply, and meanwhile muni- : cipal enterprise,; had not advanced to fill the gap. Jfhe House;;would take a very grave decision if it swept out of court the elaborate proposals now put forward without even, allowing them to receive the detailed examination that, only an impartial committee • of. the House could give them. He was speaking with regard ".to the London and District' Electricity- Supply Bill, which then passed its second readirigi , ' 1 ■' A Famous Resolution. "Tho House,.of Commons in 1678. passed tho famous resolution upon which its supremacy. over mdney Bills is based," says the "Star.." .- '.'That resolution is as follows 'That ,all aids and- supplies, and aids to his Majesty in Parliament, arfl the solo gift of tho Commons; and all Bills for the.granting of any such aidS arid supplies ought to begin with tho ConimdhSj and that it is tho' uri-, doubted and sole right of the Commons to direot, limit, and appoint in such Bills tho ends, . purposes/ considerations, conditions, limitations, and qualifieotiohs of such grants, which ought not -to be changed or altered-by. the House of Lords.'-"- * -■ --

turkey's New Regime. The "Saturday Review" is somewhat sceptical concerning tho now regime in Turkey. A recent article in. that journal states: "No scnsiblo being, in tho first place, can hold the view that the Sultan lias taken this stop because ho desires it. Only ono thing forced it on him, and that was tho mutiny of.tlie trbopS. Hitherto, whatever the feeling may have- been in other divisions of the "arlrty,'he has felt-himself safe behind the Albanian guard in Constantinople. For that reason Albania has always been treated with exceptional' forbearance. It is quite clear that tho present movement has spread thither and that the Praetorians at Yildiz sympathised with • their fellow-countrymen. -A march'against Stamboul Would have met with little or no resistance' on the part of tho Padishah's own : particular troops. Therefore, to yield was .the only possible policy. In the alternative wo should liavo seen almost certainly ; a Palace revolution and a new Sultan. But Abdill Hamid may have had at his elbow' some councillor who advised him as Guido da Montefeltro advised Bomface VIII: 'Long promise and brief performance shall make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.' What tho difficulties are before an Oriental Parliament when it meets are evident from the experience of Persia." Aristocracy. y -' "In America,-!as in England, there.has been 1 under all tho advances of modern wealth "gradual decline, of what may properly'be called aristocracy,'' writes : Mr. Thomas Wefttworth Higginson in the July "Harper." "It has come to be,'recognised more and more that the older form of aristocracy was deceptive, and that, as Scott s ■ Halbort Glendinning says, every prominent family had its origin-in one humble man; and has gone through a period of assumed grandeur which, in England at- least, iis now declining again. One of tho ablest of modern social students has lately pointed out" that in all the leading modern nations, whether styled republican or otherwise, society is nc longer complex, but has practically become divided into two social classes - and no more; that-which gains' a livelihood by manual/toil and that .which earns it in other ways or subsists on the interest of capital. But is this to bo a final conclusion? Now that mercantile life has come to be ; recognised aS an employment fitted for a gentloman, who can help seeing that it only involves a question of time for mechanical occupations to be equally reoog.nised? Who can go into a machine shop of the present day without thinking how much more of. intellect lia&gone to tho con-, trivanee of those wheels and bands than to tho majority of work done, not in countingrooms - alone, but even in court-rooms and pulpits ? The' 'time : may arrivA, when tho proper recognition of cogwheels shall be held a qualification for'membership in a republican aristocracy." A Clamour for Parliaments. ' "The Orient is disproving Tennyson—not only disproving, but reversing him," writes Mr. Sydney, Brooks in thoo "Daily Mail." "If tho' present ,rate is maintained, .fifty years of Cathay will soon be better than si cycle of Europe. It, is wo of the West nowaways whb are inert, wrapped in immemorial 6aim, not t6 bu moVed. It is the East thatis restless, clamourous, experimental, and excited. Twenty years ago.ono would havo said Jwith confidence that' l whatever else the East 'might accept from'tho; West it'would neveriticept democracy. Of all tho instincts of the Oriental mindj of aH'the'barriers of separateness between Eutope and Asia, this was held 'to be the-deepest rooted;and the^most permanent—that'.the West 'was irresistibly im-.: .palled towards self-government, and the East 'not less;; irresistibly-: towards absolutism. From Constantinople to Pekin there seems something like-' a conspiracy to- prove' it a hasty and altogether fallacious generalisation;' We may yet nave to throw ovor - two cherished theories. , We. may have to give up, the idea .that 'the Occident can- never infiuenco the Orient, and we may havo to abandon tho notion 1 that. Asia cares nothing for selfgovernment. For what,do we see? Wo seo the Egyptian Nationalists clamouring for .a Parliament and for a larger control 1 over the finances and' administration of their country. We seo tho Sultan' granting a Constitution' at tiie bidding bf tho Young Turks, and, moro romarkablo Still," of a section at any rate, Of the army. We see the Sliah first endeavour-, ing to keep insolvency-and: rebellion at bay. by ■ yielding to a popular agitation for representative rule/ and then* changing hiß mind, not without • violence. Wp 1 seo portions of India almost convulsed-by a movement for: the expansion of popular liberties. We, seo Russia; which : Conforms in' moro ways than ono to the-Oriental type of . State, struggling tb obtain' arid'to extend the institutions of.democracy. '. We-see the Siamese at Bangkok agitating the samfe problem. Wo sob China : promising herself, a Parliament, in twelve years' time arid Sending out a' Commission to : report upon tho governmental system of > Europe. We see the Japanese in full and practised possession bf all those forms of representative rule which wo used to be assured no Oriental; could either wish for or ■appreciate." A Famous Verdict. "Following the example of other publio institutions, the Central Criminal Court ia to ' have . its memorials," . says' the London "Telegraph." 'The first, commemorative tablet to be set up ;in tho main hall has the following .. inscription r-.JNear this site Wil--liam Penn and William Mead were tried in j 1670 for' preaching to an unlawful assembly in Gracechurch Streets This tablet commomorates. the courage and enduranco of the jury, Thomas Yero and Edward Bushel! ' and ten others, who refused to give a verdict against therii, although looked up with-, out food for. two nights,- and were fined for: final verdict of Not' Guilty. The ease' of these jurymen was revived on writ of'habeas corpus, and Chief Justice Yaughan delivored the opinion of the Court, which established the rights of juries :to give their verdict: according to their " ■ A Family Team. Mr. Bacon, the head postman of Croydon,' who has been in the P.O. for forty years, on one oefcasion, with /his ten sons, played a. cricket niateli against a tearii of postmen, says, the' "Telegraph." .Surely a l'ecora scorel . . . Our Horse Supply. ; Lord Carringtori 'says ; that the .kuqwn number of horses:-in England is 2,089,000. In case-of mobilisation for war 174,000 horses would be required. The" Government desire to encourage horse breeding and to secure a reserve supply for tho . army. But tho Director-General of Remounts sayS that the . country could meet all its requirements; The Patont Law. . ''At a meeting of manufacturers and exporters interested iii ' the new British Patent Law, tho chairman remarked that: 'the banks' of the Manchester Ship Canal will be lifted with' American factories within fen years', 1 " writes tho "Globe."