BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 342, 31 October 1908, Page 10

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

CURRENT TOPICS.

"Mr. Shackleton presided at Nottingham over -the 'delegates of 213 trade unions with a membership of oyer one and three-quarter millions," , says the ''Manchester Guardian." "So'far as'numbers go, the congress was never tnore'flourishing, and that in spito of tho withdrawal of the Amalgamated Society, of Engineers. But one need not bo hypercritical to discern signs of change. The interest, indeed the very existence, of tho congress aro seriously affected by the competition of the annual conference of the Labour party.' 'At:the 1 latter practically tho -same pooplo assemble and practically the same subjects are discussed; with the difference that. ,the resolutions passed are in the one case put directly in oh'arge 'of party and in the other referred to the more indirect ministrations of an extra-Parliamen-tary Ctimmittef)." Deprecate it or welcome it as we. may, it is incontestable that the party method *'is noW taten much more seriously • by trade unionists than the committee and since, the Minors' Federation have decided-to swim with-the stream, the eongreis no longer represents, what ;it,has.always represented hitherto,-a unique mfeotiijg-'; ground .between tho' trade unionists inside the party and the imposing body of organised colliers jt.- The congress listened to. • » characteristic address from Mr. Shackleton —sensible, .sympathetic, outspoken, but not doctrinriire—which will rank worthily in the long series of presidential deliverances. On the international situation Mr. Shackleton said onough and not too much. Organised labour,'ho claimed justly, has always been pacific; everybody, he said, was beginning to . see that war meant' the delay and defeat of all that tended to raise the working peoplo in wealth and influence.. "What- was admir-> able in Mr. Shackleton's remarks, arid has been a" creditable featifre in his personal activities J ever since -he public life, was his clear recognition' that Labour must do more than proclaim aloud its good intentions ;. it must give lceen practical support to those definite movements and organisations which exist to make international arbitration pre vail, over war." ; Fairy Tales of Science. . ' . . Tennyson's "fairy tales of science" receive new illustration from the profoundly interesting address delivered by Mr. Francis Darwin as'' 1 President of the British ■ Association (says tile "Guardian."). As ; ho himself put it, the.'scientific conclusipn tlijt .there is . Bomethirig, wonderfully like memory in phuits,revives, in a rational form, the point of view of the child, or of-the teller of fairy stories. (The floVers do riot indeed actually talk, but they feel and'they reinember. Possibly we shair otie" day • discover that they have a 'more developed mentality than any of us yet suspect, iand may even experience a Subtle interchange of telepathy one with . an-. " other. To poets -and to the men and women for frhom poets write the difficulty-has always Keen to-believe that the rose or tho lily had Ho ,thoughts of its own. Doubtless there are persons from no lack of imagination, mislike the idea of any extension of 'the-attributes 'of - mind to the lower organ- • isms. .They: are jealous for the dignity] of: Wan,: and' slightly scandalised at the notion of his sharing such a gift as memory witlib scarlet-runner. " Well,-we have had to aliow animals much mor<s in common with us than they were once supposed to possess; and/-*if' the facts demand .it,' we shall; have to make ■ a ' similar acknowledgment 'in re->. Bpect of plants. • v' The Limits of'tho Kingship. v In an article in- the September ."Con-, temporary Review" on /"The King and the,. Constitution" the ( writer dis- • cusses t ., of great importance.;-, " Seven • years ' have passed since ' -KingEdward VII. ascended the throne,'.Yhe :says. • "The-retrospect is not unpleasing. J Each of . the seven-years, from 1901-to 1908,-?hnfeseeri-a' steady)'increasesin-' the general .appreciation of the sterling qualities which, , bifore ' his accession, were -known "only to "-.a But it is; not the monarch as despot/biit': the monarch 'as''servant that has Edward VII has given a new lease' of pop\iV - larity to .the Crown by familiarising tho do!.v mocracy, with the 'idea, that the. Eling .iV the ■ , Berving-man of the State over which lie ■ . reigns. /Royal- authority, -nominally intact;has in reality.given.place to,a moral, not a coercivo, influence, which, however, 'leaves Bbundantvscope for mental activity-to be at ■ work under- the gorgeous robes of Royalty.'Journals boasting an immense, circulation, Bpeak of Sir Edward Grey as ' ably seconding his Sovereign.!;; The fact is'that oven thegreat services' which, his Majesty,,, is in a, . position to render to the caiuse of peace are endangered by such an inversion ofparts. The.:, King may be our Diplomat-Jung, but kings are only available as diploinatists when they are associated: with the policy of the Secretary! of State for Foreign Affairs. Even if . the policy of Ministers had been. originated. . by his Majesty, the more "necessary it would be, in the interest- of - the Crown itself, that no credit should be claimed for the Sovereign. Credit cannot be claimed when a policy suc- / coeds without discredit attaching to the , originator when that policy fails. If the exclu-' • ... give. responsibility of -the Minister is impaired, it is for the King. As his most precious inheritance, his Majesty is heir to that palladium of the Constitutional : archy, the. theory that the King can do no./'.wrong:- It is fully to be expected that he" ; will not allowany glamour of popularity or . any glozing words of-flattering sycophants to : beguile,him into-sacrificing the substance of' impeccability. for the phantom of personal'-' prestige." ,

Moral and Physical Cleanliness, . I That cleanliness is next to godliness'was"a /doctrine ably expounded by" Sir James ' Crichton-Browne, at the Conference of the Sanitary Inspectors at Liverpool. moral. and physical—fresh' air, education, and good' housing—with , these and with complete and .continual vigilance,, public and private, Sir James was confident that .wo could almost completely'exterminate disease. In die coursc of his speech he covered a wide range of sub-" •jeets, among which should be noted his state;, mout' that the way to reduce infantile mortality is to induce mothers of all ranks in life to nurse their offspring. - Passing to the probablo effect' of the Licensing Bill upon alcoholism, he. pointed to'the'danger of an iLcreased addiction to drugs, after the ex-' ample of 'some American prohibitionist States. Sanitation, he held, is. one of tlio. best of temperance agencies. From the pt<?r- , llising of the. bacilli in ,bool>s issued, by cijr- ■. ; culating libraries, lie easily and naturally passed to what he called "cesspool litera-, ture," Which, .in a more subtle sense ; is a ..terriblo disease-carrier:—"Mingling with the main and limpid stream .(lie said) that issues from the press are turbid currents Jier'e aiid. 9 there, effluents of' debased or sordid minds.. and loaded with putrecible rjiaterial and uncanny spores, and tho difficulty is that, wo have no adequate, means of separating this foul stufF and getting it into the septic tank. These emanations 1 of cessuool literature decompose and debilitate "the mind, and prepare the'way for hysteria, moral paralysis, and ner/o degeneration." These words'from such an authority arc worth considering. . iTho Reaction in Franco. ; The middle classes of Paris are at least' as variablo and inconstant in their politics as those of London (says the "Daily News"). For ■two-years at least they have obviously been drifting towards' reaction. The too ' frequent labour strikes' and the extravagances of M. Herve.'s special brand of antimilitarism have alarmed them, as tho proposed incomo tax and tho law of Sunday rest have touchcd their pockets. Reaction in: Paris invariably takes the form of a re-' crudescence of milit&rism, and that is the', moaning of the deplorable vordict in tlio Gregori case. Gregori is an obscure journalist, attached,to the "Gaulois," a Hoyalist uhect conducted by a ronogado Jew. Hoseems to have suffered from a hysterical | hatred of Major Dreyfus, and' when the 'remains of Zola were recently .transferred to'a place of honour in the Pantheon,' ho lay iii wait and shot M. Dreyfus in the arm. There was clear evidence of premeditation, but also some suggestion of insanity. Even if Gregori did not moan to kill, ■ lie certainly intended to wound.. His complete aquittal marks a set-back to the generous movement of opinion which first did justice ,and, then honour to an injured officer. , A Paris jury may represent tho .inconstant-.thoughts of the boulevards.' But it is not Paris j still loss is it Franca.