POLITICAL POINTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 16

POLITICAL POINTS.

It has been announced (says the Spectator) that Sir George Sydenhain Clarke, tho very able, soldier who was ope of tho Commission of throo w;hieh mad<y the plan for the rcconstilution of the War Ofiice, and who since then has been secretary to tho Imperial Defence Com- ' mittee, has been appointed to the Governorship of Bombay. We do not doubt that Sir Georga Clarke will do useful work in this important offico, but at the same time we cannot but regret that the Government will no longer be able to avail themselves of his vast stores of information and of his sound judgment on both naval and military affuirs. Certain politicians (writes the Sydney Morning Herald) profess to bs a little ! doubtfu 1 , while others are not doubtful at all, about the meaning of the vote 1 taken in New South Wales on the federal side of the issues before the electors. We suppose it will hardly b© disputed that- there was a federal Issue, and that it exercised lnom or lass influence over the tasting of the people's votes. ' But thon there were several other issues as well, and in the final result thess weie confused, and the vote of tho electors was broken up. Yet ths fact remains that while gomo electors voted on the simple Liberal v. Labour issue, some on the local option question, and some on the question pf backing up the Ministerial programme, many thousands of electors had the tariff and the Labour party's responsibility for it in mind, \vhilo a certain proportion went to the polls in response to the Premier's invitation in a mood pf protest against th& treatment this S^ate has received under federation. It will thus be seen that tho Federal issue was only one out of at least three before the electors ; and when we come to analyse. it we find this federal issue was broken up into at least, two more. On the second reading of the Attor-ney-General's Bill for establishing a Court of Criminal Appeal, tke Spectator says: — The Bill allows an appeal on matters of fact as "wall as on questions of law, and Mr. Akers-Douglas objected to this provision. Further, ho i'ervred thera would be a block of work ;n; n the court, as old offenders would '"try their luck." Mr. , Akers-Douglas seems, however, to have overlooked tho probable effect of > the provision that the Court in revising sentences may make them more as well as less severe. Mr.. Gladstone dwelt on the present xuidesirable practice of "retrial by newspaper" ; but Mr. Lyttelton was peihaps right in guessing that even tho existence of a Court of Criminal Appeal will not abolish this. Besides, "retrial by newspaper," bad as it may be, is a great deal better than the condemnation of innocent men. The way to stop newspaper interference is to make sure that only the guilty are sent to prison. The world has perhaps exercised itself a little unduly (says Mr. Gerald Fiennies, writing "Under the White Ensign" in St. James's Budget) about tho approaching cruise of the American fleet to the Pacific. That there is a good deal of friction between the Americans and- Japanase on the Pacific Coast is, 1 of course, a well-known and obvious fact, and; under the circumstances, it may bo that President Roosevelt's choice of a time for this transfer of naval strength is of a somewhat provocative nature. But those who talk glibly of the chance of war might take the trouble to study the hypothetical theatre of naval operations, and measure off some of the distances. One of two things must happen : Either a Japanese attack on Ihe Philippines, in which casa the Americans would have to find such eupport for their fleet as they can at Cavite; or elsa the Japanese must cross the whole breadth of the Pacific and acquire Honolulu as a ppipt .d'appui from which to attack the Pacific Coast of America. In one case the American, in the- other tho Japanese, fleet would bo in but meagre trim for fighting, and tho enterprise is not one which appears attractive to either nation. Of course there is not the smallest chance — given reasonable behaviour on both sides — of war befalling. It is most probable that President Koosevelt's "striking demonstration of America's defensive "power" is meant to provide a striking demonstration to the Americans themselves of tho necessity for proceeding with ths Panama Canal with all convenient speed. Criticising Mr. Austen Chamberlain's "broader basis" amendment in tho ] tariff debatd the Spectator writes: — Although that amendment nomi- 1 nally dealt with the broadening >of the basis of taxation, it was made the § round, both by Tariff Reformers and ree-traders, for speeches dealing with Preference and Protection. Mr. Balfour'e speech, which followed a very able Free-trade speech by Mr. Mallet, was, we should imagine, equally disj appointing and distasteful to Tariff Reformers and Free-traders. It contained amongst other things_ a recapitulation of Mr. Biilfour's 'opinions on tho whole Fiscal controversy. tells us that on the day when Mr. Chamberlain launch- I ed his scheme, ho expressed hid views in favour of Colonial Preference in tho j strongest and clearest language ; and \ I from that date, now four years agp, ho has never varied, "even by a fraction of an inch, on one feido or the other." Our 1 readers need not apprehend, however, that wo shall attempt to summarise Mr. Balfpuf's view. Mr. Balfour may have a pair of gyroscopes rotating in his mind in opposite directions like those ii» the cars on a Brennan line, . which enable him to_ keep his narrow intellectual mono-rail without toppling over on either side. We lay claim to the possession of no such mechanism, and therefore cannot follow him. In any case, we doubt whother the power to maintain one's equilibrium on a mono-rail is really as valuable in politics as in locomotion. So much discredit and obloquy (writes St. James's Budget) has been the lot ol General Stoceße) since, the first briof period of hero-worship after the finaJ stages of tho Port Arthur siege that it j in doubly impressive and striking to find him defended in the days of hia fallen reputation by tho very viators in tho great struggle in which ho represented tlio Tsar. Major Tesunoda, who saw the Port Arthur operations as a member of the General Staff of tho Third. Army, has now written to the Figaro to defend General Stoessel from the charges of having nrnde the worst of his position in the -final stages of tho siego. Ho testifies as an eyewitness to the hopoless condition of the Russian troops and munitions of war when the Japanteso entered the town. Tho men weiie utterly exhausted, and the ammunition and supplies in tho possession of tha defenders at the moment of, capitulation, on which much stress hnß not unnaturally been laid, ware, according to this testimony, worthless for war and for feeding a sick und disenissd population. It is far from unlikely that this account will do something to set back the tido of hostility to the unfortunate commander of Port Arthur. If wo fully accept this version of tho situation, tho other Russian officers who deaircd to prolong the resistance yvprc merely pleading a cause us intrinsically hopoless as that of tho Boors in the lust stages of our own South African war. In uny enso, most people will sympathise w,ith Goucral Stoessel on the inordinate length of time which has bcon allowed to Kaptc before he has been brought finally to w ba£ pf bis • cQUuUxro,en/B ludflnicnt,.