make them view with suspicion and distrust whatever proposals emanate from this country, and turn a deaf ear to suggestions which otherwise they might have been willing to entertain? Sir William's Gamaliel answers this

question in one way, and Sir William himself in another. The pupil throws over the master, thinking it will not be found out. We leave the public to choose between them. Sir William may be quite right, but let him cease in future to defend himself by the example of Mr Canning.

We have omitted all reference to the parliamentary proceedings of last month, in order to draw attention to the use which has been made of Mr Canning's name by one who evidently presumed on the public ignorance of the subject. Even Sir Charles Dilke made a blunder about the Holy Alliance which we should not have expected from him. But Sir William invokes the name of Canning as a shield that will cover the whole extent of his attack from end to end. Starting from the postulate that Canning would have sympathised with Greece in the present war, and slily slipping in the entirely false suggestion that the present Government does not, he thus contrives to place Canning and Lord Salisbury in apparent opposition to each other. This done, he makes Canning's presumed agreement with the Radicals as to the main end of the present war serve to justify their conduct in every particular relating to it. The cause of Greece is the cause of liberty. The cause of liberty was the cause of Canning. Therefore we are at liberty, with the sanction of that illustrious statesman, to sneer at treaties, to hamper our own Government, and insult our allies, if

only these things are done in the interest, or supposed interest, of Greece! Such is the grotesque and truncated form of syllogism to which Sir William's argument is reducible. Those who have the same end in view may differ widely as to means; and we hope we have shown that every one of these methods of testifying our friendship for a nation in the predicament of Greece would have been as severely condemned by Mr Canning as they are by Lord Salisbury. The same charges were brought against the former as are brought against the latter. He was accused of want of sympathy with the Spanish Liberals, of want of sympathy with the Greek insurgents an indictment quite as false as those which are levelled at the present Prime Minister; and it is quite possible that some future Sir William Harcourt, fifty years hence, may be found appealing to the Foreign Secretary of 1897 as our own Sir William appeals to the Foreign Secretary of 1823, and exclaiming with a deep sigh, "Ah! if we had but a Lord Salisbury among us now!"

We had thought of recalling some earlier instances of the ill effects which are produced by an Opposition anxious only to make party capital out of foreign politics. We might refer to the conduct of the Coalition during the last years of Walpole's Administration; to the conduct of the Whigs in 1797 on the subject of the currency, when the nation was only saved from imminent bankruptcy by the wisdom and courage of Mr Pitt; and again to their attitude during the Peninsular war. But we feel that we have said enough, and with one parting observation we may dismiss the subject. Bad as was the party spirit displayed by the Whig-Tory

Opposition in 1738, and afterwards by the Whigs on the several occasions we have mentioned, they never went so far as to urge on the Government of the day the duty of tearing up treaties, repudiating engagements, and snapping their fingers at the other parties to the contract. It was reserved for the Liberals or the Radicals of to-day to take this great step in advance, and place it to the credit of democracy. Canning would have said, as indeed he does say, in the passage we have quoted, "However good your cause, and however bad your adversary's, treaties must be observed until they are repealed, or modified with the consent of all who were parties to them." This is the political canon which Mr Canning has left us, clothed in words of great power and precision, elicited from him by the same kind of pressure which has been placed

upon the present Government. This is the dictum of the great statesman whom the rising generation are recommended by Sir William Harcourt to adopt as their guide. It is a pity Sir William had not some one in his youth to do the same kind office for himself; for perhaps had he studied Canning's policy attentively while his intellect was still pliant, and before he had entangled himself in the meshes of party, he might really have been able to act on the maxims conveyed by it. As it is, he is unable to digest them. A name, however, by itself goes a long way, if it is continually quoted in favour of any given course of action, without remark. We were determined that the deception thus practised on the public should not go unexposed, as far as our humble efforts could avail to unmask it; and with that object alone has this article been written.

ACQUISITION, A DOUBTFUL, 810.
Africa, changes in, during the Victorian
era, 616.

Alexander I., legend respecting the
Czar, 257 et seq.

ALL BRITISH TRANS-PACIFIC CABLE,
THE, 269.

AMATEUR NATURALIST, EVOLUTION AND
THE, 561.

Amateur naturalist, value of a know-

ledge of Darwinism to the, 563 et seq.
Anæsthetics, the discovery of, 605, 620.
ANOTHER YEAR'S PROGRESS IN EGYPT:

LORD CROMER'S REPORT, 592.
ARCTIC, FRANKLIN AND THE, 238.
'Ascent of Woman, the,' by Mrs Roy
Devereux, notice of, 104, 106 et seq.
Atterbury, Bishop, conspiracy of, 91-
defence and equivocation of, 98.
Australia, growth of, during the Vic-
torian era, 613.

Bannockburn, account of the battle of,
from Sir T. Gray's Chronicle, 51 et seq.
Barrie, Mr J. M., Margaret Ogilvy'
by, notice of, 481.

Beaconsfield, Lord, hold of, on the
popular mind, 426-attack on Eastern
policy of, 427-his Eastern policy the
national policy, 428-vindication of
Eastern policy of, ib. et seq.-services
rendered by, to Balkan States, 442.
BILLIARDS, CONCERNING: GOSSIP ABOUT
THE GAME AND ITS DEVOTEES, 545.
Billiards, the game of, origin of, 545
-modern developments of, 546-
peculiarities in players of, 549
championship of, 551.
BISHOP'S PLOT, THE, 90.

Blachford, Lord, connection of, with the
'Times,' 705, 710.

Blessington, Lady, novels of, 639 et seq.
BLUE JAR, THE, 553.

BOOKS, RECENT-FRENCH AND ENGLISH,
455.

Breaking of retrievers, the, 745 et seq.
Brest, alleged betrayal of the English
attack on, by Marlborough, 798 et seq.

British navy, proposed additions to, 572
-men required for, 574 et seq.
Brown, Mr A. L., scheme of, to defeat
the bill for a close-time for trout in
Scotland, 875.

BURMA, HOW THE FAMINE CAME TO, 536.
Burma, the famine of 1896-97 in, 536
et seq.-description of the upper and
lower provinces of, 536-districts of,
where crops have failed, 539-the
small peasant proprietors of, 540-
opening of famine works in, 541—
private charities in, 543.

Burns, The Centenary,' by W. E.
Henley and T. F. Henderson, notice
of, 464.

BUSTED BLUE DOLL, THE, 700.

Cable, the Trans-Pacific, outline of the
history of the scheme, 269 et seq.-
the present position of the project,
275-the objections to, ib.-the best
route for, 276-the cost of, 277-
the strategical importance of, 278.
CABOT, JOHN: AN ANNIVERSARY STORY,
838.

Cabot, John, discovery of North America
by, 840 et seq.-documents regarding
expeditions of, 841-conclusions as to
voyages of, 844, 848-relics of second
expedition of, 851.

Cabot, Sebastian, early life of, 844, 846
-treacherous conduct of, 844 et seq.
-discovery of North America claimed
by, 846.

'Cabot's Discovery of North America'
by G. E. Weare, notice of, 840.
CALIFORNIA, SOME IMPRESSIONS

OF

SOUTHERN, 172.
California, Southern, country life in,
172 the wild flowers of, 173-the
climate of, 175-invalids and, 177—
the fauna of, 178.

Callwell, Major C. E., 'Effect of Mari-
time Command on Land Campaigns
since Waterloo' by, notice of, 405.
Canada, growth of, during last sixty
years, 616.