Retitw of Revieire, 10,1/06. 



Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



THE NEW MINISTRY. 



(1) Its Personnel. 



Mr. Frederic Harrison is particular!} pleased 

 with the new Liberal Ministry on main grounds. 

 l-'irst and foremost because it finally disposes of the 

 unwritten law of the Constitution that no matter 

 how new a Government may be it must always be 

 composed ol representatives of the old II 



But the change of tone is even more striking than the 

 change of persons. All the offices winch have given li- 

 the Earning questions— Law, Exchequer, Trade, Education, 

 India, Local Government, Ireland— are filled by men who 

 are entirely opposed to those who retire. The men of less 

 pronounced colour hold offices about which do keen an- 

 tagonism has lately arisen 



It is a Ministry such as the public • \ and 



as the crisis demands. 



We may trust Sir Henry nol to wriggle, trick, or pre- 

 varicate — not to cheat his friends, mislead the public, or 

 damage the true interests of the nation in order to keep a 

 rotten clique in office. 



The Lord Chancellor who for so Ions has given a sinis 

 twist, to economic and constitutional law, i> replaced bj a 

 bold and able lawyer who has expi Bed almost ever] v 

 which Lord Halsbury did or supported. In the Exchequer 

 oommonplace man who had no pretensions to such a 

 post, except that he was a hot Protectionist, and was placed 

 in tlie office in order to paralyse and wreck the par; 

 succeeded by one of the keenest reasoners of onr time, who 

 has torn the Protection swindle to slireN, as it it was the 

 prospectus of a bubble company— which no doubt it is. 

 Education, over which such storms have raged these three 

 years, is now to he controlled, not by a Conservative Peer, 

 but by the brilliant writer and speaker who has actively 

 denounced the corrupt bargain with the Church, who i< 

 himself the son of a Nonconformist minister and President 

 of a Radical Association. Next to him sits the man who, of 

 all others, is identified with one side of the revolt of the 

 Free Churches against clerical monopoly. He becomes re- 

 sponsible for Trade, being himself a middle-class profes- 

 sional man, in lieu of an obscure Peer. The amiable bro- 

 ther of the late Prime Minister is replaced by an eloquent 

 and courasreous workman, one who holds the position of 

 .Taures in France ind Bebel in Germany, except that he is 

 a genuine labourer by birth, occupation, and habits. In 

 India, the man responsible for a wanton and mischievous 

 Raid on a defenceless people, and for a dangerous defiance 

 of a sound principle of Imperial policy, is replaced by the 

 eminent disciple of Gladstone, who more than any man has 

 exposed the corrupting evils of Jingo swagger. 



With regard to Ireland, Mr. Bryce is. next to Mr. Morley, 

 of all men in this Cabinet, the nearest follower and repre- 

 sentative of Gladstone traditions. But lie has the canuiness 

 of his nation, and he is the last man likely to raise the 

 Fiery Cross. 



" C.-B." AS HIS ENEMIES SEE HIM. 



" Scrutator " contributes to the National Review a 

 survev of " The Pattern Englishman and his Re- 

 cord.*' " Scrutator '" thinks that — 



The chance for which the Little Englanders have been long- 

 ing has come at last; they now have free scope to wreck 

 that Empire which they so detest. It may be doubted 

 whether, since Fox, there has ever been one claiming the 

 rank of statesman who has so steadily exerted all his in- 

 fluence against his own country, to stimulate its enemies 

 and discourage its friends, as Sir Henry Campbell-Banner- 

 man. And to prove our point we intend to take his career, 

 to recall and analyse his speeches, and thus to demonstrate 

 the danger to the larger interests of the race arising from 

 his rule- 

 It is not very creditable to the patriotism of the British 

 Press that it has drawn a veil of oblivion over the nast of 

 the new Premier and of the black sheep among his Min- 

 isters. 



It would he difficult to discover any recent war in which 

 England has been engaged without Sir Henrv championing 

 the cause of the enemy. He was for the Mahdi and for the 

 Lamas of Tibet : and bince Germany has begun to build a 

 great fleet for the purpose, avowed by Germans themselves. 

 of depriving Britain of her sea-power and of her Empire, 

 he has become a pro-German— 



and so forth and SO forth. 



I H IN ANOTHER LIGHT. 



Mr. Herbert Paul in the Nineteenth Century 



remarks about " C.-B.": — 



It is said that Mr. chamberlain and Mr. Balfour, which 

 lias become the proner order of the names, look forward 

 with pleasure to "baiting thai old man," who must be as 

 old as Mr. Chamberlain himself. The "old man" has two 

 qualities, one positive, the other negative, on which Mr 

 Chamberlain would do well to reflect. He never loses his 

 temper, and be has a quite remarkable facility for making 

 \ people look ridiculous. He can also reckon upon 

 the constant assistance oi Mr. Asquith, who has so often 

 been the hatchet ol Mr Chamberlain's rhetoric, and ha6 no 

 superior in debate. 



-' I s Programme. 



WHAT ABOUT IRELAND? 



With regard to the Irish policy of the new Go- 

 vernment, the Positivist pundits are at variance 

 with the other. Mr. Fred. Harrison, writing in the 

 Positivist A s we have been told in the m 



definite terms that in the coming Parliament there 

 will be iid revolutionary change, no proposal to 

 establish an Irish Parliament. Professor Beesly 

 scoffs at this pledge, and maintains that C.-B. would 

 be quite free to bring in a Home Rule Bill to-mor- 

 row. Professor Beesly maintains that the four pro- 

 crastinators in the Cabinet will be very glad to be 

 able to say that the question of Home Rule was 

 raised — and very distinctly raised — at the General 

 Election. Mr. Harrison declares that a formal 

 pledge has been given that Home Rule is not now 

 the question. Professor Beesly maintains that " pub- 

 lic platforms are going to ring with nothing else but 

 Home Rule this January, and after insisting that 

 even vote given to the Liberals will be a vote for 

 Home Rule, the Unionists will not be entitled to 

 deny the right of the new Parliament to deal with 

 that question."' That is true, and the Unionists are 

 playing a very short-sighted game in trying to force 

 a decision on Home Rule in a General Election 

 when they know they are going to be beaten. 



LORD DUNRAVEN. 



Lord Dunraven in the Nineteenth Century says: — 



The problem for Great Britain to consider is. What 

 amount of self-government can be conceded to Ireland with- 

 out dange* - ? The problem for Ireland to consider is, What 

 amount of self-governing power will relieve her from evils 

 existing in the present system under which she is perishing? 

 I admit the advantages of gradual development. Com- 

 promise is in the air, and a compromise, if wisely accepted 

 and wisely utilised, will give Ireland the opportunity of 

 showing her intention of usiner such powers as may be 

 entrusted to her for the general puolic good. 



