'The speech which was looked forward to with the urentest interest was, of course, that of Mr. Chamberlain. 'There' is a sense in which Me. Courtney's declaration that this is the Colonial Secretary's war" is true, "Be it for glory or condemnation," said Mr. Courtney, *this is his war," and Mr. Chamberlain spoke with an_ earnestness and a self-confidence which show that he has not the smallest desire to shirk hi responsibility. From an oratorical point of view ho has never delivered a greater or more effective speech. Profiting po haps by the criticisms which have been passed by the great organs of public opinion on his colleagues he avoided the errors into which they had fallen. He id not waste time in trying to explain way the blunders which have been made in preparing for the war. He admitted those mistakes one by one and explained what was being done to rectify them. In his own words he met the mistakes "not denying them, have done, but what we his exposition of our policy after the war made a profound impression, though in substance there was nothing new in it. "There shall be no second Majuba," he said. "Never again, with our consent, while we have the power, shall the Boers be able to erect in the heart of South Africa a citadel from whence proceed disaffection and race animosities; never agai shall they he able to endanger the mounted of Great Britain, Never agai shall they be able to treat an Englishman as if he belonged to an inferior race." last the sections of the Irish Nationalist Party have made up their differences and united themselves under a single leader; and Mr. John Redmond—the one prominent man in- the party who has consistently defended the memory and carried on the traditions of John Stuart Parnell—Mr. Redmond, whose followers had once dwindled down to eight—finds himself the leader of the whole party of eighty. His selection means of course a distinct rapture of the alliance with the Liberal Party, most of whom are exceedingly pleased at the turn events have taken. It absolves them from all obligations and enables them with a free conscience, if not to erase Home Rule from their programme, at least to put it far in the background, and the attitude of the Irish Nationalist members on the war has rendered Home Rule so intensely unpopular with every section of Englishmen, that the only bare chance of the Liberals to return to power for many years to come is to sever themselves entirely from the Home Rule cause, On Wednesday Mr. Redmond, from the vantage-ground of his new leadership, moved an amendment in favour of bringing the war to a close by recognising the complete independence of the two Republics; and he succeeded in inducing four English, Scottish and Welsh members to accompany him into the lobby. hey were Sir Wilfrid Lawson. Mr. John Burns, Mr. Bryn-Roberts and Dr. Clarke time Consul in London for the Transvaal, TWO INTERESTING BY-ELECTIONS, We in London are in the midst of by-election which recalls for those of us who can remember them the old days before the Ballot Act was passed. The London University is electing a member to replace Lord Avebury, under which de-sigmation it is still difficult to recognise Sir John Lubbock; and as the election Insts five days and the voting i we are enabled from time to time to see how the election goes. The very first sult beyond question. has been some resentment from the first at the way in which Mr. Busk, the Chairman of C cation, was pushed forward. He course, some claim on thelgraduates for the a n the successful movement for the establishment of a teaching University for London; but it was felt a man of greater distinction should succeed Sir John Lubbock and Robert Lowe—for whose benefit Lord Beaconsticld used to say he created the constituency. He has been found in Sir Michael Foster, who i ing a great deal of support which en on party grounds, and whose success is assured. Dr. Collins, the Radical {eandidate, ex-Chairman of the County Council, will be easily second. At York City, where at a by-election two years ago Lord Charles Beresford, with all his perisonal popularity, just scraped in by seven votes, the Unionist candidate has been returned by upwards of fourteen: hundred a sufficient indication of the determination of the ry to support the Government in the prosecution of the war.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.