SARY

The Dissolution.

LONDON, October 3rd, 1900. The Dissolution of Despair took place after all on the date fixed by the Whips before Parliament rose, At the end of August, however, owing to the failure of the Army in Africa to compel the Boers to lay down their arms, it was understood that the Dissolution was postponed till a more convenient season. President Kruger's retreat into Portuguese territory seems, however, to have convinced Ministers that it was with them a case of Now or Never. So a Council was summoned at Balmoral, and Parliament was dissolved on September 25th. The first polls took place on October 1st, and the new House of Commons will be practically complete by the time these pages see the light.

The Party Manifestoes.

The Electoral Addresses of the leaders of parties have not particularly impressed the public mind. Mr. Morley, who is laid up, and being hors de combat could take no active part in the contest, contributed the only phrase which any one seems to remember. His reference to the Ministers as these beautiful "skippers with their precious cargoes of Dead Sea apples," is almost the only literary or picturesque phrase which the General Election has produced. Lord Salisbury, being a peer, could only address the electors indirectly through the medium of a letter addressed to a friend. It is a lachrymose 'performance, deprecating anticipated abstentions from the poll. The Prime Minister then proceeds to specify three questions, in handling which the Government requires that its Parliamentary support should be strengthened rather than weakened. The first is that of rebuilding upon durable foundations the Imperial power over the territories of the two South African Republics. In due time these territories will doubtless enjoy colonial freedom, but how long i will be before they attain the full position of a British Colony depends upon the "steady submission" of the Boers. To secure that "steady submission" the country must vote Tory in order to convince the Boers that they have no hope from persistent resistance or agitation. On the Chinese question Lord Salisbury said nothing beyond referring to its complexity, and declaring that "the fact that we are acting with other Powers forbids me from

entering without reserve on questions of Chinese

policy." policy." On the third subject, that of Army Reform, I quote his remarks in another page.

Letter.

Lord Rosebery, in a letter to Mr.

Lord Rosebery's Hedworth Lambton, in which he answers the hypothetical question, "How should I vote at this juncture were I a voter ?" replied, "I could not vote for the present Government," for while in the present situation of the world he would vote "for almost any strong administration, the present Government, while strong in votes, is in other respects the weakest that I can recollect." And then in one compact paragraph he he charges the Government with various high crimes and misdemeanoursfrom its neglect of social legislation to the lack of forsesight and preparation exposing the country to humiliations unparalleled since the American War. He then proceeds to declare that there are three great national reforms which cannot wait: first, temperance legislation; secondly, the housing of the workingclasses; thirdly, fearless administrative reform, more especially at the War Office. About South Africa, he asserts, with somewhat undue emphasis, that the settlement must guarantee "that the results of our sacrifices should in no jot or tittle be prejudiced," but should have as its ultimate aim the establishment of confidence and loyal harmony in South Africa. All that can be said of this epistle is that it is better than nothing; that it is better than Lord Salisbury's, but it is so far below the standard. of what Lord Rosebery himself has attained to in previous years that I read it with a feeling of melancholy regret. If our administration is to be placed on a business footing, the ex-foreman should put his back into the work of criticism and suggestion much more vigorously than he does in this letter to "My dear Hedworth."

Balfour, who has been re-elected by his Manchester constituents by a largely increased majority, which shows that neither Protestant irritation nor the principles of Cobden are influencing electoral results in the Lancashire capital, issued an address in which, greatly daring, he even outdid Mr. Chamberlain in fine audacity of assertion. He maintains that he does not believe that "in the history of this country any Parliament has more successfully carried out the policy or more adequately fulfilled the hopes of those who returned the majority into power." Such a declaration is enough to take away the breath. It is constantly

asserted that Mr. Balfour never reads

the papers; and that he is capable of making in all innocent good faith such an astounding statement as the foregoing is a conclusive demonstration of the truth of the current report. We have only to turn to the columns of the most devoted Ministerial organs to discover how universal is the discontent, dissatisfaction and dismay with which the supporters of the Government regard the net result of Ministerial achievement.

Mr. Balfour would

Conservative hardly deny that the

Discontent.

KHAKI

to Mr. Chamberlain; but it would be difficult to find anywhere more comprehensive and mournful .expressions of disappointment and dissatisfaction than are to be found in these two journals. The National Review even goes so far as to suggest that the Ministry should be so entirely remodelled, stock, lock, and barrel, as to be hardly recognisable as the same Administration. The most pressing desiderata, says this friendly critic, are first, to reduce the present members of the Cabinet from nineteen to fourteen; secondly, to lower their age, which at present averages sixty-one; thirdly, to free the Premiership from the burden of carrying a department; and fourthly, to bring in some new blood as well as some young blood. Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain The Issue before are in agreement in maintaining that the supreme issue before the electors at the present contest is to establish the principle "that there shall be no break in the continuity of our national policy, and no diminution in the strength of the Parliamentary forces by which that policy can alone be successfully maintained." Mr. Chamberlain in like manner appeals to his countrymen "to disappoint the expectations of those who wish ill to Britain by justifying with no uncertain voice the efforts which we have made to maintain the supremacy of the Queen in South Africa, and to protect British subjects from intolerable insult and oppression." Of the future government of the Republics Mr. Chamberlain has only

Maxses are faithful adherents of the

the Electors.

[Sept. 18.

Unionist Administration, or that Mr. Strachey, of the Spectator, is loyal

Political Slimness: A Khaki Issue. LORD S.: "Get under cove:-on't expose yoursel: es!"

this latest and most glaring act of international brigandage.

The Reconstruct an of the Army.

In the absence of any clear issue between the parties on the subject. of the future of the South African Republics it may be thought that there would be something said of a definite nature on the question of Army Reform. Lord Salisbury admits without reserve the fact that the "war has disclosed imperfections in our own armour of defence," and he asserts that "it will be among the most urgent duties of the new Parliament to investigate and remove the defects of our military system in the light of scientific progress and the experience of other Powers." Mr. Balfour dismisses the question of Army organisation as one of the questions which must not be allowed to interfere with the broader issue raised as to the policy of the South African War. Mr. Chamberlain admits that "the war has disclosed faults in our our military system which urgently call for review and reform"; but in what way these defects have to be met, or on what lines the Government would proceed in reforming the Army, is not said, for the very excellent reason that Ministers have not yet made up their minds. Mr. Wyndham has made a speech upon some details of Army administration, but there is not a hint to be found that a single member of the present Administration has realised the gravity of the problem with which they have to deal, and the impossibility of carrying on any further by merely tinkering up the old military system which they ffectually destroyed when they sent the army to Africa.

Credit.

Our position can be very simply Our Imperial explained. The British Empire is like a great banking firm, which has branches in all parts of the world. It has vast capital locked up in securities which are not immediately realisable, but for purposes of carrying on from day to day it has working capital immediately available in the shape of the British Army. Hitherto, more by good luck, it must be admitted, than by good management, it has contrived to meet its engagements in every part of the world. But last year there set in a run upon the bank in the South African branch, with the result that in order to avoid putting up the shutters we had practically to use the whole of our available working capital, and even then could only get through by undertaking permanent obligations which involve at the very least an increase of twenty-five per cent. on our liabilities. If a twopenny-halfpenny run on a

small provincial branch of the Imperial bank could bring us within sight of the bottom of our resources, how can we dare to carry on, knowing that at any moment we may have to encounter demands as much greater than those which have confronted us in Africa, as a nation of 40,000,000 is greater than a rustic population of 250,000? There are clearly only two courses before us. Either we must draw in our horns, curtail our liabilities, and be exceedingly careful to avoid any panic which may cause a run on the bank; or, if we are going on as we have been going on in the past, we must immediately prepare to realise more of our locked-up capital and increase our available reserve. In other words, either we have got to abjure Chamberlainism and all its ways, and put down our foot upon all proposals for extending our possessions and multiplying our responsibilities, or we must, as the price of Chamberlainism, adopt conscription. Nothing but compulsory military service will suffice to create an adequate working capital to carry on the business on the present lines. All this is as plain as a pikestaff, and ought to be forced upon the attention of the man in the street; but there is very little sign of any determined action in this direction on the part of the leaders of either political party. Sir Henry CampbellBannerman in his address comes nearer sounding the true note than any one else, for besides putting down his foot strongly upon the principle of unlimited expansion and aggression, he resolutely admits that "our existing military forces are certainly not equal to the duties which we have now to discharge, and therefore the increase of our military powers and the reform of the Army are demanded." But at the same time he avows himself in favour of free service, and declares himself "irreconcileably opposed to any alteration in our military system which would tend to make the British Empire a military empire rather than an empire of commerce and peace."

The Danger

of Foreign

Competition.

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman also speaks with no uncertain sound upon another question of even graver moment which underlies the whole fabric of our Imperial greatness. That is the growing difficulty of holding our own in the markets of the world in face of the competition of better educated neighbours. He well says: "While we have been seeking fresh markets with the sword, we have been losing other and more profitable markets by our arrogant supineness and by our indifference to education. Our neighbours and rivals have forged ahead of us, and have ousted us from lucrative

markets because they give their sons" (query-why not their daughters also?) "a systematic and intelligent education from boyhood to manhood." Hence the greatest friend of the Empire, in Sir Henry CampbellBannerman's opinion, is not the man who is perpetually pegging out fresh claims to territories which we have neither the means to defend nor the re-. sources to develop, but the man who÷

putting aside our little jealousies as to this or that class of schools, brushing away sectarian cobwebs, would establish and extend our educational system for all classes on a national, comprehensive, democratic basis. If we are to hold our own, this must be done, and there is no time to be lost.

Every word of this is as true as gospel, but Sir Henry is as a voice crying in the wilderness, and a question vital to the very existence of our nation is ignored in the midst of passionate outcries in favour of the sublime and imposing ideal of the establishment of a military despotism over 250,000 men, women and children in the heart of South Africa. Well has it been said that a fool's eyes are at the ends of the earth, and the people now, as in old time, know not what pertaineth to their good.

Will the Cabinet be Reconstructed?

So far there is no hint from any quarter that a reconstruction of the Cabinet is to be undertaken. Mr. Goschen is retiring both from Parliament and from the Admiralty. This will necessitate the appointment of a new First Lord; but with that exception the "old gang" are going on. Lord Salisbury has shown not the least intention of abandoning his dual functions as Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary, and he will regard the return of a Ministerial majority as a proof that the country intends him to go on in the way he has been doing. Everything seems to show that Lord Salisbury is as indifferent as Mr. Balfour to the comments of the Press, and is not in the least disposed to abandon the unique position which he occupies in the British Administration. Mr. Chamberlain may be Prime Minister some day, but if he has to wait for Lord Salisbury's abdication he will have to wait a long

indication of a khaki boom." It would be absurd to generalise from the results of the first two days' pollings as to the general result; but everything seems to point to the return of an impenitent majority which may be relied upon to exhibit the same defects and vices with which we have been so familiar for the last five years. Mr. Leonard Courtney will not be a member of the new House, nor is there any one tɔ take his place. Mr. Winston Churchill is the most conspicuous new member, and although his election. for Oldham was held as a great Conservative victory, he will probably be a much more dangerous thorn in the side of the Administration than the Liberal whom he defeated. In like manner Mr. Henry Norman, who has been elected for West Wolverhampton, although nominally a Liberal, will probably be a much more dangerous element in Parliament in the direction of pressing, for a warlike policy in the Far East than the Conservative whose seat he won. Note that while Mr. Burns and Mr. Labouchere have both been returned, Mr. Havelock Wilson, the only Labour candidate who approved of the war, has been rejected for Middlesborough, his enormous majority having entirely disappeared. The Independent Labour candidates are responsible for the loss of Liberal seats in Rochdale and in Leicester, and I am delighted to see that Mr. Keir Hardie has been returned for Merthyr. That is one "stop-the-war" member safely elected at any rate.

The Presidential Election.

The absorbing interest of our own General Election renders it difficult for the ordinary reader to bestow much attention upon the contest which is raging on the other side of the Atlantic. It is therefore a satisfaction to me that I am able to quote from the American Reviews of Reviews of October, Dr. Shaw's careful summary of the progress of the fight between President McKinley and Mr. Bryan. Dr. Shaw abstains from speculating as to the result of the voting, but he quotes the forecast published by the Republican National Committee, from which it would appear that McKinley's election was a foregone conclusion. The Republicans claim that, with the exception of the four Western StatesColorado, Idaho, Montana and Utah-Mr. Bryan can only carry the Southern States. Six States-Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Nebraska, West Virginia and Indiana are regarded as doubtful, but all the others, including New York and Wisconsin, certain to go for Mr. McKinley. The Democrats warmly deny the claim of the Republicans to New York and Wisconsin.