THE NEW AGE, Feb. 12, 1908. LIFE IN LONDON: by ARNOLD BENNETT. A WEEKLY REVIEW OF POLITICS, LITERATURE, AND ART Edited by A. R. Orage. No. 702 [NEW Vol.SERIES. II. No. 17] SATURDAY,FEB. 22, 1908. [Registered at G.P.OONE PENNYas a Newspaper] CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE NOTES OF THE WEEK . ,, ,.. .. 321 THE WIND-MILLERS. By George Raffalovich . 331 STATE RAILWAYS FOR GREAT BRITAIN ... 323 BOOK OF THE WEEK. The House of Lynch. By Edwin . THE BRIGHT SIDE OF UNEMPLOYMENT . l 324 Pugh . ... ... 333 THE RED CAPITAL. By William Sanders . 325 REVIEWS: A Book of Caricatures . l 334 SEMPER ALIQUID NON? . 326 The Uprising of the Many . 334 THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT, By Thorpe Lee ... ... 327 RECENT PAMPHLETS . .. ... 335 How THE BENI-SNASSEN ARE CIVILISED. By M. Hervé . 328 BOOKS RECEIVED . l 336 DICKENS ON THE CLASS WAR. By Edwin Pugh . 329 DRAMA : Rosmersholm and Freedom. By Dr. Guest . 336 OLD ROADS, NEW TRAVELLERS. By R. M. 330 MUSIC : Debussy . ... ... 337 LIFE IN LONDON. By Arnold Bennett . 331 CORRESPONDENCE . 338 NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS.-- All Business we should inevitably be “forced sooner or later to ad- Communicationsmust be addressed to Publisher, "New Age,” 139, -Vance right up to the borders of the latter country. Fleet Street, E.C.; communicationsfor the Editor to 1 & zr Once there we should not only be always on the verge Took’s Court, Furnival Street, E.C. of hostilities of a most serious character, but the like- lihood of an eventual conflict with Russia in that part of the world would be greatly increased. In these cir- cumstances the maintenance of the status quo is a mat- NOTES OF THE WEEK. ter which vitally concerns the English nation, and in AFTER a considerable period of rest war has once more view of the weakness which Mr. Morley has hitherto broken out on the North-West Frontier of India. A displayed in dealing with the military authorities, it punitive expedition consisting of 6,000 British troops would appear highly desirable that the people’s repre- has started for the territory of the Zakka Khels. It IS sentatives should have an early opportunity of express- known that this tribe has been making a series of ing their views. raids of late into Indian territory ; but information as * * * to the exact circumstances which have led the Govern- The militant section of the Woman’s Suffrage move- ment to sanction this aggressive expedition against ment have been very energetic during the past week in them is somewhat scarce, owing to Mr. Morley’s action forcing themselves upon the notice of the public. The in refusing to allow discussion of the matter in the founder and leader of the movement, Mrs. Pankhurst, House of Commons. is now in prison, together with about 79 of her fol- * * * lowers, and it is not, we believe, improbable that this Until the expedition was well on its way, all dis- number may be doubled or trebled during the next two cussion was, according to Mr. Morley, strongly to be or three weeks. deprecated. That is all very well, or would be all very * * * -well but for the necessity of keeping up the fiction There can surely no longer be any doubt that the that the Empire is governed on democratic lines. Un- tactics of the Suffragettes have been justified by result. fortunately we have only too much reason to expect A cause which for a generation past has re- that while military operations are in progress Mr. Morley ceived little more than a certain jocular sympathy, has will continue to deprecate discussion, and that when suddenly, in the space of two years, been transformed they are concluded we shall be told that Parliamentary into a burning national question, and its hitherto negligible time is valuable and must not be wasted on “spilt adherents into an organised political force which milk." We quite understand and even sympathise can turn elections. We do not imagine that the suffrage with Mr. Morley’s desire to escape interference and will be granted to women during the present play a lone hand in this matter, but it must be clearly Parliament ; the obsolescent mandate doctrine still understood that such desires are incompatible with de- retains too much force for that. But nevertheless it is mocratic government. Free discussion may have its essential that the question should be forced to the front evils, particularly in times of war-though it is diffi- with ever-increasing vigour. However long and weary -cult to see how, in this particular case, it is in any the fight may be it must not now be allowed to flag way undesirable -- but its advantages are overwhelm- until the next General Election. To slacken now ingly greater than its disadvantages, and with regard would be to court failure and long postponement. The to the affairs of the Empire, it involves a principle outlook at the moment seems more favourable for the which is indispensable. We do not hesitate to say that women than it has ever been, for although the present any substantial measure of Imperial Federation will be Government is not likely to be terrorised into submission, impossible as long as semi-autocratic power is wielded it is certain that nO future Government will care by a Colonial Secretary and a Secretary of State for to face such an electioneering campaign as is now be- India. ing carried on by the Suffragettes all over the country. * * * * * * In the case of the present frontier war it happens In South Leeds Mrs. Pankhurst’s special campaign that serious principles are involved. The military seems to have met with extraordinary success. All authorities in India are in favour of the permanent occu- parties bear witness that her meetings were the largest pation of the unsettled country, and it will probably and most enthusiastic of any held during the election need considerable strength, on the part of the Home and there is no doubt that this was the chief cause of Government to prevent this taking place. If it does the enormous decrease in the Liberal vote. Unlike take place it means that the strip of neutral territory Mid-Devon and Hereford. the South Leeds result does between India and Afghanistan ‘will be considerably not appear to have been in any way a victory for the narrowed ; and since there is no logical stopping place Tariff Reformers. The increased Unionist vote must 322 FEBRUARY 22, 1908 be ascribed rather to the split in the Labour ranks, the Churchmen which is represented by Lord Halifax. barren nature of the Liberal programme, and the attitude Even Lord Robert Cecil disclaimed sympathy with of the President of the Local Government Board them. The one thing which was clearly demonstrated in regard to unemployment. in the discussion was that there is a growing feeking in favour of disestablishment, and that any attempts to The trial of Von Velheim for blackmailing Mr. legislate about the internal affairs of the Church can “Solly” Joel incidentally threw some light on the only have the effect of precipitating that end. There state of affairs in the Transvaal before the war. The are few people, we venture to say, even inside the specific allegations of the prisoner as to Mr. Barney Anglican ranks, who would not regard Mr. Stephen Barnato’s plot to get rid of President Kruger must of Walsh’s prophecy of fifty more years of union between course be taken with more than a grain of salt. In all Church and State as a very excessive estimate. probability there was no truth whatever in them. But l l l the mere facts that such allegations were made by a On Tuesday, the 11th inst., the Royal Economic scoundrel, every incident of whose extraordinary career Society met and solemnly disapproved of the Wages testifies to the nimbleness of his wits, and that until Board Bill. “It would not increase regularity of em- the verdict those allegations were treated seriously by ployment, ” “it would throw the inefficient out of work,” an English court of law and the English Press, indi- “it would not affect insanitation.” And so on, and SO cate something of the atmosphere which pervaded on ; all, of course, in the interests of the workers them- Boer politics after the Raid. It is more than doubtful selves, much as sixty or seventy years ago the grand- whether the war was inevitable in 1899, but even if that fathers of these economists used to assure Lord were certain, it would be still more certain who were Shaftesbury with tears that his cruelty in wishing to the people who made it inevitable. The Rand mine- prevent the child of nine working at night, or for more owners can never be made to repay the debt of blood than ten hours per day, would inevitably cause the said which they owe to this country, but at least it is in- child to starve to death forthwith. Lord Shaftesbury cumbent upon us to remember the past when the un- has, however, not gone down to history as a Herod, abashed claims of the “staple industry of South and it is possible that the “terrible curse” of Tuesday Africa” are forced upon our attention. evening will not do anybody much harm. * * * + l South Africa seems destined to cause us an inter- Seriously, it is strange, to say the least of it that a minable amount of worry. There have been of late body like the Royal Economic Society should content three distinct “native” questions there ; the British In- itself with philosophising in vacua on a subject of dians in the Transvaal, the Chinese on the Rand, and urgent practical importance like sweating.