means it was hoped that an impression would be made upon the public mind, calculated to bear fruit hereafter, an impression which the subsequent publication of the third volume when the matter was forgotten would do little to efface! Whether this dirty dirty trick, worthy of Scroggs or Jefferies, had succeeded or failed, the intention of its authors would have been just the same: equally dishonest, and equally typical of the spirit in which they have handled almost every great question to which they have addressed themselves. What the Welsh members think of this third betrayal they have been at no pains to conceal. They were led to believe that their wishes would be gratified in 1907. They were assured of it in 1908; and when that promise in turn broke down the Government pledged themselves to carry it in 1909, as solemnly as they now give a similar pledge for 1910. The Bill has been renewed three times. And those who expect to see it honoured either next year or any year before the next general election would do well to look up the history of the English Dissenters and learn what happened to those who, after supporting the Prime Minister of the day for seven years on the strength of his assurance that their disabilities should be removed, found that after the general election of 1734, when he had no further need of their services, he had no further intention of helping When they claimed them. their reward, and asked when the time for it would come, they were answered in a single word, "Never." Mr Asquith, we may be sure, will never say this, but there are some things which "go without saying.' Government, however, seem to console themselves with the reflection that sufficient for the day is the evil thereof-let the morrow take care of itself. This may be all very well for the lilies of the field, but with the lilies of the Treasury Bench, who belong to a different species, it may chance to end in disappointment. To recur to the point whence we started, it is clear that the one sin committed by the Government which concerns every man and woman in these islands, great or small, rich or poor, is the betrayal of our naval supremacy. This should rouse the whole nation to show its distrust of them by every means in its power. Their naval administration is part of their financial scheme, and the two must be taken together. It is highly satisfactory therefore to see the steps which are at length being taken to expose the misery and confusion and the widespread ruin which must necessarily follow the acceptance of their financial proposals. The evil which they will work can never be undone. The havoc can never be repaired. Unless we nerve ourselves for the effort to prevent it while there is yet time, we may wring our hands in vain when we witness its effects in a shattered commerce and a House of Commons no longer blighted trade, in the bank ruptcy of great firms, in the destruction of great properties, and in the general poverty which must inevitably fall upon the poor by the loss of their natural employers.1 The House went into Committee on the Finance Bill on the 21st of June, and both Mr Balfour and others dwelt on representing public opinion, and with two or three years of office still before it, is a phenomenon of which we have hitherto had no experience. Lord Rosebery, in a weighty and well-timed letter addressed to the London press on the 22nd of June, said that this particular point had escaped notice. This is by no means the case. We have called the grievous injustice which attention to it repeatedly. The would be inflicted on small Budget, says Lord Rosebery, landowners by the Valuation is a "revolution," "a political clauses. Mr Balfour's logic and social revolution of the was merciless. The Minis- first magnitude." Yet when terial majority in the House it has been accomplished, the of Commons is of course im- people will have had no more pervious to argument, but there voice in it than if they had is another audience outside been "Tartars or Lapps." Parliament to which we must More-they are known to be look for its effects. The great opposed to it; and thus it has City meeting of Wednesday come to pass that the forms night, the 23rd, is, we trust, of the Constitution are made only the forerunner of many available for the destruction of more which should bring an liberty. The Lord Advocate almost irresistible weight to himself asserts that we have bear on public opinion. The arrived at the "parting of Resolutions embody much that the ways,"-words rightly inhas frequently been urged in terpreted by Sir Henry Craik these columns and on pages 146 to mean that the country has and 150 of the present article, now finally to choose between written before the meeting arranged. was Socialism on the one hand, with the total subversion of The difficulties before the our long-established order, and Unionist party, which is now the maintenance on the other to all intents and purposes of all those rights, principles, the Conservative party, undoubtedly very great. are and liberties which have As hitherto formed the basis of we pointed out in May, in our social system. our article entitled "The Par Now, surely, if ever, the con liamentary Situation," and as stitutional powers of the House has since been frequently re of Lords may be properly inus from the peated in the daily press, voked to save an enormous majority in the impending calamity. In our 1 See Lord Onslow's speech to his tenantry, 'Times,' June 17. entitled "The March number, in the article does not seem to have been Dominating aware that this referendum to the House of Lords was still open to us. Issue," we called attention to a letter written by Sir Robert Peel to the Duke of Wellington in 1846 with regard to the constitutional powers of the House of Lords in the matter of Money Bills. Sir Robert, a leading authority on such subjects, told the Duke he did not think it would be possible to fight the Lords on the ground that their alteration of a Money Bill was unconstitutional. The Commons had always refused to acquiesce in such alterations, but had equally avoided any denial of the power of the Lords to make them. Lord Rosebery If indeed, then, we do stand at the parting of the ways, how can we hesitate to appeal to powers which the Constitution has wisely reserved for such emergencies? If we would not see the England of history, the England of more more greatness and happiness combined than has fallen to the lot of any other nation in the world, levelled with the ground, we must not shrink from remedies, however sharp or unfamiliar, to deliver us at any cost from this Government of treachery and tyranny. Printed by William Blackwood and Sons. BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE. No. MCXXVI. AUGUST 1909. VOL. CLXXXVI, LORD KITCHENER IN INDIA. THE approaching departure of Lord Kitchener from India will close a tenure of command which has been extended beyond that of any predecessor of recent years except Lord Roberts, and which has been remarkable for other reasons Lord Kitchener has spent in India, but they sink into insignificance beside these two great schemes with which his name will ever be connected. Nor, indeed, have the minor changes in question been nearly so numerous or so important besides the length of its dura- as is often supposed. Develoption. It will be remembered ments, improvements, and reaccount of two great forms are constantly attributed changes, both of vital import- to Lord Kitchener which were ance to the Indian Army, but really initiated long before he of which the merits still re- went to India, so that in remain, in one case at least, viewing the work that he has the subject of dispute. While achieved it is almost as necesfew fail to admit the im- sary to indicate what he did mense improvement in effici- not do as to describe that for ency which one on changes has effected, the other ible. He has accomplished too I was at its initiation the sub- much to need the laurels which ject of unusually heated con- others have earned, and he troversy; and even now, four would be the last to wish for years later, its probable results praise that is not his due. It are regarded with doubt and is therefore an ill service to misgiving by many. of these which he was really respons Other measures of reform to pretend, as has been done, have been accomplished during that he has regenerated the the six and a half years that whole Indian system. him or to his great reputation VOL. CLXXXVI.—NO. MCXXVI. L The Indian Army was of great value long before the year 1903, a fact which has been proved a hundred times. In the last six years it has made notable strides forward, as it did also under many previous commanders; and a just recognition of the nature of its increase in efficiency during Lord Kitchener's tenure of office is a better testimony to the merits of his administration than could be any exaggerated and sensational claim on his behalf to the achievements of others. cen India in a condition of pros- Reform was in the air, and in Lord Kitchener the Indian Army found a reformer ready for the destined task. It has been urged against Lord Kitchener that he went to India with preconceived ideas of the needs of the Army there, and with the intention already formed of effecting considerable changes. That he did so seems to be probable, and it is also evident that certain special circumstances made it inevitable that the period of his command would be an era of reform. The idiosyncrasies of his temperament and the influences of his previous career combined to render him but little tolerant of a system which did not coincide with the very definite views of his own. Moreover, the public voice, as revealed in the Press, was loud in proclaiming all that would be accomplished as soon as he should assume the control of the Indian Army. Finally, the condi- were put forward. It is tions of the moment united with these more personal factors in impelling him towards a course of reforms. Not only did he find the finances of The fact that Lord Kitchener went to India with his mind made up on the subject of certain important changes is not in itself a proof that his views were erroneous. Nevertheless, to his prejudices in these matters must be attributed a hastiness and lack of consideration with which some of his earlier proposals only necessary to indicate a scheme for raising several batteries of field artillery, manned by natives and armed with modern guns, as a proof |