be appointed by the Government Inspector. Of course no attention is paid to their request. And so on. The Bill is enough to persuade the public that something is being done, and really, that is all the public seems to want. A Jubilee. In the Newcastle Daily Chronicle appears a suggestion worthy of all attention. This year is the Jubilee of more than a poor woman, it is the Jubilee of a great idea. 'Tis fifty years ago since the working men of London and certain Liberal members of Parliament met for the purpose of drawing up a Bill embodying Radical ideas and demanding Radical rights. That Bill was the People's Charter. All honour to such men as William Lovett, John Arthur Roebuck, and others for the work that then they did. We cannot afford to let the names of the Chartists be forgotten. They, and what they did, will be remembered with enthusiasm when men care as little for Queen Victoria as they care for Queen Anne. Topolobampo. We have lately received much printed and written matter in regard to a new colony that is being founded in Mexico, and is called Topolobampo. This name does, we admit, look and sound a little strange. It means hidden waters. A bay exists on the fair coast of the Pacific, almost unsuspected of man, yet easy of entrance, and capable of affording protection to the largest navies that sail the seas either for peace Here a new colony is to be established. It is to differ from all other colonies in that it is to be established not for the sake of andlords, but for the sake of the colonists. Land will belong to no man in particular, but to all men in common. To each will be secured the fruit of his labours-but nothing more. We wish the colony all success, and we await with interest its development and progress. or war. A Cruel Joke. It is not often that a practical joke has any effect except a bad one. We must, however, confess that the joke played upon the Archbishop of York illustrates so well the absurdity of a system that it has served the purpose of a little Plan of Campaign. The Archbishop had asked the two churchwardens of St. Mary's, Beverley, to seat the parishioners "according to their degree." This the churchwardens very properly declined to do, thinking such a delicate duty beyond the powers of anyone under an Archbishop. Thereupon the following document was sent to all the parishioners, most of whom received it as serious, and replied in various tones of anger, protest, and ridicule : PARISH OF ST. MARY'S, BEVERLEY. You are particularly requested to fill in answers to the following questions and forward this paper to the Archbishop of York, not later than the 15th inst. His Grace will then be in a position to assign the seats to the Parishioners according to their degree, as advised in the opinion of Mr. Chancellor (If sent unsealed this form only requires a half penny stamp.) Dibdin. 1. Name: 2. Address: 3. Age last birthday: 4. Condition, i.e., whether married or single : 5. Number in family or household: 6. Rank, profession, or occupation. State particularly whether Peer, Baronet, Knight, Member of Parliament, Gentleman, Yeoman, Tradesman, Mechanic, Artisan, Servant, Labourer, &c. If you hold any public office under the Crown, in the office should be stated; if an office of profit, what County, or in the Municipality, the nature of the is the salary? 7. Are you entitled to bear Arms ? 8. Have you been presented at Court? 9. What is the amount of your income, and how is it derived? 10. At what sum are you rated to the Poor? 11. Are you on the list of Parliamentary Electors? 12. Probable amount of your subscription to "Church Expenses" ? Dated this day of April, One thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven. Signature...... Witnessed by........ What Will Be. Mr. Williams reiterates principles which are entirely subversive of his propositions, and he states the case so admirably that we desire, in quoting his language, to make it our own. He says, "The only way in which the Land Question can be settled on a just and solid foundation will be by applying to the occupation of land the essential principle of all property: that the occupier' shall be entitled to what he has produced by his labour and accumulated by his abstinence. If we deviate a hair's breadth from this principle we shall go wrong. We are all tired of cries which mean nothing, of programmes which end in nothing, of public speakers who denounce evils but are afraid to propose the only remedy." This language is admirable if the author will apply it to himself. He must know that in proposing to turn rent into a rent-charge, he leaves the essential evil of landlordism without remedy. Under the plan proposed, landlords would continue to exact £150,000,000 per annum from those who exercise labour and abstinence, and for this they do nothing but "lend the land" which a beneficent Providence has already "given to the children of men." Thus, instead of assuring to all persons the benefits to which they are entitled by their labour and abstinence, our land laws extract from industrious and frugal labourers enormous sums for the benefit of idle and self-indulgent landlords. By their control of legislation, landlords have fastened this burden upon the people, but it has now become clear that the people cannot and will not endure this burden. We venture to predict that in spite of the "fear" which politicians have manifested, the true remedy will ere long, not only be proposed, but that it will be carried into effect. During the whole period that our Commanderin-Chief has thus been neglecting his duties he has been receiving from the public £38,000 per annum. Lord R. Churchill professes surprise, but, so far from the result being extraordinary, it is just what we should expect from appointments being the result of birth, and not guided by merit or capacity. Bribery Cases. The decision on the petition of Joseph Arch Conservatives may employ money as they re Lord Henry Bentinck makes it clear that 16th of January of this year Lord Henry wrote: please in connection with elections. On the "Dear Mr. Wasey,-I enclose you a little present as some small compensation for all the trouble and worry you have had in connection with the elections, and afterwards." Three letter, being addressed "Mr. Wasey" only, got postal orders for £1 each were enclosed. The into the hands of Mr. Thomas Wasey, one of Arch's supporters. It was resealed, sent on to the Wasey for whom it was intended, and the postal orders were cashed by him. Here and yet the petition of Mr. Arch is dismissed, was a clear and neat case of breaking the law, and he has to pay the costs. Swords or Sermons? Mr. Grünhut, who is described as "one of the most temperate of the Anarchist leaders at Cincinnati," said, "Our labour leaders have nothing in common with Henry George or the Knights of Labour. We want swords, they give us sermons." Mr. Grünhut must be a very sanguine man to imagine that he can do any good with swords. The time has passed when men had to defend themselves personally against individual attacks. Robbery is now conducted according to law, and is supported by the whole power of Government. How can Irishmen, for instance, oppose by force the 30,000 armed men whom Lord Salisbury employs to exact rents, "whether the land has produced them or not," for the benefit of idle landlords, who are not morally entitled to a single shilling? But, although fighting with swords and dynamite is out of the question, "campaigning" offers a field to which all our energies can be directed. John Dillon has shown the present method, and the principle is of universal application. Scotland to the Front. Scotland, Radical, go-ahead and never lag behind Scotland, is showing what she would do with Local Option. She would make the landlord and the publican go. As to the latter, he may read his fate in what has happened lately in the energetic North. The poor of Edinburgh have spoken out. They want to know why there are six public-houses within sight and too, too easy reach of every poor man, while you can walk for miles in the places where the aristocracy dwell, and never come near a drunkard-making manufactory. And they give an answer to their own question. The rich can defend themselves from the publichouse, the poor can't. That is all the difference. Three Scottish places, a village (Bowling), a town (Peterhead), and a city (Glasgow), were recently and thoroughly canvassed on the question of whether they should or should not have local option. In the first 204 householders voted for local option, and 3 were neutral. In the second 3,974 householders voted for it, 123 against it, and 134 were neutral. In Glasgow 77,246 householders want local option, 8,535 don't want it, and 4,124 don't care whether they get it or not. The minority of the don't wants and don't cares taken together is ridiculously small when compared with those who say "we must, and will have it." After that the price of a Scotch publican's "good will" should be rather at a discount in the market. We would advise the Scotch brewers and distillers to hurry up and make more limited liability companies for making the world tipsy. The London Standard says:- "Mr. Davitt believes that property in land is robbery. We want to hear the opinion of Mr. Davitt's English backers on this point." In the first place, to speak of property in land is to use a term utterly unknown to the law of this country. There is no property in land-at least, no private property in land. All land belongs to the State, and is represented by the Crown. It is leased to private persons, under certain conditions, to perform certain duties. These duties they do not perform, but have slipped them from their own shoulders to other shoulders. Yet every charter is clear upon that point, that they are not owners of the land. If they do call themselves absolute owners, in point of law and point of fact they are robbers. What Mr. Davitt wishes, and what we wish, is either to re-impose the duties that go with the land, or to say, "No duties, no land." Either from land pay the taxes of the country, as you get your land on condition of doing, or give up the land. Standard thinks that robbery. The Standard has lived so long among dishonest ideasalthough itself comparatively honest-that it has no clear idea of what honesty is. The In Greenock seamen have lately been shipped Two pounds a at forty shillings a month. month, twenty-four pounds a year for brave men to go down into the great waters, to toil blackness of dreary nights, to risk their lives amidst bitter tempests, to watch through the blackness of dreary nights, to risk their lives every hour of every day! The wrongs of the land extend to the ocean. There is no work to do at home, and so men must go to sea. Competition reduces wages until we come to forty Suppose the seaman spent shillings a month. not a single penny of that; suppose he never smoked a pipe or took the humblest luxury away in his sea chest, how far would forty shillings a month go to keep his wife and children? Less than ten shillings a week to keep Nancy and the children while Jack is far away! Oh the shame of it and the misery of it! Will men never think?. Sir H. Drummond Wolff is still doing nothing in Egypt at a handsome salary paid out of John Bull's long-enduring pockets. Nobody supposes the Duke of Edinburgh We regret the death of Newdegate. He said what many people think. There is a mass of prejudice in this country, somewhat ashamed of itself, but, for all that, very potent to do mischief. To that prejudice Mr. Newdegate, who was a very honest man, gave very honest expressions. Thus we always knew where it was and what it was. Now that he is dead, it will work in the dark, and we will only know it, like the snake, by its bite. Mr. Newdegate was the snake's rattle. Now that he is dead, we must watch the snake more closely than ever. to be useful. He is paid to be ornamental. If real business were to be done some other person would do it. But when a man is paid to be ornamental he ought to be ornamental or hand back the money. The Duke of Edinburgh could not fire back a salute to the French admiral who courteously saluted him, because the poor, feckless creature had gone away without the right sort of guns to do the saluting business. Here is a man with nothing else to do, nothing else to think of, but barkin' and booin', as they say in Scotland, and he forgot the materials for that. Well, he is only a prince, and a generous Republic, like that of France, should only smile at his incapacity to be even that. It is a beautiful, a wonderful, and a touching thing to note how the people love those that love them. Look at Father McGlynn. This man, whose kind heart sheds benevolence, as the heavens shed their sweet winds, is simply adored by the American Democracy. us "What shall we do if they take our dear father from ?" is their cry. He never had one room for the rich and another for the poor is their method of summing up his character. Father McGlynn is a martyr for the cause of truth, for the sake of that great land gospel which Henry George has preached to the whole world. We hope and trust that his suspension from the honours and offices of the priesthood will be but brief. And we are sure that he has but to be understood at Rome to defeat all the malice of those who hate him. The Weekly Dispatch draws attention to the number of Jews who are leagued with the Government against the Irish people. This policy of the seed of Abraham is as narrow as it is short-sighted. The Jews and the Irish were alike oppressed nationalities. The Jews are liberated by the staunch and earnest efforts of the Liberals. Then, with an ingratitude which seems part of their race-instinct, they turn against their liberators. Connecticut has 249 members in her Legislature, and only four of them are lawyers! Happy Connecticut! As may be expected, her Legislature is intelligible. Even the lawyers cannot misunderstand it. Monopoly and Jay Gould are striking fearful blows at the prosperity of America. Women's wages are going down so far that the poor creatures can't earn the price of their car fares. America has free trade in land. Yet people here are, some of them, blind enough, and some of them wicked enough, to offer us free trade in land as a cure for our misery. In Glasgow, Michael Davitt held meetings that were crowded to suffocation, and he spoke words that burned in his hearers' ears like fire. Yet the Glasgow Press gave him about as good reports as they give Mr. Claptrap when that gentleman addresses "twa words " to a "cooky fight" meeting. In America, when Michael Davitt spoke the Press recorded every word he uttered. The Glasgow Press cannot understand how a man can be great and an orator who is neither a D.D. nor an M.P. The House of Commons adjourned over Good Friday. Most admirable hypocrisy. Being about to pass an Act authorising them to commit murder, they do honour to the Prince of Peace and Righteousness. "We are going to break the Ten Commandments, let us begin by asking the Divine blessing; let us pray." Ugh! The Suez Canal is not a safe road to the East-and the Conservatives are now really telling us. So, we have spent millions on the Canal that we might as well have thrown into the Canal. We have gone to Egypt and spoilt and murdered the Egyptians all for nothing, for a mere phantom and Tory dream. Our money is spent, our soldiers have died, for a thing that is as useful to us as a string of beads. When will we learn, when will we understand that Tories must always be saying something, that they don't care a straw what they say, and that, rather than say nothing, they will raise a cry that will drive Britain into the mad game of gore, which is called gain and glory? Fifteen thousand miles of railway will be opened in the United States during the present year. The land for at least ten miles on each side of a railway is made available for on each side of a railway is made available for agricultural purposes. Thus two hundred millions of acres will be added to the area now competing with British land. The fee simple of this land could be bought at less per acre than is paid for one year's rent in Britain. It is constantly contended that at the last election the English people decided against Home Rule. Nothing of the kind; what they voted against was the unjust concessions to "powerful interest" which accompanied the proposal for Home Rule. The people voted against land purchase, against the first order, against the exclusion of Irish representatives from Westminster, but not against Home Rule. The Duke of Edinburgh has given up his rights to the throne of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in favour of his eldest son. How good of him. But what do the people of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Some of our officers in a sporting expedition shot a poor Egyptian, and then paid him for say? We fancy that an English princeling in Germany will be about as popular as a German being shot. His fellow-villagers-pay or no pay-believed that people who shoot so reck-princeling in Britain. lessly should be punished. And now a section of the Jingo Press wants the blood of those villagers. "Anything in the papers?" "No! only another attempt to assassinate the Czar !" "Oh, that's not worth spending a halfpenny for." We are glad to call attention to the West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases, 73, Welbeck Street, London, W. And we rejoice the more because this excellent hospital will give. employment for educated women. All women. should be well educated, and all women should |