A W eekly New spaper a n d R eview .

DOJI VOBIS GRATÜLAMUS, ANIMOS ETIAM ADDIMUS UT IN INCCEPTIS VESTRIS CONSTANTER MANEATIS.

From the B r ie f o f H is Holiness P iu s IX . to T h e T a b l e t , June 4, 1870.

V o l . 90. No. 3007. L o n d o n , D e c e m b e r 2 5 , 1 8 9 7 .

Price 5c!., by Post 5%d.

[Registered at the General Post Office as a Newspaper.

Page

Chronicle of the Week 1

Lewis v. C la v— The Condition of the Army—The Late Sir Frank Lockwood — The Engineering Dispute— London 'Bus Men and Rothschild Pheasants —Germany ■ and China—The Occupation of Port Arthur by R u s s ia— The Behring Sea Claims— British Rule in Egypt— Mr. Balfour and the Novel—The End of the World in Adelaide— Good Works and Five Per Cent.— The Sabbath in Scotland—The Bishop of Limerick and the Irish University Question— President Kruger Heckled . . 997

CONTENTS.

Leaders :

Page

Bigotry in Town and Country. .1001 The Partition of China . . ..1002 Cardinal Vaughan on the Present

Intellectual Needs o f Catholic Women in England . . . . 1003

Reviews (Continued):

C h a m b e r s ’ s Biographical D ic­

Page tionary . . . . . . ..1010 A Christmas Carol......................... 1010 “ The Month” and Father Taunton t o io Reformation Movements Abroad., io n

Notes .. ... « — ..1005 Reviews :

The Evolution of the Idea of

God_ .. . . . . ..1006 The Life of John Nicholson ..1007 A Benedictine Martyr in England 1008 Dariel . . . . .. . . . . ioog 1 A Creel of Irish Stories . . ..1009

Some Christmas Numbers . . iqio l

Correspondence :

Rome :— (From Our Own Correspondent) . . ... — « 1013 News from Ireland « —1015 News from France . . . . ..1015 Letters to the Editor :

In the Days o f Wiseman . . . . 1017 The Attitudes o f Catholics to

Pentateuchal Criticism . . . .1017 Catholics in the British Empire ..1018

Reply to the Bishop of Bristol . . 1019 Catholic Reunion in Sheffield ..1021 A Nurse’s Conversion . . . . 1022 Anti-Catholic Lectures . . ..1023 Social and Political ... „.1024

SU PPLEM EN T . News from the Dioceses :

Westminster S o u th w a rk ......................... Leeds Northampton Nottingham.. Salford . . . . ... Newport . .

1029 .1029 1029 1029 10*9 1029 .1030

*** Rejected MS. cannot be rettirned unless accompanied with address and postage.

C H R O N I C L E O F T H E W E E K .

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THE Lord Chief Justice in an elabo­

rate judgment has decided that of two innocent parties in this case the money-lender must lose. Mr. Lewis gave value to the extent of ^ 1 1 , 1 1 3 to Lord William Nevill on the faith of two promissory notes signed by himself and backed by Mr. Spender Clay, a youDg subaltern in the Guards. On the face of it the transaction was quite in order, and the jury quite accepted Mr, Lewis’ account of what had taken place. When the Bills had matured, as Lord William was unable to meet them, Mr. Lewis turned to Mr. Clay. He and Lord William Nevill had been friends, and were at the same Ascot party in 1 8 9 6 . On that occasion Lord William asked him to witness a deed. “ He produced,” said Mr. Clay, “ a roll of either cartridge paper, foolscap, or blotting paper, in which there were four holes cut. The witness asked him what it was. He said it was a deed relating to some money for which he wanted a power of attorney, and that he wanted it in connection with the proceedings in his sister’s divorce suit. Then Lord William signed his name twice (he believed) and the defendant signed his name four times. The witness asked to see the document, but Lord William said he would rather not show it, and he could trust him.” The jury entirely accepted Mr. Clay’s statement; and further, to the question whether he had been recklessly careless, and so lent himself to his friend’s fraud, they replied, “ No, under the circumstances.” Asked to say whether the signatures were given in “ misplaced confidence” in Lord William, the jury said “ Yes.” But to the question whether Mr. Clay signed without due care they replied, “ No, under the circumstances.” They further found that Mr. Clay did not sign his name in order that his signature might be used for any purpose Lord William Nevill chose. These findings cleared the way for the decision of the Lord Chief Justice. He had to take it that Mr. Clay had, under the circumstances, not been to blame in signing the papers without looking at them. With that element of doubt out of the case the rest was simple. Mr. Clay had signed his name, certainly, but he had never consented to back a bill. He was in the

New Series. Vol. LVIII., No. 2,316.

position of a man who had signed his name in an autograph album, or to a petition to the Vestry; the fact that by fraud that signature was affixed to a promissory note, obviously could not make him undertake any liability. It has been urged that Mr. Clay, having put misplaced confidence in his friend, ought to suffer the consequences. It seems hardly just that of two innocent parties the one who occasioned 1 the loss by his “ misplaced confidence ” should go free, while the other, who made no such mistake, should have to bear all the loss. But such reasoning ignores the finding of the jury that under the circumstances Mr. Clay had not acted without due care. In the view of the jury ordinary prudence and misplaced confidence in Lord W. Nevill were quite compatible. It is, perhaps, fair to add that Loid William was not a party to this case, and that it was tried in his absence.

The projected increase of our Army is the condition v;ewec3 wlth considerable alarm by many t iie army. wh° Preach, >n season and out of season, the doctrines of economy. A few days ago

The Standard published an article, the object of which was to bear out the statement made by Sir Ralph Knox last year, that taking into account the work it has to do, the extent to which, by the help of a supreme navy, it accomlishes its task, and the amount which it in all ways extracts from the labour value of the country, “ the British Army is the cheapest in the world.” To begin with, it is pointed out that there are twenty-four stations scattered over the world where British tioops are actually quartered, and are assisted by local levies. This is surely an economical system, but it could not be maintained without the employment in all the higher ranks of British officers, who besides furnish the leaders who enable such districts as Uganda, the Niger Territories, &c., to dispense with the services of British troops, and yet wage successful war for the Empire. It must be remembered, too, that the whole of the British troops actually employed over all these scattered territories do not equal the number that are concentrated in a single great German fortress on the peace establishment. The nature of the staff required for such places must not, therefore, be estimated on the proportions of the reduced garrisons. In order to keep our command of the seas, and maintain our empires in three continents, we must guard our footholds. We cannot condemn men to exile, and so we are obliged to obtain soldiers by voluntary enlistment, which is necessarily more expensive than the method of conscription. The usual statement is to say that we spend fifteen and a-half millions on our Army at