THESE self-righteous demonstrations by Tammany Hall politians only serve to make Mr. Asquith and his colleagues comic as well as corrupt. We trust that the whole Flapdoodle system of Boodle, upon which the present Government is largely founded, will be relentlessly exposed by the Unionist Party on the platform, in the Press, and above all in Parliament, where in season and out of season the spoils system should be exposed, as otherwise it will come to stay. In this connection we desire to express our keen sympathy and warm aimiration for the courageous speeches which Lord Selborne has been making on the whole question of so-called "Honours," which of late years have become a public scandal, and upon which we must admit neither Party has clean hands. We hope that Unionists will not be deterred from pressing the matter by the threat of tu quoque. We need not fear comparisons, and even if the kettle were as black as the pot it is in the public interest that the whole subject should be ventilated, lest the evil grow from bad to worse. It is incredible that Mr. Asquith, associated as he is with colleagues from whom the New York ward "boss" has nothing to learn, should have the face to discharge this solemn humbug at the House of Commons. In the whole of my political life, which can go back for nearly a generation, I have never, I am glad to say, been exposed myself, or exposed others, to any such imputations. I have believed, as I do believe, that upon both sides, viatever Party is in power, the Government of this country is a pure Government, and the public offices are given, when they are given, to the people who, in the judgment of the persons giving those offices, are most qualified to perform them in the public interest, and that they are not given-although we may fm different estimates of the relative capacity of different people to whom they are given-with corrupt, or interested, or personal motives. I will not ay there may not be cases of isolated mistakes or misunderstanding on one side er the other, but the right honourable gentleman's charge is that we have erected public corruption into a system. He took refuge in aphorism, an aphorism of s own. He said that revolutionary Governments are always corrupt ones. Bat he put us forward as a revolutionary Government. The conclusion, therefare, is that we are a corrupt one. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] In melodramatic tones Mr. Asquith demanded that the charge "should be prosecuted on the floor of the House of Commons and in the face of the country." Mr. Bonar Law has lost no time in taking up the challenge, and before long Mr. Asquith will be engaged upon the familiar task of eating his own words. The moral of the first night's debate on the Address is writ large, namely that your truculent Demagogues, who live on flinging mud other people, are extraordinarily sensitive directly anybody ventures to tell them a few home truths about their ow proceedings. The Unionist Party was immensely elated by th opening encounter between the new Leader of the Opposition and Mr. Asquith, who lost his temper to the point of incoherence while the Radical Press was so furious at the severe handling he received that they clamoured for the return of Mr. Balfour ! Party AMONG Outstanding extra-parliamentary events, was Mr. Bona Law's great speech at the Albert Hall at the end of January which not only caused unbounded delight to his audience, but constituted as formidable an indictment of the present Mis-Government as has yet been framed. It provoked that most truculent and thin-skinned of Demagogues, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to ungovernable transports of fury, in the course of which he avowed his profound attachment to Mr. Balfour and manifested an equally profound disapproval of Mr. Balfour's successor. Mr. Bonar Law should be grateful to his opponents for the artless assistance they have afforded him. The unmeasured abuse of which he is the object in the Coalition Press-which recalls the treatment of Mr. Chamberlain in the hey-day of his fame-was the one thing needed apart from his own exceptional capacity to make the new leadership a conspicuous success. The Unionist Party is in fine fighting fettle, while Ministerialists are at no pains to conceal their demoralisation. Every by-election tells the same story-growing Unionist enthusiasm, more Unionist votes, disgruntled Radicalism and fewer votes. Cabinet Councils consume three hours, and though, according to Mr. Lloyd George, Ministers are a happy and united family, his statement is treated as though it had proceeded from Mr. Ure. There is good reason to believe that Ministers are as acutely divided on almost every question-except upon the desirability of clinging to officeas upon woman suffrage. They are palpably incapable of tackling the problems they have so rashly raised, and the prophets anticipate early disaster. The Church in Wales is far more difficult to destroy than to denounce, provided the English Bishops and Archbishops do their duty. When it is remembered that they are also pledged to convert the deceptive phrase "Home Rule" into a working reality, and to facilitate the enfranchisement of women, which the Prime Minister has declared to be "bad for women and bad for the State," we can form some conception of their plight apart from the industrial unrest which grows more menacing day by day. But the walls of Jericho will not fall at the frst or second blast of the trumpet. The Unionist Party must continue the strenuous fight which opened with the opening of the session, and by day and night must harass the Government, giving and receiving no quarter; otherwise we shall have these Demagogues on our backs indefinitely, because though they are at sixes and sevens upon every question, they are united by that powerful incentive "the cohesive power of public plunder." We do not propose to gratify the First Lord of the Admiralty's love of limeEcht-if only our Unionist contemporaries would imitate our restraint!-by dwelling on the notorious episode of which he was the "hero" or rather the mountebank. We need only say that he afforded the capital of Ulster a golden opportunity of showing anew that if "the consent of the governed" is still an article of the Radical creed, there can be no Home Rule for loyal Ulster, as any attempt to subject the progressive North to the reactionary South, can only provoke civil war. It would be worse than putting the English under the Welsh, and the taste we have already had of Welsh methods should help us to appreciate the sentiments of Ulster Die-hards. The Rev. Dr. Horton, who Ha valuable asset to his political opponents, and once advised the British people to "submit and suffer" rather than resist a German invasion, now counsels the Protestants of Ireland to ar out rather than resist Home Rule, which he acknowledges be substantially Rome rule. Such are the neurotics of Nononformity. ALTHOUGH Count Aerenthal was anything but Anglophil and at a memorable crisis adopted a cavalier attitude to put it mildly towards this country, Englishmen generally can sincerely and unreservedly express their profound regret at the truly tragic death of the Austro-Hungarian Minister on February 18. We say tragic Count advisedly, because he died at a moment when he can ill be spared and he seems to have been worried and hurried into an untimel grave by the scandalous campaign waged against him at hom and abroad, and by the lack of support forthcoming fron quarters where he was entitled to look for some confidence i return for ungrudging devotion. Though burdened with th nickname of the "Bismarck of the Balkans," Count Aerentha was never given time to show the true quality of his states manship, but his main achievement, the annexation of Bosnia Herzegovina, will secure him a permanent niche in the Temple of Fame in spite of the German Emperor's tactless effort to rob the Austrian statesman of his laurels by donning "shining armour" in St. Petersburg, when it was known that Russiɛ had wisely made up her mind that the annexation was not worth the bones of a single Cossack. Count Aerenthal was unquestionably a great patriot, and his reputation had grown with the realisation that he was a genuine Austrian patriot and not a pseudo-German, like his luckless predecessor, Count Goluchowski, who deemed that the whole duty of the Ballplatz (the Viennese Foreign Office) consisted in saying "ditto" to the Wilhelmstrasse. But, unfortunately for him, and still more unfortunately for his country, he could not communicate his native independence to others. He was relieved of his office when in articulo mortis, and let us hope received in time the welcome news that the successor he desired (Count Leopold Berchtold) had been chosen to continue his policy of loyalty to the Triple Alliance, combined with the absolute equality of the Dual Monarchy vis-à-vis Germany, her right to abstain from backing the speculative enterprises of Wilhelm II., and to make what friends she pleases. Count Aerenthal's offensive hostility towards Russia at the time of the annexation, which he had latterly relaxed, was a palpable blunder which served German interests better than Austrian interests, as it enabled the "honest broker " to insert himself between the two Powers, on the usual terms. Of late his waning energies had been devoted to restraining the Viennese war party from flying at the throat of Italy, the contest ending in the retirement of the Austrian Chief of the Staff, but amid circumstances which shook the Foreign Minister's positiona Collapse of the Manchu Dynasty THE civilised world has become so satiated of late years with the fall of immemorial dynasties, and so dis-illusioned by the performances of their successors, that the voluntary abdication of the Manchus in China has caused scarcely a tremor of excitement, though it is as extraordinary and should be as far-reaching as Any event since the advent of the British in India. There is nothing but goodwill in this country for the mighty mass of humanity constituting the Chinese Empire, and we can only express the hope that this startling change may fulfil the aspirations of the optimists, and that statesmen may emerge capable of discharging an overwhelming task. Though when one rotemplates the painful failures elsewhere in smaller undertakings, it is impossible to feel very hopeful. Note the condition of Mexico since the conclusion of the "Diaz tyranny”; cbserve the welter of chaos in Portugal under a so-called Republic. Of Young Turkey one may say "plus cela change, plus c'est la même chose." Again, what has young Persia done with old Persia ? Mr. Bland, who has already shown remarkable foresight upon Chinese affairs, is, as our readers will see from an exceptionally interesting article, of opinion that China is utterly unfitted for Republican government, and that the "revolution" has no popular backing, whilst some of the lightened" measures already taken, as, for instance, the wanton condemnation of the pigtail, are likely to make it intensely popular. Unlike their prototypes in Turkey, Persia and elsewhere, Young China has so far shown disinterestedDess. Dr. Sun Yat Sen wisely retired from the provisional presidency of the Nanking Republic in order to clear the vay for Yuan Shih-kai, the candidate of the retiring Dynasty, ich made its exit in a series of edicts likely to remain anique. Speaking for the child Emperor, the Empress Dowager, after announcing his abdication, goes on to say (vide the transation in the Times), "The people of the whole Empire have their minds bent upon a Republic. How could I, for the sake of the glory and the honour of our family, thwart the desire of teeming millions?" After explaining that the union between North and South is essential, the edict continues, "Therefore Yuan Shih-kai is given plenary powers to establish a provisional en |