The times., 1899-06-18
TOPICS OF A week In
THE BRITISH CAPITAL
A Ministry Divided on the
Transvaal Business.
Some Skeptieal Views of Peace
Negotiations at The Hague.
Recent Triumphs for India-rhe Con
troversy Over Bernhnrdts
Hamlet.


made this stormy week for British Minis
tiers. The tension in the Cabinet between
the sections headed by Mr.. Chamberlain.
eager for prompt intervention, and Sir
Michael Hicks-Beach, intent on waiting
policy. reached a crisis at Tuesdays Cabi-
net council, when. it is said on good au-
thority. Mr.. Chamberlain threatened to re-
sign unless Sir Alfred Miner was fully
supported by the Ministry in his firm de-
mand upon President Kruger to grant the
Outlanders an effective franchise. There is
now lull. pending the arrival of Sir Al
fred Miners mail dispatches upon the
Bloemfontein conference. and hopes are
held in high quarters that President Kru-
ger will use the interval to widen his fran
chise proposals.
II is quite evident that England does not
speak with one voice to President Kruger,
she did to France regarding Fashoda.
One radical journal, the Star" today ae-
tuaIly demands Sir Alfred Miners recall.
To that comes this reply from the opposite
camp: Recall Miner. or even fail to sup
port him, and you may say good-by to
British paramountcy in South Africa; say
good-by, even, to British dominion there
beyond the range of your ships guns
All eyes have been fixed this week
on England and the Transvaal. as they
have talked at each other in warlike tones.
that the work of the peace delegates at
The Hague has passed almost unheeded
yet they are nearing conclusions which to-
days kilograms suggest may contain the
germ of a worlds parliament side by side
with supreme court of all nations.
The latest and most formidable obstacle
came from Germany. The Kaiser SEEM
ingly saw in a permanent arbitration tri-
bunal a possible power greater even than
himself. Thus Germany showed decided
shyness but yesterday Cabinet messenger
reached The Hague from Berlin with fresh
instructions for Count Won Munster, and
other delegates forthwith wrote home for
fresh instructions on the new situation
thus created. OF course. Germany's assent
is important. but. in the opinion of the
delegates generally, is not apparently re-
garded as essential
The Spectator today with brutal frank
ness. forecasts failure. II says: "Arbitra-
tion judges. coming as most of them would
from supreme courts, which, on the Conti-
nent. are really branches of executives
would play rather the parts of advocates
than of judges" The Spectator" even
doubts If they would be above the kind of
temptation which ministers at CONSTANT
nople. Teheran and Pekin now offer in for
eign courts, frequently with success. in the
way of handsome bribes. AS for disarma-
ment, even Mr.. Stead writing yesterday
in the Dutch "Dagblad," admitted that
whatever the Peace Conference may decide
England must maintain her mastery of the
seas. 1T is a cruel necessity" he says;
without 1t the Empire inevitably would
fall to pieces, with universal war as the
sequel
Great have been the rejoieings this week
over India's victory in the Cambridge
Mathematical Tripos. Mr.. R. p. Paran-
jpye Of St Johns College, who came from
Bombay University is bracketed as senior
wrangler with Mr.. C. Birtwistle. son of
Lancashire ironmonger. Somewhat queer
the black man and the white man look
together in today's illustrated papers. 1t
is a striking reminder of England's far
reaching Empire, and the results of her at
titude toward the other races under her
dominion. Not without significance. too,
is the fact that the third and fourth wrang-
lers We're both educated at Melbourne
Australia. The woman wrangler was far
down this year, between the twenty-first
and twenty-fourth on the list
India also secured a triumph in the Brit
ish Parliament this week. Generally the
affairs of her three hundred millions are
huddled away to the dying days of the s.
sion in August, when a mere handful oi
a full debate all to herself, with the result
that the Commons refused to interfere
with the decision of her executive to i'm
pose counteryailing duties upon bounty
fed sugar imported into India. Among the
Liberals this acquieseence in India's de-
parture from free trade is regarded as the
beginning of a similar policy in favor o.
West Indian sugar, and whatever other
products of the British Empire are affected
lxs And 9TH rafur Fss4u
Newfoundland fish. for instance. Today's
kilograms from Jamaica hail the action Of
Parliament with delight, but quasi protec-
tionists who are pushing Mr.. Chamberlain
forward have to reckon with that stanel
freetrader in the Cabinet. Sir Michae
Hicks-B Beach, the Chancellor of the Ex.
chequer, and behind him stands a prepon
derance of the free trade opinion of th'
British Isles which the Golden Club. in il
reiuyenated form, is now keping alive I,
these possible developments.
The newly formed Liverpool School o
Tropical Diseases is despatching an expedi
tion TO Sierra Leone early in August TO in
vestigate the causes of malarial and othe
indigenous diseases. Major Ross heads tn
expedition, and intends TO continue III
methods he used when similarly emp!oye
by the Indian Government. He hopes L
prove the theory that malaria is caused b.
the bites Of certain species Of mosquito, o
their bites at certain seasons. Critics per
haps needlessly. remind him that thousand
OF people are bitten in the Mississippi
sWamps. in New Jersey, and in the Nil
Valley. without Developing malaria.
Sarah Bernhardt has kept the critic
busy this week oontending over her in
depreciation OF Hamlet, which she is play
ing at the Adelphi Theatre. They grum
bic because she rejects tradition and re
fuses TO play Hamlet as the melanchol
professor of Wiuemberg and plays hi!
in sprightly, mannish fashion as a ma
of great strength and great power
mind. intent on one thing, vengeance. ST
rejects, too. the eleyenth-century SUI
roundings, and dresses Hamlet in the day
OF ,'cannons and salyos Of artillery, thi
Is, according 10 the sixteenth century fasi
ions. Today she makes a strenuous dt
fence OF her position in the papers wit
a characteristic conclusion translatab
thus: Permit me to say that Shakes
peare. by his colossal genius, belongs
the universe. and that a French. a Gel
man. or a Russian brain has the right
admire and TO understand him
Mr. H. " Massingham. editor OF II
DAILY Chronicle, has been orderS
complete rest after a serious Illness, al
has gone to Norway for three months
his absence, the Chronicle" is leading
anti-Rhodes campaign The Daily New:
supports Sir Alfred Miners policy as II
most eifeetual safeguard of peace.
Has Shelley lost his hold in Anglo-Sa,
ondomg The fund started here and
America for erecting memorial at Hor
ham, his birthplace, has fallen very nat.
/. "A tNfIl lWsnN llr Arrs y