The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-21
LONDON NEWS AND GOSSIP.
Secretary chamPerIain's Dream of .
Cooperative Empire.

Il
but Lord Salisbury is in no hurry, and al
political England has to wait. What ar
we to do with him?i' one Minister is repre-
scented as saying to another. What will
he do with USE" is the reply. The him
is. of course Mr.. Chamberlain, and Ii
those two queries you have the whole polit
ical situation of the present moment.
The Ministerial majority In the new Par
lament is for the most part Of his max
ing, and the dominating question is, wha
is his price? The public, at all events
seems to have settled down to the con
viction that Mr.. Chamberlain himself viii
retain the Colonial Office, even though j
becomes more and more difficult to set
how he can realize what his friends say i
the great remaining ambition of his public
life, namely, the solidif1cation of the EN-
pire into compact trade unit. He him
self has declared that without one pre-
liminary condition he would not touch
any inter-tmperial preferential tariff pro-
posal with pair Of tongs. That pre-
liminary condition is the abolition Of
colonial tariffs against British manufac-
lures.
II free trade were assured within the
Empire Mr.. Chamberlain would himself
be prepared to face the British electorate
with proposals for duties against Amer
lean wheat, dairy, and other food prod
ucts, Argentine wool, French wines, Dan
ish butter, and all foreign food products
competing with colonial exports to British
markets. 1t is as throwing light on this
| attitude OF Mr.. Chamberlain that next
months Canadian elections attract ex-
ceptional attention, and so far as the Ca
madam campaign is reflected here it seems
| evident that Mr.. Chamberlain's essential
| condition will not be granted, for the
| simple reason that in Canada, as in Au-
| stralia, the taxation of British imports
is the chief source of revenue, and no poll
tician, colonial or British, has yet devised
means Of keeping the colonial administra-
ton going without it. Australia, under
her new federation, will, 1t is already
clear, be similarly dependent upon tariffs
against British manufactures, and so Brit
ish Zollverein schemes are for time sus-
pended In midair.
For all that Mr.. Chamberlain is ex-
pected to retain the Colonial Secretary
ship II for nothing else, to attempt to
| set South Africa on her feet again, and
really he may find there more scope than
any other available office could give him.
! The Premiership is not vacant the For
eisn Secretaryship Lord Salisbury and
the old section of Toryism will never
| entrust to him. The War Secretaryship
would offer q magnificent chance for re-
| contructive craftsmanship if the Minis
| try and their Tory and aristocratic allies
really wanted it, but what evidence is
| there that they would even tolerate it :?
| AS for the Chancellorship of the Ex-
| chequer it is at this moment the most
thankless post for any but a second
Gladstone or, Hareourt. eager for finan-
| cial reform.
Experts, without political bias of any
| kind, are agreed that British finance will
need all the craftsmanship it can get
| during the next few years. The imperial
| Exchequer must pay the bulk of the war
outlay. The utmost the Orange and Vaal
River colonies can pay is fS0,00o,0C0, and
| unless the new Chancellor of the Ex-
| chequer is very firm with the financial
| houses who have so much to do with the
government OF South Africa they will pay
| no more than f2o.000,c00. The imperial
EIchequer must also pay a considerable
part of the cost Of governing the new
colonies. Then Great Britain must be
prepared to face period of declining
trade. The revenue is not coming up to
expectations. and already there are fore
| bodings as to the balancing OF the Ieve-
nue. and the expenditure. The Chancellor
can hardly escape heavily increased
charges for the army, and today the
Navy League starts a campaign in the
press FOR increased outlay the navy.
The sinking fund of the national debt,
Suspended on account Of the war emer-
gency. must be resumed, and there are
the charges in connection with the fund
ing of outstanding debts incurred on
account of the war. China, too, is an
expensive item just now. Altogether, the
taxpayer has pretty bill to face, and
the only Chancellor who will make a
reputation is one who will seize the
coming period of strain to effect another
such radical revision Of taxati-n as made
Sir William Harcourt and his death
duties the pet aversion of plutocratic
England.
Irish Nationalism may prove powerful
factor in the new Parliament under Will
lam OBrien's lead. The one element
against that leadership, Healyism. returns
from the electorate severely crippled Mr.
Davitt's estimate shows that every Healey-
lite Of the second rank has been cleared out |
of the party. Besides Arthur O'Connor and
T. d. Sullivan there has been sweeping |
away OF less well-known men like DR.. Com |
minis, Messrs Molloy. Gibney, and Engle- |
don. whose sole fault Mr. Davitt says, |
in the support they gave to Mr.. |
Healy. In their stead men have been |
chosen who accept Mr.. O'Brien's leader
elections have put him in such position
Of authority that he can dictate the policy
of the solid Nationalist party, as big a
party as Mr.. Parnell had when he brought |
Parliament and the Ministry to bay The
Dublin correspondent of the
Manchester Guardian says today: There
will be an attempt to revive in an aggra-
waited form the old policy of obstruction
nodded on the German tactics in Vienna,
ms Cfrfa eli |
spectacle in 1878. If this
plan really has been mapped out, new men
will do very well for work under the guild
ance Of seasoned parliamerterians. 1t must
be said too. that the conduct of the Rose
berry Liberals will be largely responsible,
Il policy OF desperation is adopted by the |
1ew Irish party. There are very bad re-
ports from the West. The potato crop is
n peril. What that means we all know"
Theatrical London is dull beyond meas
lre. Mediocrity is written over all the
Dlayhouses which are attempting novelties
At the Haymarket there is Julia Nelson's
revival of THE School for Scandal" and
The German plays hold their own at St.
Georges Hall and the Comedy Theatre
Last night Gerhadt Hauptmann's play.
'Fuhrmann Henschel,' was produced for
he first time in England. 1t excites in
crest by reason of it's powerful presenta-
ion of low-life characters, all talking the
'ilesian dialect. Its theme is the destruc-
ion Of an honest but somewhat feeble
nan by a vile woman. not a temptress of
my fascinating qualities. but a common
,lace drudge with nothing to recommend
Ter except he: rude health. great animal
pirits, and a supposed talent for the man.
cement of household affairs. Ibsen's
Ghosts" proved failure at the St.
ieorge's Hallse The censor forbade a pub
ic performance, but the play in its stage
proved too revolving even for q
MEMBERS of the German Dramatic Society
nd the guests WHIP gathered at the pri-