The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-10-12


 experience with the question is in order. Protection against ''aliens. is demanded by the working classes; but, then, their voice is without much potency in our pol itics. Some of our economists raise a scare every once and while with respect to surplus population" and the necessi- 'ty of exporting it to foreign lands. They fear that population will. increase beyond the means of subsistence, and that hor- rible social catastrophe will result. The advent of rapid transit which enables London to draw food from Manitoba to- day as readily as 1t counld from Lincoln shire a century ago. has dlspelled, or ought to have dispelled, that deluson. Given the power of drawing food sup plies from elsewhere. there is absolutely no limit to the number of people who may subsist upon any particular area of the earth's surface beyond the necessity for elbow-room and breathing space In the sixteenth century the prospect of population of 100000 people in London filled short-sighted people with the dlrest alarm. A century ago had any one pie tured the aggregation of 6,00OOO0 of people within the area of Greater London, there would have been equal horror at the prospect. Experience should teach us that 1t is well within the bounds of pos .sibility that the London of the twenty first gentry may number twelve millions of inhabitants, and that there Is nothing In that to be afraid of So far as means of subsistence" go, any number of men can live in any country which is in free communication with another country having surplus foodstuffs to sell them
 
 Among the many interesting subjects which come up for discussion at this sea- son of the year is that of clerical pow erty. As far as can be judged from the data available the aggregate revenue of the church from all sources Is amply sufficient to provide a living wage for even the humblest parson, and suitable prizes for the more useful industrious, and gifted though it may not be suffi- eient, If dealt with on this principle, to. enable a few Lords Spiritual to enjoy the revenues of Lords Temporal There is no 1oubt that the poverty of many of the .lergy is becoming crying scandal, and the evil is to all appearance likely to in- crease until drastic steps are taken to deal with it.
 The uncertainty as to the Royal ar engagements in connection with the great COrOnat1On DurDar IS set at rest Dy A4oiu Curzon's authoritative announcement that the Duke and Duchess of Connaught will go to Delhi as the official represent atives of the King and Queen. Great in- forests attaches to the viceroys further statement that he had asked the King to be crowned Emepror of India at Del hi in person, and that his majesty not only received the idea with the utmost favor, but was only prevented from car l,.rf fI,o opf Af inability to leave England for sufti- ciently long period. In. view of the con- stant advances in the science of loeomo- tion, there is no need to despair of the advent of a time when 1t may be possi- ble for a sovereign of the British Empire to be crowned Emperor of India in the presence of his oriental subjects. Mean while there is every indication that the coming Dunbar will be the most brilliant state function ever held in British India, and no efforts to that end are being spared by Lord Curzon, whose declara7 ton of his intention to remain at the post to which he has achieved such un- qualified success until his full term Of office has expired will be received with universal satisfaction.
 
 can remember the time when George Eliot was ranked by the Spectator, In burst of its gushing enthusiasm, with Shakespeare. Today the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that she holds, most unjustly, lower popular place than either Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte. Perhaps 1t Is the bal last of a rather dreary philosophy whlch has sunk her novels. for she seems to have worn CT fame, as Mime. de Stael dld hers as fthe splendid mourning of plain woman for happiness" Sir Leslie Stephens restores her to her true place In the estimation of all thoughtful read ers in saving: "When l compare her work with that of other novelists, l can not doubt that she had powers of mind and a richness of emotional nature rare- ly equalled."
 The references that have been made In the papers to the split in the ranks of the Belfast Orangemen give but faint Idea of the fury of this internecine feud. The two factions into which the Protest ant Association has divided are now so vigorously anathematising one another that they hardly have breath or time to curse the Pope. There are, in fact, two rival societies. each claiming to be the only genuine Protestant organization, and the stump orators on each side be- spatter the opposition with the virulent abuse that they formerly concentrated upon the Church of Rome.
 Jhe Emperor Nicholas has presented The Grand Duchess Helen with a palace at the enc of the kings garden in Athens as a wedding gift. The word palace" is misleading term There are, strictly | speaking no palaces in Athens save the yellow German-looking big house that 1 King Otho built to serve as royal resi- l dence TEe palace of the Duke of Sparta | In the Place of the Constitution is a 1 gmall house out of elegant appearance, with q white marble facade. S~at of the | Grand Duchess Helen is at the end of the | royal garden nearest to the Gate of Ha- | drian and the Ilissus, river with just | enough of water to be nursery for mos | quitoec. The Kings garden is really | grove. It enables the property of the | Scot, Fifilay, about which Lord Palmer stcn mace such a bother. The shade is extremely grateful in the forenoon and | early afternon during nine out of the | twelve months. Of course, the Granu | Duchess will have the run of this pleas ure ground. which is open to the public | from three in tne afternoon until sunset. |
 
 Many papers have announced a coming | marriage between the hereditary Grand | Duke Michael of Russia and Princess | Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.N No such l marriage could possibly take place. the | pair being first cousins and the union of | such relatives being positively prohi51t- | ed by the statutes of the Orthodox | church. If any member of the imIterial | family could marry first cousin it Is | absolutely certain that Princess Louise of | T 1...