New-York tribune., 1906-10-28
POLITICAL DIPLOMACY
BEHIND THE SCENES.
rspeci.l by French cabl. to III. Tribune
Gcopyrirht. 1906 by The Tribune AssocistiOn-I

quoted behind the scenes is more lfnpol ltaI lioil
The parliamentary play witnessed from the gal
1eries. The Prime Minister is revealing much
OF Mr.. McKinIey's talent for managing men OF
ELL parties The Trades Dispute bill has been
settled, after conferences by the Attorney Cen
ersl with the Labor group. and Its passage
Through the House Of Commons promises to be
smooth A compromise on the Education bill Is
more difficult, but will be probably arranged.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has idea of
wrecking the bill He is meeting the Prime
Minister and Mr.. Birrell and is making an
earnest effort to secure a compromise. Neither
the bishops nor the weightiest conservative peers
approve Lord Hugh Cecil's demonstration
against the bill at Trafalgar Square to-day.
when the conferences are I'm progress. Mr.
JIsrcourt's bill abolishing plural voting has the
unbroken support of the Liberal and the Labor
parties. The government is doing so well that
the Tory rulnors of the resignation of the Secre-
sary for Ireland and other Cabinet changes are
hardly credible. Equally premature is the report
that Winston Churchill will be Mr.. Bryces sue
cessor. The Opposition needs more sympathy
than the government.
WOMAN SUFFRAGE AGITATORS.
The appearance Of Richard Cobden's three
daughters in the Westminster police court WltE
many other refined and charming women as sup
porters of the suffrage agitators has been sign
that the labor movement has recruits in
tnEXp6cteG
in holloway prison as disturbers Of the peace
and among them are Mrs. Golden Sanderson,
Mrs Pethick Lawrence and Mrs Montefore
Other well known women also would be prison
ers among them being General Frenchs sisters
81 the police had not avoided arresting them.
THE motive for the assault upon Parliament and
the defiant conduct of the leaders in the police
court was the determination to command atten-
tion for the suffrage cause by violent measures
slal xiv I'd
VIII be the champion of the prisoners, and the
labor party may add woman suffrage to its
programme of reforms. 1t is open question
whether the cause will not be harmed rather
than benefited by the disorderiy episodes
Prejudice certainly will be increased among
men, and the apathy in the main body of women
who are Indifferent to political activities VIII
not be lessened.
NO MORE SENIOR WRANGLERS.
The doom of the Senior Wrangler has been
seaied at Cambridge by narrow majoritles III
favor of, the reform Of the mathematical tripos
and the abolition of this order Of merit within
three classes. The final honor lists in the eh-
arninations will cease TO be end in themselves.
and interest in broader and more progressive
achievements Of university scholarship VIII be
nron1oted The wooden spoon will not CO. Tor
snortive students will find somebody at the
bottom and crown him.
CHARLOTTE BRoNTB PORTRAIT
Clement Shorter has proved that experts ousi''
60 be calledGin before additions are made TO
national collections The portrait OF Charlotte
Bront9 recently acquired by the National Por-
trait Gallery would be unique literary memo
rial If genuine, for It bears the signature OF
Paul Heger her teacher at the Brussels school,
whose own portrait was drawn by her in the
professor in Jane Eyre" and ''Vinette.' The
ertists name is misspeIled. the date assigned for
the water color is impossible, and Paul Heger'
according TO his own son. was not the painter 10
these proofs of forgery is added the testimony
OF novelists and school friends that the sketch
does not resemble her genuine portrait painted
by George Richmond, which is now in the pos
session OF the Bronte family and will ultimately
be hung in the National Portrait Gallery.
THE BOOK CLUB WAR.
There is a dress parade of authors while hos
tilities are in progress over the Times Book
Club. Maurice Hewlett and other writers are
strongly on the side of the publishers but Mrs.
Humphry Ward and George Bernard Shaw
favor 'The Times There are many ineffective
proposals for a compromise. The only that
seems hopeful is Morris Colliss suggestion that
= the books sold TO The Times" shall have
special binding and that the privilege of second
~ hand purchase shall be reserved exclusively for
subscribers until the expira ton OF the period
Of six months from the date OF issue. Mobery
Bell expresses willingness to accept this COM
promise. The publishers are not convinced
that the close season be regulated in that
way with so many poachers outside the
Times" club. Meanwhile The Daily Mail"
starts literary supplement under Edmund
Cosses direction. Austin Dobson contributing
Characteristic valentine to the first number.
THE SOAP TRUST CAMPAIGN
The book war is q sham fight IN comparison
with the campaign against the Soap Trust. in
which the halfpenny press masses columns
like heavy battalions. 1t is in vain that The
Manchester Guardian proclairna that protec-
ton is the mother Of trusts and nonopolies and
that under the system OF free imports there
can be no British monopoly Of manufacturing
anything that can be imported Tho Daily
Mali goes on fighting the Soap Trust with tre-
mendous energy, forces it to give full weight
and produces evidence that combinations exist
in Free Trade England. This ought to have been
apparent long ago from the combinations of
the calico printing dyes and the bleaching
trades. and the wall paper, cotton spinning TO-
bsooo and iron industries. An antitrust law
with somebody like President Roosevelt to en-
force It seems necessary, but the tradition that
Free Trade renders trusts impossible dies hard
The poor unwashed might have lacked tbs
championship Of the halfpenny press if Mr.
Lever, the founder of the Soap Trust had NOT
been liberal Member of ParItarnan.
REAgSEMBLIEG OF PARLIAMENT.
The reassembling Of Parliament with q <uII
muster OF the lords has emptied country houses
but shooting parties and entertaining still oon-
tinue st Floors. Balnacaan and BaIna gowan.
whers the Duke of Roxburghe. the Bradley Mar