is not one man, but nine men, whose judgment and practical talent are employed."

Or,

Then, taking the Speech line by line, he goes on to show "what pretty stuff is put together, and delivered to the Parliament, under the name of King's Speeches." Similarly, we can imagine him taking even our shortest King's Speech on record, and pointing out such little errors as that "the establishment of the Union of South Africa has been fixed at the end of May," where "fixed for the end" should be read. again, in the fourth paragraph, the words, "I contemplate this visit, when My son will have the privilege, &c.," should read, "during which My son." And, in the same paragraph, the words "[My son] will convey to South Africa, on behalf of Myself and the Empire, our ardent prayers for the welfare," &c., imply a strange religious perversion, for, when we pray for the sick, we do not convey our prayers to the hospital, but offer them directly unto God, who is as near us here as in the next street. So, again, at the beginuing of the following paragraph, where the King is made to say, “In

The Nation.

conformity to the important measure,” every educated subject would say, "in conformity with." And as to those paragraphs of which Mr. Balfour appears chiefly to have complained, it would take pages of discussion fully to explain the possible meanings of such phrases as: "serious difficulties, due to recurring differences of strong opinion," and "these Measures, in the opinion of My advisers, should provide that this House" (meaning in grammar the House of Commons, but in reality the House of Lords), "should be so constituted and empowered," &c.

If we must drop the supposition of the Downing-Street butler, we can only suppose that what Cobbett considered an additional advantage in the framing of a King's Speech, is actually a hindrance, and the chief cause of its obscurity and bad grammar. It is not one man, he says, but nine men, whose judgment and practical talent are employed. That is just the worst of it. A committee can no more write a letter than it can write an ode. Too many cooks spoil the menu, and in the multitude of counsellors there may be Wisdom, but there is never Style.

Our village is situated beyond that wealthy country which lies between Amiens and Beauvais, whose cathedrals are two of the most magnificent in the world, for their nave and choir put together would realize the highest ideal of an architect. The village is small and unpretentious, but party feeling runs high. It was indeed a vital question which disturbed our peace. Before the opening of the local sugar refinery the roads were bad and cut up in wet weather. The constant passage of heavy carts between October

and February had, however, made reform urgent, and they were now decidedly above the average; but their upkeep was very costly. The sugar refiner contributed his share; but that was not enough. The peasantry wished for a super tax on him and on the Château, which, although they had little to say to the extra cost, had a broad back and must bear it. At the first ballot the Radical party had carried two out of the four candidates, who had recorded more than half the available votes; but the four other can

didates had not come up to these requirements and their seats were still vacant and had to be filled up. If the supporters of the Château were only unanimous, victory might yet be won; but the gardener had, without consulting anyone, put himself forward, and he had a deadly feud with the steward. It would be very difficult to carry both, and one had to withdraw. The gardener was a recent importation, and was given to understand that his heroism and self-sacrifice would be appreciated beyond measure if he would only withdraw, and he consented to do SO. He was, however, so full of his noble self-sacrifice that he boasted of it at the village inn. This nettled the steward, who at the last moment sent the drummer round the commune to announce his withdrawal. The result was a foregone conclusion. Two Radicals, two Conservatives, and one waverer were elected. The waverer was an intimate friend of Père Dupuy, the Radical candidate for the mayoralty, so that there was no doubt as to who would be elected mayor.

The sugar refiner saw there was a chance of saving the situation. He had up Danton, Père Dupuy's son-inlaw, who was in difficulties, and told him that he would see him through if he would only abstain from voting for his father-in-law. The matter seemed settled, and the Conservative party looked forward to certain victory. Unfortunately they had counted upon the result too soon. Piron, one of the municipal councillors, could neither read nor write; but he had taken every precaution. He had spent a whole day learning how to put together the six letters which went to make up the name of Lenoir, the Conservative candidate. When the votes came to be counted the Bureau disallowed his. It was true that his intention was perfectly clear beyond a doubt; still, the Bureau was hostile and exercised its

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discretion by refusing to recognize what was absolutely clear. The Conservative party was, however, somewhat relieved when it turned out that Père Dubois had made a mistake. had not dropped a ballot paper into the box, but a receipted bill. In most countries his vote would have been invalidated, but at S. Jean things are worked differently. When he asked leave at the counting to substitute his ballot paper for the receipted bill, the Bureau argued that his intention was clear and allowed the vote. The school-master was a strong Radical, but he had conscientious scruples and suggested that this was going rather far. He supported his argument by refer ence to the statute; but this did not matter, though his Radicalism was beyond reproach and he always was loudest in denouncing the rich at the Radical public-house. The Bureau told him to hold his tongue, and the délégué warned him that if the schoolmaster was not more careful he would have to report his disloyalty to the Republic to the authorities, and he naturally withdrew all protest in the face of such threats. This produced a tie, and then the older candidate is preferred in France. Père Dupuy, being the elder of the two candidates, was therefore declared duly elected, subject to the appeal lodged against the Bureau's refusal to admit the validity of Piron's vote. The matter came first before the Conseil de Préfecture at the chief town of the arrondissement. It was debated and argued for three days with all the eloquence the lawyers on both sides could command, but the verdict was a foregone conclusion, and Père Dupuy's election was duly confirmed. There was, however, another appeal to the Conseil d'Etat in Paris, a body which contains a sufficient number of men who are outside the reach of political pressure. In this case the judg ments not only of the Bureau but of the

Conseil de Préfecture were reversed, and Piron's vote was recognized as valid. The whole country was very much upset, as the new Mayor had been firmly installed in his seat, and it was never expected that any tribunal would ever think of unseating a supporter of the Government. The effect was, however, magical. Not only the waverer but one of the Radicals realized it was as well to be on good terms with the new Conservative Mayor, and rallied to his side, so that for the present the condition is absolutely peaceful and likely to remain so for the next three and a half years when the next Municipal election takes place. sugar refiner is, however, extremely anxious, and called some time ago at the Château. He realized he had himself no prospect of being elected Mayor, but M. le Comte was sure of success if he would only become a naturalized Frenchman. The Comte de Patates replied that he was extremely touched by this proof of confidence, but he was an Austrian and occupied a high position in his own country. Were he to become a naturalized Frenchman he would forfeit many privileges in his The Saturday Review.

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native land; but M. Legent failed to understand. Think what it would mean. He could then do what he liked with the commune, have a voice in the government of the department, more or less indirect, and perhaps some day or another be Deputy for the department. He could, moreover, appear in evening dress with a tricolor band round his chest and marry those who wished to be joined in holy matrimony. Could there be a finer position? and, after all, was not France a much grander country than any other? Refuse the dead certainty of being Mayor of S. Jean! No, he could not understand it. It was simply incredible. The prospect is not, however, absolutely hopeless. The servants of the Château can be registered as voters at S. Jean, and if only they can be depended on to give their votes for the Conservative candidate on the next occasion, the future will be absolutely secure. As it is the Mayor of S. Jean, a worthy publican and farmer, does his work quietly and unostentatiously and keeps the roads in good condition without endeavoring to increase the contribution of the Château or refinery to the local rates.

The murder of a benevolent and peace-loving old gentleman by broad daylight, in the library of his comfortable villa on Long Island Sound, is the mystery of Miss Edith E. Buckley's ingenious detective story, "The Snare of Circumstance," and to relieve from suspicion the victim's nephew and heir is the task set for himself by the bright young newspaper man who takes up the case after the police have failed. The interest is sustained through three hundred and fifty generous pages, with a pretty little romance to relieve the tension, and the charac

the Santrey ladies, "singularly calm in the decay of their fortunes," are delightful, and promise a story quite out of the common, but all too soon we are in the familiar atmosphere of the smart set of the metropolis, and the charm of the chapter called "Ceres' Daughter" scarcely compensates for "An Old Flame." The writer handles her situations cleverly, and is unusually successful in the portrayal of complex types of character, and her book is undeniably readable. But one suspects that it will fail of the appreciation its merits deserve through being too highly-spiced for some palates and too mild for others. Henry Holt & Company.

No more pungent or effective presentation of the negative side of the woman suffrage question has been made than is contained between the covers of the Rev. Dr. James M. Buckley's little volume on "The Wrong and Peril of Woman Suffrage," which the Fleming H. Revell Company publishes. Dr. Buckley dedicates his book "to men and women who look before they leap," and the form of the dedication expresses very well the spirit in which he writes. Those who are inclined to regard woman suffrage merely as an experiment, which may be straightway abandoned if its workings are not satisfactory, will find Dr. Buckley's reasoning enlightening. He does not regard nor treat the subject lightly. considers carefully all the arguments adduced in favor of woman suffrage and meets them with counter arguments. Conservative folk will find his little book an arsenal of weapons; and people who are considering this muchdiscussed question with an open mind will find it profitable to take their preliminary look in these pages before they leap.

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Readers of the symposium on "The

Psychology of Conversion" which The Living Age reprinted from The Nation in its issues for February 5 and February 19, will be interested to know that Harold Begbie's book "Broken Earthenware" which formed the text for that symposium has been reprinted in this country under the title "Twice-Born Men," by the Fleming H. Revell Company. This "clinic of regeneration," as the author calls it in his sub-title, is also described by him as a foot-note in narrative to Professor William James's "The Varieties of Religious Experience"; but Professor James, in a note warmly commending Mr. Begbie's book-writes "I might as well call my book a foot-note to his." However that may be, Mr. Begbie's book is so sincere and thrilling a recital of the experiences of certain of the most desperate specimens of abandoned men and women from the London slums who have been rescued to lives of purity and religious faith through the labors of a devoted Salvation Army adjutant that it forms a pleasing variation upon mere theological discussion by its vivid portrayal of the changes actually wrought by religion to-day upon material the most unpromising. Spiritual phenomena such as are here described call for some explanation; and the simplest and most obvious explanation is that they are as truly the direct result of the workings of the Son of Man as were the miracles of physical and spiritual healing which He wrought in Galilee. Mr. Begbie's book is full of hope and inspiration to those who believe in the latent possibilities of even the most hardened and desperate men and women.

Such sto

ries as those of "The Puncher," "The Tight Handful," "Old Born Drunk." "The Lowest of the Low," and even "The Apparent Failure," are of thrilling and vital interest and afford convincing evidence of the present-day power of religion.