forget,

In England here, among the daffodils,

That there in France are fields unflowered yet,

And murderous May-days on the unlovely hills—

Let them go walking where the land is fair

And watch the breaking of a morn in May,

And think, "It may be Zero over there,

But here is Peace"—and kneel awhile, and pray.

"Surely one result of the war will be that civilised races will regard the German as an outcast unfit to associate with or to have dealings with on equal terms. If he is able to say 'tu grogue' we shall put ourselves in a false position."—Times of India.

For ourselves, we decline to do this. We shall simply call him another.

FOR SERVICES RENDERED.

A GERMAN DECORATION FOR BRITISH STRIKERS.

ESSENCE OF PARLIAMENT.

Our racing correspondent writes that Mr. Lloyd George is having some difficulty with his string (Sinn Fein's Beauty Ginnell, All and More for Ireland Redmond, and Ulster Carson) for the Irish Grand National.

Monday, May 14th.—No longer will the First Sea Lord be distracted from his primary duty of strafing the Hun by the necessity of looking after supplies. That function will now be discharged by an hon. and temp. Vice-Admiral, in the person of Sir Eric Geddes, late hon. and temp. Major-General and Director of Transportation to the Army in France, and now Shipbuilder-in-Chief to the nation. Everyone seemed pleased, with the notable exception of Mr. Hogge, who cannot understand why all these appointments should be showered upon Sir Eric Geddes, when there are other able Scotsmen still unemployed. A late hon. Admiral of the Fleet, now residing at Potsdam, is believed to share Mr. Hogge's objections.

The hardships endured by the criminal classes when they are so unfortunate as to get into prison always strikes a sympathetic chord in the gentle breast of Mr. Edmund Harvey. His latest discovery is that they are allowed the use of writing-paper not more than once a month; and for the rest of the time have to entrust their literary compositions to the unsympathetic surface of a slate, with the aid of a probably squeaky slate-pencil. Could John Bunyan have written The Pilgrim's Progress under such conditions? The question opens up a vista of speculation as to the influence of environment upon the creative faculty; and it is not surprising that Mr. Brace was unable to answer it offhand.

In ordinary times the Financial Secretary of the Treasury is the most important Member of the Government outside the Cabinet. Under the present régime he is not a member of the House at all. It is true that Mr. Baldwin takes his place as Parliamentary whipping-boy to the Chancellor of the Exchequer with much grace and good humour; but that does not satisfy hon. Members, who want a more substantial object for their daily castigation. The debate on this subject revealed a sharp division of opinion between Mr. Edwin Montagu and Mr. Herbert Samuel. Cousin Edwin, as an ex-Secretary of the Treasury, did not think the House had suffered any serious loss through being unable to cross-examine that official direct. Cousin Herbert was shocked at this revolutionary sentiment coming from his kinsman. If it were accepted there was no logical reason why even the Chancellor of the Exchequer should have a seat in the House. Why, indeed, have Ministers at all? A row of gramophones, ranged along the Treasury Bench and supplied with officially prepared records, would satisfy all legitimate curiosity.

Tuesday, May 15th.—I forget how many weeks ago it is since Mr. Bonar Law announced that the Government were going to make one more effort to settle the Irish Question, and that in due course the Prime Minister would announce their proposals. Since then events have conspired to produce successive postponements. Mr. Lloyd George had to go to France—for the War refuses to stop even though Irishmen decline to encourage it—Mr. Redmond fell ill, Archbishop Walsh indited a postscript, and an election in South Longford suggested doubts as to whether Nationalist M.P.'s were really the Irish nation after all. Nevertheless there is a plan; and it is to be communicated, but in the first instance to the leaders of Irish parties only, and then, if they please, to the Press, and finally, perhaps, to the House of Commons.

Wednesday, May 16th.—We all want to help the new Russian Government in its difficult task, but I doubt if Mr. Snowden and his pacifist friends have contributed to that end by inviting the House of Commons to endorse forthwith the "no annexation, no indemnities" declaration of a section of the Revolutionaries, and by supporting their proposal in a series of speeches which might be summed up in the words "Peace at any Price." Even the German Chancellor will not be wholly pleased, for the debate revealed that, apart from the seven or eight gentlemen who follow the white flag of the Member for Blackburn, the House is absolutely fixed in its determination to defeat German militarism before talking of peace.

After the searching analysis to which the hon. Member's confident statements were subjected by Lord Robert Cecil and Mr. A.F. Whyte there was nothing left of them but a trace of acid.

So far as I am aware the Member for Blackburn has never endangered the integrity of his principles by helping his country in any way to win the War. In this respect Mr. Lees Smith, who seconded the motion, has a less consistent record, for he has worn khaki as an orderly of the R.A.M.C. But in his case service abroad seems only to have confirmed his peculiar principles, for he thinks that we ought to return the German colonies, and enable the natives to enjoy once again the blessings of Kultur. If he ever saw the Hun while he was in France it must have been through a pair of rose-tinted binoculars.

Thursday, May 17th.—We are all agog to know whether the Prime Minister's offer of immediate Home Rule to twenty-six Counties of Ireland is to be blessed or banned by the Nationalists. This is the day when Irish Questions have priority, and the House hears such important inquiries as whether Hibernian holiday-makers will have their excursion-trains restored to them; what became of a side of bacon captured by the police during the Easter Monday rebellion, and why a certain magistrate should have been struck off the Commission of the Peace for a trifling refusal to take the oath of allegiance. Are we to go