The Robbery of the Many in the Interests of a Few.

Well might Lowell exclaim: "There is more in names than most men dream of; and a lie may keep it's throne a whole age longer if it skulk behind the shield of some fair-sounding name."

A tariff, like war, is always prompted by the selfishness and greed of a few people, and promoted and maintained by a campaign of misrepresentation. It depends for its existence on a spirit of hatred against the so-called foreigner, and the ridiculously absurd idea that the people of another country, who desire to give you twenty shillings' worth of goods and take only fifteen shillings' worth of goods in payment, must be regarded as your natural enemies. It is in essence the very antithesis of the spirit of Christian Brotherhood, and it is as much opposed to sound economics as it is to the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount. Fortunately for the people of Britain, this great heresy, notwithstanding £1,000 dinners at noblemen's palaces, has so far failed to delude a majority of the people. With nations, as with individuals, if they deliberately turn their backs on the light of truth which they have seen, they are on the high road to destruction.

A few years later a further example of national anarchy was furnished by Austria in the unwarranted annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in flagrant defiance of the most solemn treaty obligations. Next came Italy, with her costly and iniquitous war with Turkey and the annexation of Tripoli, followed closely by the most bloody war of modern times amongst the Balkan States. And the end of international friction is not yet in sight. All the great European nations, including our own Motherland, and also the United States of America, are engaged in a mad race for the increase of naval armaments. Germany, France, and Austria have quite recently increased the burdens of taxation and the sacrifice of time on their respective peoples for the purpose of adding to their land forces; while Lord Roberts and as active organisation in England are [unclear: en-] deavouring to induce the British people to adopt a system of universal military training, in imitation of their continental neighbours.

The revolutions and counter-[unclear: revoha] tions in China and Mexico, and the wide-spread unrest in pur great Indian [unclear: En] pire, though marked by anarchy, may [unclear: be] taken as national struggles tending [unclear: to] wards the larger freedom.

When we survey the internal [unclear: affair] of our own Motherland we find the [unclear: o] Conservative party, which used to [unclear: prea] veneration and respect for law and [unclear: order] and which claimed to be the bulwark [unclear: o] constitutional government, setting [unclear: th] constitution at naught in a frantic [unclear: eff] to preserve the unjust privileges [unclear: of] class, and turning the mother of [unclear: paria] ments into a Donnybrook Fair. At [unclear: th] present time the leaders of the [unclear: Tor] party are openly preaching sedition [unclear: an] rebellion to the people of Ulster, [unclear: an] encouraging armed opposition to a [unclear: la] being passed by a substantial [unclear: major] of the members of the Imperial [unclear: Parl] ment. Apparently the Conservative [unclear: ide] is that submission to law and order [unclear: a] only a virtue when the laws have [unclear: been] passed by themselves. The [unclear: constit] is only worthy of support so long [unclear: as] can be used as a bulwark for the [unclear: pro] tion of the unjust privileges of their [unclear: o] order.

Then we have the Militant [unclear: Suffrage] Movement—one of the most [unclear: remarn] developments of modern times. [unclear: High] bred, cultured ladies intent on [unclear: breakin] every law, destroying property and [unclear: mak] ing orderly meetings impossible, in [unclear: ord] to secure the passing of another [unclear: la] which they desire. The absurdity of [unclear: e] cluding women on the grounds of [unclear: s] from the right to participate in the [unclear: ele] tion of those who make the laws, [unclear: whi] women as well as men have to obey. [unclear: T] such that any civilised country ought [unclear: t] be ashamed to maintain it in this [unclear: 2] century; but the Suffragettes' method securing redress is equally absurd anarchical to the last degree.