JN 
 227 
 1885 
 H67c 
 
 HOFFMANN 
 
 aHi catechism of politics 
 
 Q 5
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 Wt '■■ 
 
 OF 
 
 ^R^' 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 B'l-.' 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 H '"" 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 ■ A
 
 A CATECHISM OF POLITICS.
 
 1/
 
 ^^-v^- 
 
 A GATE 
 
 OF 
 
 POLITICS, 
 
 FOE THE USE OF THE NEW ELECTORATE, 
 
 IN WHICH 
 
 Evert Question of Political Importance, beaking uroN 
 
 THE Current Events of the Dat, is Answered 
 
 FROM A Common-Sense Point of Yietv. 
 
 FREDERICK A. HOFFMANN 
 
 (^Author of " Stray Leaves from Gladstone's Diary," " Shadorvi 
 of Coming Events" " Conservative Reaction" S)-c., S,'c.). 
 
 LONDON : 
 WARD & DOWNEY, 12, YORK ST., COVENT GARDEN 
 
 1885. 
 \_All rights reserved.']
 
 rUIXTEl) BY 
 
 KELLY AND CO GAI E f-lUKET, LINCOLN'S INN FltLDS, 
 
 AND KJNOSTON-ON-THAUES.
 
 >- 
 ■< 
 
 QC 
 00 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 
 Ul 
 
 C5 
 
 3= 
 
 I. iNrRODUCTION 
 
 II. — The CoxsTiTcrrioxAr- Party 
 I [I. — EauAL Rights 
 IV, — Trade and Taxes 
 V. — Expenditure 
 
 VI. FEDRRVnON 
 
 PAGB 
 
 7 
 15 
 2G 
 38 
 49 
 55 
 
 390769
 
 TO THE ELECTOES. 
 
 It is understood that the General Election 
 will take place in November. The time 
 for preparation has therefore begun. 
 Those will be wise who turn that time to 
 the best account. This can be done by 
 investigating, each one for himself, the 
 questions which are soon likely to be 
 forced on his attention. Let us glance 
 over these questions briefly before ex- 
 amining them catechetically. 
 
 First, as to Land. You will be informed 
 by Eadical election agents of a proposal 
 by which the farmer and the labourer are 
 to have the first claims on the land, and 
 the owner to have what remains. It is
 
 8 JNTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 proposi'd that this tlicory shall i^pply to 
 uncnltivatrd hind, but, of course, your 
 own st'USL' will tell you at once that the 
 right of coiiipahory cultivation, once ad- 
 mitted, must strike at the ownership of the 
 soil, riainly the proposal is this, that all 
 land which at any time a hindowner cannot 
 let will be taken possession of by the State, 
 and, after the farmer and labourer are 
 satisfied, the balance will be paid to the 
 nominal owner. You will see that this is 
 State-theft and corruption of liberty. You 
 may, perhaps, be a farmer, or a labourer 
 (I presume as well that }-ou are an Eng- 
 lishman), but, to understand the question 
 really, you must place yourself in the 
 imaginary position of a landow' ner. Then 
 pause to ask yourself why 30U should be 
 aelecle.l as the object of spoliation, while
 
 INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 Mr. Chamberlain, the patron of this teach- 
 ing, should be allowed to enjoy, in purely 
 selfish luxury, the enormous wealth which 
 he has wrungf from the sweat of his 
 operatives. Ask yourself why theft 
 should be legalised to deprive you of 
 what you may have bought, or, maybe, 
 inherited from those who bought it for you 
 with their lives and services, while Mr. 
 Bright's fortune, founded on the long-hour 
 factory system, the limitation of which, by 
 the Ten Hours' Act, he opposed to the last, 
 and which was carried in the House of Lords 
 by the votes of the Bishops among other 
 peers, should remain untouched ? Ee- 
 member also, that when farming is bad, 
 either through bad seasons, bad laws, or 
 bad prices, the landlord always feels the 
 first pinch, while the blood-sucking capi-
 
 ^0 JMJiOnUCTlOX. 
 
 talists bask witli fat -bellied impunity in the 
 glitter of llu'ir own gokl. And mark, also, 
 the danger tliat lurks in the principle of 
 the thing. The farmer and labourer are 
 associated in the question. But ask 
 yourself : Why favour the farmer ? It is 
 the labourer who works, and, if farmers 
 lose the support of the landowners, they 
 will speedily become the prey of the 
 labourers. And you, who are labourers, 
 do you imagine then that you will have it 
 all your own way? Do you think the 
 liadicals are actuated by a love for you ? 
 Xo ; it is intense hatred of the landowners ! 
 It is hard to tell you that you are being 
 fooled ; but it will be harder when you 
 come to realise it. The realisation of your 
 dream will be a life of veritable slavery, 
 and you will find yourself, like your agri-
 
 INTB OD VCTION. 1 1 
 
 cultural neighbours in France, driven by 
 sheer necessity to spend your nights and 
 days in grindiny and continual work in 
 order to live at all. 
 
 Secondly. You will hear the House of 
 Lords assailed on the grounds of its past 
 conduct. You will be told that no wonder 
 things are bad, taxes are heavy, landlords 
 are shot in Ireland, and Fenians come over 
 and make disturbances, if there is a House 
 of Lords. You will have leaflets put into 
 your hands abounding in misrepresentations 
 and misstatements, in which the peers will 
 be asserted to have done this, that, and the 
 other, antagonistic to your particular 
 interests. But you will observe that in 
 each case the peers are condemned for 
 " spoiling Radical measures," " discrediting
 
 1 2 lyTIt OD VCTION. 
 
 Ixadical principles," and so on. In every 
 case you will see that the exigencies of 
 });irty are placed before those of public 
 utility. 
 
 TlIIKDIA', AS laXiAKDS THE ClIL'KCII. TllC 
 
 Eadicals are said to be " working to put an 
 end to the special power which the State 
 gives to the Church of England, and they 
 wish to have the enormous wealth of the 
 Church spent for the good of church and 
 chapel alike." Now, before you swallow 
 such nice nonsense as this, you must calcu- 
 late the gains and the losses which the 
 question will involve. Remember that the 
 secularisation of Church property which 
 Disestablishment means will mean for you 
 the beginning of religion over again from 
 its foundations. Get your friend the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 parson to tell you the true side of the 
 question before you vote. 
 
 Fourthly. It is not improbable that 
 Eepublicanism will be held up as a luscious 
 morsel for innocent ignorance. You must 
 tell your Eadicals that if they can get 3^ou 
 a Republic without a revolution you will 
 have it, but that you love your lives and 
 your families too much to enter on a bloody 
 campaign which is to give you, in the end, 
 you-know-not-what. Ask them what the 
 new society and the new politics are to do 
 for you — what more they will give you in 
 the way of freedom, morals, literature, or 
 relisfion. Under the mixed Constitution of 
 this country your lives and property have 
 hitherto been secure ; the settled and 
 ascertained opinion of the nation has been
 
 14 JXrUODITTIOX. 
 
 suflicient to accomplish all necessary 
 clianijes. Seek to know, then, for what 
 gain, now, agitation against the Constitution 
 is afloat, private property is attacked, and 
 spoliation advocated. Notice that they 
 promise to free anything and everything 
 that does not belong to them. Ask them why 
 they do not commence with themselves — 
 start dividing their own enormous riches ? 
 If they object to this idea, ask them if they 
 had not better begin by giving the world a 
 new Decalogue ? 
 
 Lastly. Attend political meetings and 
 weigh what you hear. You don't want 
 things described by their negatives. See 
 that the idea is made clear, not that it is 
 made affecting to the imagination only.
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PAETY. 
 
 " The Tory Party is only in its proper position 
 when it represents popular principles. There it is truly 
 irresistible. Then it can uphold the Throne and the 
 Altar, the Majesty of the Empire, the Liberty of the 
 Nation, and the Rights of the Multitude. There is 
 nothing mean, petty, or exclusive about the real 
 character of Toryism. It necessarily depends upon 
 enlarged sympathies, and noble aspirations, because it 
 is essentially national." — Beaconsfield. 
 
 Q. What are the primary things which 
 the British Electors will have to consider 
 at the coming election ? 
 
 A. Whether they will be guided in po- 
 litical life by experience, or by socialistic 
 notions of the Eights of Man and Equality. 
 
 Q. What political party do you favour ? 
 
 A. The party that protects English
 
 16 .1 (WTl'dfTSM OF POLITICS. 
 
 interests best, ami tlicrefore of necessity 
 the Constitntional party — nominally " Con- 
 servative." 
 
 Q. Why of "necessity" in this respect, 
 the Conservative l)arty ? 
 
 A. Because the Conservative party is 
 the only truly Xalional party: in the 
 words c)f its late lamented leader — "Un- 
 less it is a National party it is nothing ; 
 it is not a Democratic multitude, it is a 
 party formed from all the numerous 
 classes in the realm — classes alike equal 
 before the law, l^ut whose different con- 
 ditions and different aims give vigour and 
 variety to our national life." 
 
 Q. Between what political parties will 
 the electoral struggle lay ? 
 
 A. Between Conservatives and Radicals 
 — Constitutionalism and Communism. 
 
 (2. What are the respective claims of 
 each upon the new voters ? Have you 
 nothing to give them but what is already 
 provided under the Constitution ?
 
 THE CONSTITUTIOXAL PARTY. 17 
 
 A. No ; we have no bribes to offer them ; 
 we cannot promise to make them peren- 
 nially happy by the mere magic of an Act 
 of Parliament ; we have no plunder to offer 
 them, either from the land, the Church, or 
 the State. 
 
 Q. How then do j^ou expect to secure 
 their votes ? 
 
 A. By simply pointing out to them 
 that settled order is their greatest 
 blessing ; that if ever they are raised from 
 their present position they must raise them- 
 selves., for no laws and no parliaments can 
 do it for them ; that our land system, our 
 Church system, and other " anomalies," 
 anathematized by Radicals, go down to the 
 very foundations of our Constitution, and 
 cannot be uprooted without such a revolu- 
 tion as would mean for them ruin or even 
 worse. 
 
 Q. You will be at a disadvantage. 
 Radical teachings require nothing 
 more than a selfish soul, and a craving 
 
 2
 
 18 -1 (ATLCHISM OF POLITTCS. 
 
 Stomach to understand them, while 
 the teachings of Conservatism re([uire 
 some knowledge of human nature and 
 history. 
 
 A. This is exactly what must be pointed 
 out to them. They must be taught that 
 then have duties as well a.s ri<jhts ; that as 
 Englishmen they are necessarily citizens of 
 the British Empire, which, founded by 
 Britons, and bought by British blood, 
 should be populated and farmed by British 
 men and women. 
 
 Q. Why ! there are too many people to 
 live on the land as our fathers did. 
 
 A. Just so ; but our fathers had not the 
 safe and easy outlet to the Colonies that 
 we have now. How much better would it 
 be for the Eadical school to cry " emigra- 
 tion " — for rich and poor alike, who choose 
 — than to preach a system of " confis- 
 cation," which must eventually overturn 
 the country, and ruin the people ? 
 
 Q. It is said, that, bearing upon the
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY. 19 
 
 current questions of the da}^, the Con- 
 servative party have no pohcy ? 
 
 A. That is a mistake. The Conservative 
 policy is nothing more than Liberal policy 
 nationalised. All that is good in the 
 Liberal programme is to be found in that 
 of the Conservatives ; it in the method of at- 
 tainment only which is different — one revo- 
 lutionary, the other reformatory. 
 
 Q. But during the recent five years' 
 Liberal reign, what policy had ever the 
 Tories to offer in exchange for whatever 
 the}^ may have condemned P 
 
 A. It is the business of an Oppposition 
 to oppose. Yet, apart from the great 
 questions of Church and State, the rights 
 of property, the maintenance of the Com- 
 mons and the Crown — in a word, the pre- 
 servation, under altered circumstances, of 
 the mixed constitution of this country, the 
 Conservative party did intimate the 
 foreign, the fiscal, and the financial policy 
 they would pursue when they were in
 
 20 A fATiyrrisM of poltttcs. 
 
 office. Its fullihnent has, in fact, already 
 commenced. 
 
 Q. Can yoii stale the fiscal and financial 
 policy laid down by the Conservatives? 
 
 ^4. These will be found under our head- 
 in<r, " 'I'rade and Taxes." 
 
 (I. What are the Conservative views 
 about property ? 
 
 .1. Brielly, that no rights are -safe where 
 property is not safe. As in France in the 
 last century, and as in Ireland today, 
 punishment, imprisonment and death follow 
 swiftl}' by some mysterious law on the heels 
 of confiscation. That a policy which sets 
 class against class, and fills all men's 
 minds with disquiet and mistrust, is the 
 most dangerous thing for history, and the 
 poisoner of trade and commerce.* 
 
 Q. What are their views on stagnation 
 of trade ? 
 
 A. That it means want of capital em- 
 
 * " The Tory Policy of the Marquis of Salisbury," 
 hy P. H. Bagenall, b.a.
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY H 
 
 barked in trade ; and that attacks on the 
 security of tenure in property make the 
 capitalist shrink into his shelL Such at- 
 tacks have ah'eady done a large share of 
 their evil work. Land is no longer looked 
 upon as the safest and soundest of all pos- 
 sible investments ; capital is being driven 
 from the land, and we are getting to a state 
 of affairs in which it will be impossible for 
 agriculture to survive. 
 
 Q. What is their policy respecting Impe- 
 rialism and Federation ? 
 
 A. Their policy, as respects the former, is 
 to open up the markets of the world to this 
 country, and for this reason they would ex- 
 tend the empire. Their policy in respect to 
 the latter will be found under the heading, 
 " Federation." 
 
 Q. What measures have they recom- 
 mended which may be said to be for the 
 welfare of the people ? 
 
 A. Did not the late Lord Cairns, sup- 
 ported by a Conservative Cabinet, do more
 
 22 .1 CAT/.-cn/SM OF POLITICS. 
 
 than any otlwr politician to free the hands 
 of the would-be purchasers of land ? Was 
 not Sir Richard Cross the first to introduce 
 any really practical plan for dealing with 
 the re-housing of the poor ? And now, is it 
 not the Marquis of Salisbury who, by his 
 speeches and writings, has made himself 
 responsible for a still larger measure of 
 reform in this field ? 
 
 (2- What do you regard as the most 
 urgent reform of the day ? 
 
 A. The re-housing of the poor. It con- 
 cerns the social well-being of the people ; 
 it has deeper philanthropic than political 
 importance, and we were fully confident that 
 Lord Salisbury would redeem his pledges in 
 regard to it. He is doing so. 
 
 Q. To what other measures of import- 
 ance have the Conservatives pledged them- 
 selves ? 
 
 A. To set on foot an exhaustive enquiry 
 into the present depression of trade, and to 
 make a new departure in taxation. Against
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY. 23 
 
 the latter the Liberals are arrayed as one 
 man, and it will be a struggle by the 
 Conservatives of Right against Might ; 
 but the former is emphatically a ques- 
 tion for the workinsf man to decide, 
 and we feel certain that it will ultimately 
 become the question which will prove 
 to the British workmen that the Con- 
 servative is the only party which 
 considers their real as opposed to their 
 temporary advantage. 
 
 Q, How do the Conservatives stand in 
 relation to the Drink Question ? Will they 
 pledge themselves at the coming election 
 to assist what is called the " Temperance 
 Movement." 
 
 A. We think so, but at least we hope 
 they will pledge themselves with discre- 
 tion. Not loner since two members of 
 Parliament were returned for a large town 
 solely through the influence of two clergy- 
 men, who persuaded many of the voters to 
 reject the proper men because they would
 
 •:i A CAjrAllISM UF POLITICS. 
 
 not pleilge themselves to assist the " Tem- 
 perance " cause. 
 
 il. What tlo you see mischievous in 
 that y 
 
 .1. l^iniply this, that lliose men have 
 since voted for Atheism and tlie disesta- 
 bUshment of the Church (from which they 
 obtained their support). 
 
 Q. Still, as a social evil, do you not think 
 that drink is the greatest ? 
 
 A. No ; h'nglish society has many terrible 
 enemies to fear besides drunkenness. 
 
 Q. Name a worse evil ? 
 
 A. Improvident marriages, by which 
 thousands and thousands of poor children 
 are brought into the world to live in squalor 
 and pressing want, and be instructed in the 
 rudiments of crime by their ruthless and 
 reckless parents. Why not then a Church 
 of England Temperance Marriage Society ? 
 For the professed support of the so-called 
 " Temperance Movement," we are ready to 
 elect men whose principles are Malthusian,
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PARTY. 25 
 
 and whose scripture is the " Fruits of 
 Pliilosophy." Abject want is a greater 
 instigator to crime than drunkenness (nay, 
 it often leads to drunkenness in the end), 
 and improvident marriages and profligacy 
 produce more misery than fermented drinks 
 Drunkenness is confessedly an evil — a 
 gigantic evil — but very often it is the effect 
 as well as the cause of misery. The great 
 question is to attack the pre-disposing 
 cause of intemperance. This the Con- 
 servative Government has commenced to 
 do. Meanwhile, in ]Dolitics, in drink, in 
 religion, the profession of Conservatives is 
 Christian libertv. 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^fe
 
 EQUAL EIGHTS. 
 
 " Where there is confiscation or robber}-, be it illegal 
 or by legal forms, there coiifideiice will disappear. 
 Where confidence disappears, there industry will perish; 
 and where industry perishes, the labouring man will 
 starve. When these wretched fads have disappeared, 
 there is no one so much as the poorest of the labouring 
 classes who will sympathise with you in upholding that 
 which has made the civilization of England the envy of 
 the world." — Lord Salisbury, May 20th, 1885. 
 
 Q. How do the Conservatives look upon 
 the rights of property ? 
 
 A. If honestly acquired, as sacred and 
 mvio/able. 
 
 Q. How do they propose to deal with the 
 holders of such extreme views as " the 
 Rights of Man " and " Perfect Equality " ? 
 
 A. By common-sense arguments dealing 
 with the absurdity of their ideas.
 
 EQUAL IlIOHTS. 27 
 
 Q. Can you tell me who first instituted 
 the theory of " Perfect Equahty " ? 
 
 A. It was the dream of a French philo- 
 sopher, Eousseau, and has survived only as 
 an effort of the imagination. 
 
 Q. Could it be brought within the range 
 of practical politics ? 
 
 A. No ; because it is certain that no man 
 is born free, and rarely that two men are 
 ever nearly equal at any period of their 
 respective lives. 
 
 Q. Are there any men living who still 
 cling to the practicability of Democratic 
 equalit}^ ? 
 
 A. Yes, strange to say, men of the liter- 
 ary knowledge of John Morley. 
 
 Q. How is this to be accounted for ? 
 
 A. Because " equality," as a theory, is 
 favourable to political dogmatism. It is 
 opposed to everything in existence but 
 itself, and, once accepted, saves all need for 
 further enquiry. 
 
 Q. You think " enquiry " into the
 
 28 .1 CATKCIllSM OF POLITICS. 
 
 ilontriiic of perfect equality would imme- 
 diately upset it ? 
 
 A. Assuredly. Wlieu a man, by liis 
 labour or services^ has created a value, this 
 value can only pass into the hands of 
 another by one of the following modes — 
 as a gift, by exchange, by loan, or Ijy 
 theft.* 
 
 Q, But the Socialists' aim is to enrich 
 ail classes at the expense of each other ? 
 
 A. In that case it would come under the 
 latter form, and be simply "theft legalised." 
 
 Q. Do not morality and religion make it 
 a duty for men, especially the rich, to 
 deprive themselves voluntarily of that 
 which they possess in favour of their less 
 fortunate brethren ? 
 
 A. Yes ; but that is an entirely murai 
 obliiration. 
 
 Q. Could it not be admitted in practice, 
 or sanctioned by law ? 
 
 A. No. If it were asserted on principle 
 
 * Bastial s " Political Economy."
 
 EQUAL RIGHTS. 29 
 
 that every man has a right to the property 
 of another, the gift would have no merit — 
 charity and gratitude would cease to be 
 virtues. 
 
 Q. Would equality in respect to the 
 rights of property be dangerous in any 
 other way ? 
 
 A. Yes; it would universally arrest 
 labour and production ; for who would 
 work if there was no longer to be any con- 
 nection between labour and the satisfying 
 of our wants ? 
 
 Q. Is there any feasible objection to be 
 raised against the right of inheritance ? 
 
 A. No. That which a man has produced, 
 he may consume, exchange, or give, and 
 what is more natural than that he should 
 give it to his children ? It is this power 
 which insjDires him with courage to labour 
 and to save. 
 
 Q. Why, then, is the right of inheritance 
 called in question ? 
 
 A. Because it is imagined that the
 
 30 A (\lT/:r/fISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 property thus transmitted is plundered 
 from the masses. Political economy per- 
 emptorily demonstrates that "all value pro- 
 duced is a creation which does no harm to 
 any person whatever ; for that reason it 
 may be consumed, and, still more, trans- 
 mitted, without hurting anyone." 
 
 Q. How do you bring equality to bear in 
 respect to the suffrage ? Do you see any 
 reason why we should not have manhood 
 suffrage ? 
 
 A. Ves. 
 
 Q. On what grounds ? 
 
 A. On the grounds of incapacity and 
 irresponsibility. 
 
 Q. Why are women prevented from 
 voting ? 
 
 A. Because they are presumed to be 
 incapable. 
 
 Q. And why is incapacity a motive for 
 exclusion ? 
 
 A. Because the elector does not reap 
 alone the responsibility of his vote ; be-
 
 EQUAL RIGHTS. 31 
 
 cause every vote affects the community at 
 large. 
 
 Q. Are you in favour of disqualification, 
 on the same grounds, of paupers, or persons 
 receiving medical relief ? 
 
 A. Yes ; on the ground taken up by Sir 
 Charles Dilke, who argues that " to remove 
 the disqualification would be to take away 
 the greatest of all inducements which ex- 
 ists in the country to lead people to join 
 friendly or provident societies." 
 
 Q. Explain this further ? 
 
 ^. If a certain farm-labourer knows that 
 he shall lose his vote by accepting medical 
 relief gratuitously, he will be the more 
 anxious to join a club, which would supply 
 his need in that respect, or by some other 
 means prevent himself from becoming 
 pauperised, and therefore disfranchised, in 
 case of illness. 
 
 Q. The argument, then, in favour of 
 such disqualification is on the principle of 
 "self-help"?
 
 32 A r.iTErm.^.v or roLirirs. 
 
 A. Yes; of which the Liberals profess to 
 be the slauncliest advocates. 
 
 Q. Eeverting to the question of 
 " Women's Iviglits " — is it wholly on the 
 ground of incapacity that you object to 
 that doctrine ? 
 
 A. Not wholly on that ground, but be- 
 cause the theory is itself contrary to 
 common-sense, and simjily flying in the 
 face of Xature. 
 
 Q. Explain ? 
 
 A. Each sex is personally endowed with 
 physical and mental qualities which fit it 
 for the duties devolved upon it by the 
 ordinances of creation and development, 
 and any straining of these qualities, either 
 in the sense of exaggeration or repression, is 
 opposed to the spirit of the evolutionary law. 
 
 Q. Give a more practical argument? 
 
 A. Because it must tend eventually to 
 destroy the harmony of social life. 
 
 Q. How do you look upon the question 
 of " Free Land " ?
 
 EQUAL RIG UTS. 33 
 
 A. Simply as another form of legalised 
 plunder — a violation of liberty and 
 property. 
 
 Q. Do you think the idea impracticable? 
 A. Yes, not less than pernicious, if we 
 would retain our present state of settled 
 order and "■overnment. 
 
 Q. What have you to say against a 
 system of peasant-proprietorship ? 
 
 A. Passino^ over the theft which such a 
 system would legalise, let me ask, how 
 could it be made practicable? How 
 would the new owners make the system 
 pay without capital, training, or experi- 
 ence ? 
 
 Q. As to capital, that would be provided 
 by their new masters. 
 
 A. Then, surely, the new master of the 
 peasant proprietor — the money lender — 
 would be a worse ogre than the landlord. 
 
 Q. But there are cases of peasant pro- 
 prietorships having paid. 
 
 A. That is no proof that the system 
 
 3
 
 34 ,1 CATECHISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 would pay if applied to the country at 
 large. Where would be the room for 
 manufactories, grazing land for large flocks 
 of sheep, burial-grounds, and so on ? If we 
 could even crj^stallize such a system into an 
 experiment, we should only be taking the 
 first step towards reducing the English 
 agricultural system to the level of the 
 Irish. Moreover, ask the tenant-farmer 
 himself, with capital and experience at his 
 back, whether he has any ambition to 
 become a proprietor ; he will tell you no, 
 so long as he can hire land at a return of 
 ten per cent., for if he set up as a farmer- 
 proprietor, he would have to sink three - 
 fourths of his money in the land at two 
 per cent, and would only receive ten per 
 cent, on the remaining quarter. Yet what 
 is impossible for the practical farmer, the 
 Radicals expect to make a possibility for 
 the labourer. 
 
 Q. Why then should these men wish to 
 force such a scheme upon us .'*
 
 EQUAL RIGHTS. 35 
 
 A. It is simply an attack upon the land- 
 owners ; to depreciate the value of landed 
 property, and serve as an electoral bait. 
 
 Q. But, Sir Charles Dilke, referring to 
 the condition of agricultural labourers, 
 declares that " the holding of large estates 
 decreases in various ways the agricultural 
 yield of the country." If this is the case, 
 the large landowner is the right person to 
 be attacked. 
 
 A. Let this be admitted. But evi- 
 dence attests just the other way. The 
 system of large farms allows the profitable 
 use of labour-saving machinery, ensures 
 the clearing away of useless hedges and 
 ditches, and the utilisation of every square 
 yard of land ; it results in good roads 
 being made, in the best manures being 
 used, and generally in the extraction of 
 the largest possible amount of produce 
 from the soil. If indeed this draining, 
 enclosino; and cultivating of marsh and fen 
 be theft, let the Eadicals explain what 
 
 3*
 
 3G A ( ATKCIIISM OF VOIATICS, 
 
 tlieft is. Small holdings, cultivated by 
 peasant proprietors, would mean spade 
 labour,the most profitless form of liiisbandry; 
 it would mean the practical extinction of 
 the larger agriculture, such as grain-growing 
 and stock-raising, in favour of the smaller ; 
 such as the cultivation of cabbages and 
 potatoes. It would reduce our annual 
 supply of home-grown food by more than 
 one-half, and throw us more and more 
 upon the mercy of the foreigner. As a 
 system, it is directly opposed to every 
 principle of political economy. 
 
 CI. But Sir Charles Dilke declares it to 
 be a question above all economies. 
 
 A. Then he is not a disciple of Mr. 
 Cobden. Either we decide these questions 
 of political economy or we do not. If we 
 do, then peasant farming stands condemned 
 on the best evidence. If we do not, then 
 the system of large estates may claim to be 
 pressed on grounds such as those on which 
 not only Lord Beaconsfield, but Mr. Glad-
 
 EQUAL BIGHTS, 3f 
 
 stone, lias defended tliem. If we l(3ok to 
 moral results in the one case, we may look 
 to moral results in the other ; and " the 
 good moral effect of a resident gentry, 
 possessed of what, in the Radical philo- 
 sophy, are large estates, is attested by 
 evidence which only a bigot could resist." 
 
 Q. You think, then, equality in wealth 
 and comfort simply a pretty ideal ? 
 
 A. That is all. If we can get plenty of 
 work, and a good price for doing it, we 
 ought to think ourselves well off, and this 
 is exactly what the Conservative Govern- 
 ment are trying, against many difficulties, 
 to get for us. Mr. Chamberlain, embar- 
 rassed by his own ideals, has just said " he 
 does not believe that there can be absolute 
 equalities of condition," yet he is the very 
 man whose teaching has impeded the pro- 
 gress of industry and labour. 
 
 390769
 
 TEADE AND TAXES. 
 
 " The time will come ■wlien the working classes of 
 England will come to j'ou on bended knees and pray 
 yon to undo your present legislation." — Disraeli, 
 speaking on Free Trade, 1852. 
 
 Q. What are Cobden's arguments and 
 the arguments of his followers founded 
 upon? 
 
 A. The arguments of the Cobden Club 
 are founded on the false foundation that, if 
 we can buy tiie smallest fraction cheaper 
 abroad, the employment of the working 
 classes is of no consequence. 
 
 Q. Is that not a sound policy ? 
 
 A. No. The loss is far greater to the 
 State than the gain, because the State loses 
 the wage-earning and tax-paying powers of 
 the thousands of unemployed operatives.
 
 TRADE AND TAXES. 39 
 
 Q. Do you consider Free Trade in- 
 jurious to the interests of the working 
 man ? 
 
 A. If you mean the one-sided Free Trade 
 that England is at present enjoying (?), we 
 say " Yes." 
 
 Q. Why? 
 
 A. First, because it is useless for the 
 artisan to bring up his children to any 
 industry that can be carried on abroad. 
 
 Q. They can carry their brains and 
 labour to other countries ? 
 
 A. This has been tried, and what is 
 the result ? We are beaten in our own 
 markets. Our shops are full of foreign 
 goods. 
 
 Q. Yet, during the last twent}' years our 
 trade has increased many millions. 
 
 A. Truly, and the Board of Trade 
 returns show that other countries have 
 quadrupled their exports at the same time. 
 
 Q. But, then, we have by far the largest 
 trade, have we not ?
 
 40 A r.ATECniSM OF POLITICS. 
 
 A. Yes, and ])y far the greatest need of 
 it. Moreover, our nation depends upon 
 its foreign trade — France, Germany and 
 Ixussia can live without it, 
 
 Q. You mean they are self-supporting ? 
 
 A. Yes, so far as the essentials of exist- 
 ence are concerned. 
 
 Q. But without trade they would be 
 poorer ? 
 
 A. Truly, but they would lack neither 
 food nor clothing. Under our Free Trade 
 we have converted ourselves into a vast 
 hive of artisans, prosperous so long as our 
 work sells, but without resource when it 
 fails to find a market. 
 
 Q. But the system of Free Trade, ac- 
 cording to Political Economy, is simply an 
 extension of the principle of the division 
 of labour. 
 
 A. That means universal Free Trade, 
 but not an isolated and one sided policy 
 such as ours. // countries trade freely 
 with each other, the natural consequence
 
 TRADE AND TAXES. 41 
 
 is that each nation gradually increases the 
 production of those commodities for M'hich 
 circumstances have specially adapted it, 
 and at the same time decreases the manu- 
 facture of those commodities for which it 
 has no particular facilities for producing, 
 thus diminishing the cost of production. 
 
 Q. But England, having taken the lead, 
 is it not likely that other nations will, in 
 time, follow her example ? 
 
 A. It is not unlikely, but that will not 
 be in our day, nor in that of our children ; 
 and it is with these that we are imme- 
 diately concerned. 
 
 Q. Still, you admit the possibility of such 
 a condition of trading eventually ? 
 
 A. 'Yh.e possibility. But, meanwhile, our 
 trade is becoming year by year less expan- 
 sive in proportion to the increase of our 
 population. The future of English trade 
 is darker still, for it is becoming every 
 year more dependent on the export of coal 
 and iron, not to be replaced, and of its
 
 42 A rATKrnis.v of POLITirS. 
 
 capital to be employed in other countries 
 in working up the exported raw material 
 of the land. How long can this last? It 
 is the duty of English statesmen to legis- 
 late for Enirland and her dominions ; to 
 be national first, and cosmopolitan after- 
 wards. 
 
 Q. How do your arguments bear upon 
 agriculture ? 
 
 A. We answer by asking how long this 
 country can continue free imports in corn 
 with heavy duties payable to foreign States 
 on her manufactures ? Can any system of 
 tenure meet the loss on depreciated pro- 
 duce, caused by low prices and unrestricted 
 competition ? 
 
 Q. How would the Conservatives deal 
 with the depressed state of agriculture and 
 manufacture ? 
 
 A. They would propose a modification 
 of the sj^stem of free imports, and the 
 adoption of regulated tariiT duties on im- 
 ports ; but Lord Salisbury considers a corn
 
 TRADE A^'D TAXES. 43 
 
 law of any kind impracticable as well as 
 undesirable. 
 
 Q. Why ? 
 
 A. Because the quantity of corn pro- 
 duced in this country is so much below 
 what is required for the daily food of the 
 population, that to import foreign corn 
 is a necessity; that if a corn law were 
 enacted, it would be of so precarious a 
 character that the disturbance of, and un- 
 certaint}^ to, agriculture would be more 
 damaging than any probable advantages 
 likely to follow. Even the competition for 
 labour in towns is aggravated by the influx 
 of agricultural labourers, and generally of 
 persons born in rural districts, into the 
 towns. 
 
 Q. What is the reason of the latter ? 
 
 A. That corn land being turned into 
 grass land, instead of three men to a 
 hundred acres, one man is sufficient. 
 
 Q. But it is proposed that, so as to 
 enable landowners and farmers to compete
 
 U A CATECHISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 nLTaiiisl foreign agricnlture, rates and taxes 
 should be reduced, that the general taxation 
 of the country should be raised from the 
 general wealth of the countr}-, and not 
 mainly froni wliat is called real estate and 
 capital invested in agriculture. 
 
 A . Yes, that was attempted in Mr. Chil- 
 der's defeated Budget. But have j^ou read 
 what Lord Salisbury says of such a pro- 
 posal ? " It is quite right," he sa3^s, " that 
 lands and houses should pay their fair share, 
 but I should like it to be remembered that 
 lands and houses already pay an enormous 
 surplusage of taxation in the form of rates. 
 The legislation which puts all the burden 
 of rates on that one solitary interest is 
 one of the great blots on our financial 
 legislation.* 
 
 (2. How was it that Free Trade was 
 prosperous for so many years under 
 
 * Tills is instanced by Lord Salisbury in his 
 speeches at "Welshj^ool and Hackney in April and May 
 1885.
 
 thade and taxes. 45 
 
 Peel's policy of Free Imports and direct 
 taxes ? 
 
 A. Times were different ; the productive 
 forces of the world have marvellously 
 chanjTfed since 1842, but livjh. tariff duties 
 against this country are continued, and in 
 most cases increased. Who can say now 
 that there is a single national and industrial 
 trade thriving ? Peel's policy is exhausted, 
 and only those whose reputation depended 
 on its success remain to defend it. 
 
 Q. You think, then, one country 
 should deal with another on equal 
 terms ? 
 
 A. Yes. If we import foreign goods, we 
 should compel foreign nations to take our 
 own manufactures free also. By the duties 
 we are called upon to pay we simply sup- 
 port the armaments of other countries, 
 which we can little afford. In 1842, Peel 
 himself said that the free import theory 
 would be made more advantageous to this 
 country by a corresponding policy in
 
 4G .1 CATLCIUSM OF POLITICS. 
 
 duties imposed on British manufactures 
 by other countries, and that this country 
 had a ri<dit to ask for that advantai^e. 
 These are the very lines upon which 
 the Conservative party advocate free 
 trade, contending, like Peel, that no ab- 
 stract theory ought to bind a nation's 
 import duties. 
 
 Q. But yet hundreds of free-traders at 
 the present day think it heresy to raise 
 taxes by import duties. 
 
 A. Yes, and if war happened to occur, 
 say between England and Eussia, how long 
 would 3^our present system of free imports 
 be continued ? The past would be repeated, 
 and there would be import duties and 
 subsidies to alhes. The free trade theory 
 was always associated with peace. Cobden 
 looked complacently to the future as a 
 period of peace and extended trade. It 
 was the dream of a visionary. 
 
 Q. But war has been avoided ? 
 
 A. For the present; who will foretell
 
 TRADE AND TAXES. 47 
 
 the future ? And certainly, if once entered 
 on, it would sliake the theories and falsify 
 the prognostications of the free trade school 
 of economists to the uttermost. There are 
 interests beyond the mere sale of cotton 
 goods, and even cheap or low-priced 
 foreign corn. Bread is a great blessing, 
 but it is of little worth if the poor man lias 
 no money to buy it with. 
 
 Q. You think it impossible, at least, 
 then, to guarantee a permanency to our 
 commercial system ? 
 
 A. Yes ; our export trade can only last 
 while other nations continue to purchase 
 of us, and becomes less and less every 
 year. When this fails, with its accompany- 
 ing diminution of labour, where will the 
 maintenance fall ? 
 
 Q. On the land. 
 
 A. And if the land cannot defray the 
 expense of its cultivation? 
 
 Q. You think, then, that the respective 
 merits of " Free Trade " and " Protection "
 
 48 ^l CATL'CJ/IS.M OF POLITICS. 
 
 have undergone a change since the last 
 generation ? 
 
 A. Without a doubt. While the 
 disciples of Adam Smith, Mill, and othei'S, 
 were all impassioned Free Traders, the 
 masters of modern economic science are 
 inclined to speak of Free Trade with dubious 
 approval ; and more than one of them 
 hints that even the theory — contradicted as 
 it is by facts — needs revision. Free Trade 
 in words, involving benefits to Eadical 
 sections of the community, is more con- 
 sistent with feudal times than with this 
 Victorian age. If we are to continue in 
 competition with the Continent, let us 
 carry no more taxation than our con- 
 tinental neighbours, and then we can go on 
 successfully. Whatever may be said of 
 Free Trade, Cobden's " Free Trade " is a 
 failure, on the authority of experience, local 
 losses, and bulhon statistics.
 
 EXPENDITUEE. 
 
 " I charge them, with the mismanagement of 
 finance and an extravagant scale of expenditure." — • 
 AV. E. Gladstone, December 1st, 1879. 
 
 " You were offered in 1874 the repeal of the In- 
 come Tax. . . . We were ready to repeal the 
 Income Tax." — W. E. Gladstone, November 29, 1879. 
 
 Q. In whatever other particulars the 
 Liberal Government may be allowed to 
 have been weak, you will of course admit 
 that they were strong in finance ? 
 
 A. Certainly not ; since they were un- 
 able to maintain the principles to which 
 they were pledged. 
 
 Q. In what respects ? 
 
 A. Five years ago, Mr. Gladstone, de- 
 
 4
 
 60 A CATECHISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 noiineing the faults of liis predecessors, 
 asserted one principle with the most un- 
 bending sternness ; it was that, " If you 
 wish to have a sound and honest finance 
 you must pay your way " — that is, 5'ou 
 must take care the balance is on the right 
 side at the end of the year. Kow, the 
 balance left uncovered by the last Liberal 
 Budget was £7,432,000, while, in the 
 Chancellor of the Exchec^uer's own words, 
 his deficit was the largest which had been 
 placed before the House of Commons since 
 the Crimean War. 
 
 Q. Compare the expenditures of the 
 Government of Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. 
 Gladstone. 
 
 A. Mr. Chamberlain's own figures show 
 for the Liberal Government an additional 
 expenditure of 54^ millions, or an average 
 of nine millions more per annum than the 
 expenditure of the Conservatives. 
 
 Q. But you must allow for difTerence of 
 circumstances?
 
 EXPENDITURE. 51 
 
 A^ This we do : we say nothing to the 
 soundness of the principle hiid down by 
 Mr. Gladstone in 1879. No man can deny 
 that it is a prudent thing to restrict ex- 
 penditure within the limits of income, 
 though there are times when even a 
 
 O 
 
 prudent man may borrow to meet a press- 
 ing necessity. But the stern moralist who 
 lays down an inflexible rule of conduct, 
 and applies it rigorously to others, ought 
 not to be the one to abandon his own 
 principles the moment the strain comes 
 which ought to prove their strength. 
 
 Q. You contend that if any elasticity 
 were to be permitted in its application, 
 that circumstance should have been 
 properly recognised in the criticisms ap- 
 plied to the Conservative Government ? 
 
 A. Yes ; it is Mr. Gladstone's dereliction 
 
 of principle that raises contempt. Take 
 
 again the subject of t^^xation. On the 29th 
 
 November, 1879, Mr. Gladstone said : " We 
 
 are not fond of taxation ; " yet, in the 
 
 4*
 
 n2 A CATI C:iISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 whole oT the hist administration, according 
 to tlieii- own ligiires, the Liberal Govern- 
 ment took from the British taxpayers 
 forty-one millions more in taxes than the 
 Beaconsdeld Government did in the same 
 space of time, or an average of nearly 
 £7,000,000 more per annum. 
 
 Q. But tlie Government had to pay off 
 the whole of the war charges, bequeathed 
 to them by the Conservatives, and which 
 amounted to half a-million a year. 
 
 A. Well, let that be deducted from the 
 nine millions extra expenditure, there was 
 still an increase of six and a half millions 
 per annum against the Gladstone Govern- 
 ment, while, after nil " Tory legacies " have 
 been paid off, the estimated Liberal ex- 
 penditure was nearly a hundred millions 
 sterling. 
 
 Q. But, under the circumstances, that 
 was a necessary demand. 
 
 A. Yes ; and thus we have brought home 
 to our minds the real bearing of the
 
 EXrEXDITUR E. 53 
 
 Egyptian and Eussian questions. There is 
 indelibly written on our memories the 
 £25,000,000 toasted on Egypt and the 
 Soudan, the £20,000,000 spent in rolling 
 back the war-cloud from our Indian 
 Empire, which ought never to have been 
 allowed to gather; the £100,000,000 
 budget, which ended in the late Govern- 
 ment defeat, and the £15,000,000 deficit. 
 It disposes, once and for ever, of the 
 Liberal boast of superiority in matters of 
 finance. Every one of the " canons of 
 finance " enumerated by Mr. Gladstone 
 at Midlothian, were, like the rest of 
 his promises, broken. Even the method 
 of meeting their increased expendi- 
 ture shows an entire want of financial 
 ability. It was to be met simply by 
 adopting the rough and ready process of 
 taxing the taxed. Increased burdens were 
 to be given to the already over-burdened, 
 and neither ingenuity nor charity was 
 exercised in effort to distribute the weight,
 
 64 A CATIJCniS.V OF POLITICS. 
 
 though many phins were suirp^ested for 
 making those who indulge in luxuries pay 
 for the luxuries they can afford. It is to 
 be hoped the electors Avill bear these things 
 in mind. 
 
 Q. Apropos of this, what have you to 
 say to Mr. Chamberlain's suggestion of 
 rai.^in"^ revenue bv a ijraduated income tax 
 or house tax ? 
 
 A. We should say in Mr. Gladstone's 
 words that " it would be an unjust and 
 wicked impost." 
 
 r^^s^ 
 
 !)i_ 6) -'^r— *^
 
 FEDEEATION. 
 
 " Is ifc not a sorry sight, with the fact that our 
 Empire boasts of 250 million subjects facing us, that a 
 desultory warfare in the deserts of Egypt, with semi- 
 barbarous Arabs, necessitated recourse to the Guards, 
 and that the despatch of less than 1 0,000 men should 
 so strain our resources as to require a Royal proclama- 
 tion to call out the Reserves, the Militia, and possibly 
 the Volunteers." — Vide Vress, May, 1885. 
 
 Q. Do you think the agitation for 
 " Federation " a favourable sign ? 
 
 A. A most welcome sign ; it would 
 largely remedy the evils of which we have 
 but now been speaking. 
 
 Q. What would you mean by the term 
 " Federation " ? 
 
 A. Do you mean Federation as affects
 
 66 A CATECHISM OF POLITICS. 
 
 those constitutional questions which belong 
 to its various provinces ? 
 
 Q. No ; exclusively as it is applied to 
 the British Empire. 
 
 A. In that sense we take it to mean the 
 settlement of obligations and rights for the 
 welfare of the whole body politic, the 
 blendinir into one harmonious whole of our 
 Imperial interests — in plainer language, the 
 check and prevention of disintegration, and 
 tlie utilization for its benefit of all the 
 products and forces of the Empire. 
 
 Q. Why do 3'ou think the idea of 
 Federation is one born in good time ? 
 
 A. For some time England pursued 
 a policy of disintegration. The dis- 
 establishment of the Irish Church was 
 pregnant with serious consequences. It 
 was a first indication that the bonds of 
 union were to be relaxed. It was a fatal 
 admission that Ireland was a separate 
 countr}', its people a separate people, re- 
 quiring special treatment, different laws,
 
 federation: 57 
 
 different ecclesiastical arrangements. It 
 dealt with Imperial questions in a way 
 dangerous to stability ; it was a premium 
 on agitation of a most mischievous kind ; 
 it implied that Ireland was a nation instead 
 of part of a nation, and that she had dis- 
 tinctive natural rights, which it was then 
 prophesied truly would culminate in a 
 demand for autonom}-. 
 
 Q. Do you think Mr. Gladstone foresaw 
 the results that would arise from his action 
 towards the Irish Church ? 
 
 A. No ; it is to be questioned whether 
 Mr. Gladstone felt even the responsibility 
 of his act. Look at his manifest indifference 
 towards our Colonies and dependencies ; 
 cast your thoughts on India, South Africa, 
 Egypt, Australia. We seemed, during his 
 late ministry, to have taken very subor- 
 dinate views of the political matters that 
 engaged not only our attention but the 
 attention of other countries. 
 
 Q. You mention Egypt. In what re-
 
 5S 1 OATI■:rr^Js^f of roLiTicF^. 
 
 spect are our colonial relations afTected by 
 Egypt ? 
 
 A. In respect to the Suez Canal and our 
 trade route to India and Australia. Our 
 insular position, our supremacy at sea, and 
 the discovery round the Cape of Good 
 Hope, have given us an independent 
 position, with ready access to all the coun- 
 tries of the world, and enabled the products 
 of our industry to compete on favourable 
 conditions in all markets, even under the 
 unfavourable influence of hostile tariffs. 
 Thus, we rightly feel the importance affect- 
 ing our control of the Suez Canal, and our 
 relations with Egypt are at present very 
 questionable. 
 
 Q What would a Conservative adminis- 
 tration have done with regard to Colonial 
 policy under similar circumstances ? 
 
 A. It would have recognised and main- 
 tained the Queen's supremacy in South 
 Africa ; strengthened our defences of India 
 by retaining Candahar ; and used the
 
 FEDEEA TION. 59 
 
 inheritance, bequeathed by Lord Beacons- 
 field, of honourable peace and perfect amity 
 with the civilised world by acts of com- 
 mercial enterprise and civil importance, 
 It would probably have devoted its 
 attention to the question of the gradual 
 development of the railroad system, which 
 at no distant date will connect Europe with 
 Asia. 
 
 Q. With what object ? 
 
 A. As Eussia advances to the frontier of 
 India, and extends her railroad system in 
 that direction, one of the results will 
 probably be to bring India into more or 
 less direct communication with the railway 
 system of Europe, and to give the manufac- 
 tures of Germany a ready access to the 
 markets of the East. 
 
 Q. But there are some — many amongst 
 the Eadical school of politicians — who 
 think the Colonies a burden upon the 
 mother country ? 
 
 A. Yes ; but facts, you see, point to the
 
 6") A rAri:rrris.v or rnLrnrs. 
 
 contrary. It is amongst the first and most 
 vital problems of the day, how the Colonies 
 and the mother country can mutually aid 
 each other, so that, in an Imperial sense, 
 there may be a vast industrial count r}-, 
 producing and distributing wealth for the 
 gain of the whole. India and the Colonies 
 have the means of amply suppl3'ing the 
 home market with agricultural produce. 
 
 Q. Would not this be impossible under 
 absolute free trade ? 
 
 A. Certainly it would. The Colonists 
 are not free traders, and to ivait until they 
 become so would be to practically abandon 
 Federation. 
 
 Q. In this instance you think, then, it is 
 the old State that has most to gain ? 
 
 A. Assured!}' ; for it can, without loss of 
 dignit}-, and evident advantage, meet the 
 industrial wants and wishes of the Colonies. 
 There can be no doubt that recent events 
 as well as the emphatic testimony of men 
 like Lord Eosebery, Mr. Forster, and Mr.
 
 FEDERATION. 61 
 
 Gosclien have clone much to bring home to 
 English people what the colonists, for their 
 part, are not likely to forget — that the 
 welfare of the mother country and of the 
 Colonies depends on their close union. This 
 is the lesson which, above all, requires to be 
 taught to the workmen of the towns and 
 the new electors of the counties. To show 
 those who are naturally inclined to vote for 
 limiting and cutting down the responsibili- 
 ties of the country, that if the empire is 
 allowed to shrink, trade will shrink with it. 
 It is not " lust of empire " that is sought, but 
 the interest of the trading classes. We have 
 got Canada, and South Africa, and Aus- 
 tralia, and India, and if we would continue 
 our world-wide commerce, we must keep 
 them.
 
 AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE; 
 
 ou, 
 
 THE NEW POLITICS. 
 
 " You go not till I set you up a glass 
 Where you may see the inmost part of you." 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 " The book is both instructive and interesting, and it is 
 especially valuable in view of the coming general election. It 
 ought to be placed in every Conservative and Liberal club in 
 the kingdoin.'" — Bury Guardian. 
 
 " One cf the most comprehensive and powerful indictments 
 against Mr. Gladstone that has ever been issued." — England. 
 
 "A clever book. . . . Though severe in his judgments 
 he is scrupulously accurate in his statements of fact, and very 
 rarely passes what may be termed the line of fair criticism." 
 
 — Nottingham Guardian. 
 
 " This is a cruel piece of work. The writer's accuracy is 
 quite unimpeachable, and he has collected his facts with such 
 industry, and marshalled them with such skill, that the book 
 would have been crushing if Mr. Gladstone had any reputa- 
 tion to lose." — Vanity Fair.
 
 " A clever, if merciless, account of the life of the ex- 
 Premier, judged from a Conservative point of view, with a 
 rather scathing commentary on his sayings and doings from 
 the year of his birth, compiled by the journalist who wrote 
 ' Letters to My Son Herburt.' To Conservatives this volume 
 will be a perfect mine of information." — Publishers' Circular. 
 
 " Partly biographical and partly satirical, this is a very 
 clever production." — Edinburgh Courant. 
 
 " Tlie author of the book pursues Mr. Gladstone p^tile.-sly 
 throughout his political career, every event of which he 
 causes either to adorn a tale or to point a moral. The book 
 distorts nothing and conceals nothing. . . . Appropriately 
 published at the present time, as it demonstrates at once 
 lightly and laboriously the long course of political imposture 
 by which Mr. Gladstone has become famous." 
 
 — Bristol Times and Mirror. 
 
 " A bitter attack on Mr. Gladstone and all his doings from 
 the day of his birth ... No doubt this book will be 
 used as an armoury from which weapons may be drawn by 
 Mr. Gladstone's opponents." — Hampshire Telegraph. 
 
 " The book will hardly amuse Mr. Gladstone, if he can be 
 induced to read it, but it will irritate manj' of hia admirers." 
 
 — London Figaro. 
 
 WARD & DOWNEY, Publishers, 12, York Street, Covent 
 Garden, LoxNdon.
 
 New Books at all Libraries and Booksellers'. 
 
 THE UNPOPULAR KING: The Life and Times of 
 Kiclmrd IIJ. By Alkkkd O. Lnfioi:, Author of "The History of 
 the Papacy," &c. 2 vols. Demy 8vo., with illustrations. 
 
 SONGS FROM THE NOVELISTS. Edited, 
 
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 VICTOR HUGO: His Life and Work. By George 
 
 Bar.vett Smith. Crown 8vo., with a Portrait of Victor Hugo, &c. 
 
 AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE OF THE 
 
 BIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE: or, The New 
 
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 In September will be Published, in 2 vols., with Illustrations, 
 
 A NEW AND IMPORTANT WORK, 
 
 By J. PITZGEEALD MOLLOY, 
 Author of " Court Life Below Stairs," <kc.
 
 THE NEAA^ NOVELS. 
 
 IN SIGHT OF LAND. By Ladt Dtjffijs Hardy, 
 
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 LORD VANE COURT'S DAUGHTER. By Mabel 
 
 Collins, Author of "The Prettiest Woman in Warsaw.' 
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 AS IN A LOOKING GLASS. By F. C. Philips, 
 
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 A PRINCE OF DARKNESS. By the Author of 
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 THE OUTLAW OF ICELAND. Translated from 
 
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 1 vol., 2s. Gd. 
 
 THE SACRED NUGGET. By B. L. Faejeon, 
 
 Author of " Great Porter Square," &c. 3 vols., 31s. 6d. 
 
 THE FLOWER OF DOOM. By M. Betham- 
 
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 MORNING GREY. By G. M., Author of "Ade.' 
 
 3 vols., 31s. Gd. 
 
 LIKE LOST SHEEP: a Riverside Story. By Arnold 
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 A MAIDEN ALL FORLORN. By the Author of 
 
 " Phyllis," " Molly Bawn," &c. 3 vols., 31s. Cd. 
 
 LIL LO RIMER. By Theo Gift, Author of "A 
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 .\i>if llniily at (til liinihsi'llcrs'. — Cloth cj-tni, [n-icc G.v. 
 
 VICTOR HUGO : HIS LIFE AND WORK. 
 
 15y C I5ARXETT SMITH, . 
 
 Author o*' "I\ttii ami .\iirtli,\ti<," ''Shcllri/: A Critical JJioijntphij' 
 
 Etc. 
 WITH AN EXGIIAVEI) PORTRAIT OF VICTOR HUGO. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " THE ACADEMY." 
 
 'This volume appears very (ippoHimely. ... If any English 
 r<'ader wants a general accouut of Victor Hugo, then such a reader 
 v.ill tind his requirements not inadequately supplied by Mr. Barnett 
 Smith. " 
 
 " NORTH BRITISH MAIL." 
 
 '■ The only book which relates the full story of liujro"s life. . . 
 Mr. Barnett Smith began this study last year, and his volume is 
 therefore net a ha.s'y compilation thrown together since Hugo's 
 death, as some might imagine. The record has been drawn up with 
 the most painstaking care. It contains evidence in every chapter of 
 critical insight as well as of unwearied industry, and it is written 
 wiih much brightnei-s and vivacity. , . . Nowhere have we 
 found Mr. Smith allowing his admiration of Hugo to affect his state- 
 ment of facts. He has produced a Ijook that was very much wanted, 
 and the volume is one which no i'.nglish student of Victor Hugo can 
 afford to overlook. It is dedicated in graceful terms to Mr 
 Swinburne.' 
 
 "MORNING POST." 
 
 '• The vo'ume under notice is not, as might be supposed by those 
 readers who do not pay much attention to the announcements of 
 forthcoming literature, a hurried and superficial biography, prepared 
 to meet the demantl for information which inevitably arises among 
 the ignorant majority upon the death of some notable person whose 
 name is more famous t'aan his achievements. World-wide as the 
 circulation of Hugo's works has been for many years, it may safely 
 be said that there are many to-day among those who have talked 
 most of the departed woithy, and who are by no means to be classed 
 with the uneducated, yet who have scarcely read a line that Hugo 
 wrote. It is by these that the 'Complete Lives' which appear 
 wiihln ten days of the departure of great men are chiefly welcoaied, 
 enabling them to conceal their ignorance and to join in conversation 
 with others better or worse informed than themselves on the subje t 
 :>f the hour. But Mr. Barnett Smith's book has nothing in common 
 with sueh valueless pre ductions as the above. Commenced long 
 before the fatal illness of the poet, and aiming at relating the full 
 Btory of his life and the events of his literary career up to the 
 present year. Fate has willed that with this year tlie life and the 
 career should close, and thus, as the author irays, the ' melancholy
 
 event gives the biographical positiou of tlic volume a completeness 
 not originally anticipated.' ... A portrait of Hugo ftitms the 
 frontispiece to this well-written account of his life." 
 
 " LLOYD'S." 
 
 " Vast as is the theme oi)ened up by the consideration of Hugo 
 and his works, Mr. liarnett Smith has so studiously compressed facts 
 that the English public will find in this volume a swift and incisive 
 review that is at once entertaining, instructive, and popular." 
 
 "THE CHRISTIAN LEA.DER." 
 
 "The book is unique. Notwithstanding the multitude of criticisms 
 which have appeared in our own and other languages upon Hugo's 
 work, this is the only volume which relati s the full story of his life. 
 . . . We have pleasure in recommending Mr. Barnett Smith's 
 volume as the fullest and in every way most satisfactory on its 
 subject that has yet appeared in England." 
 
 "LONDON FIGARO." 
 
 A very readable study of the great French poet and dramatist." 
 «' TOPICAL TIMES." 
 
 "It is clear and succinct, and contains nearly everything it is 
 requisite for the average English reader to know about ihe illustrious 
 Frenchman. As a record of his literary and dramatic woik it is 
 remai'kable for well-ordered completeness, >Ahile the account of 
 Hxi^o in exile is free from the common errors which have disfixuied 
 the narratives of the majority of those who have dealt with the 
 subject." 
 
 " GRAPHIC." 
 
 " Though, as Mr. Barnett Smith says, the life of 'Victor Hnsro 
 cannot be written in this generation, we still delight to gather the 
 facts, and of these he gives a full budget. The political disagree- 
 ment between General Hugo and his wiie, the prizes at the Toulouse 
 floral games, the courting of Adele Foiicher, the attempts on the 
 Academy (tbe fotirth was successful), the family bereavements, the 
 growth in Kepublicanism, and the failure as a practical politician, 
 are all detailed and illustrated. We have Victor Hugo wandeiiug 
 alone at night through the streets (like Dickens"), or seeking inspira- 
 tion on the top of an omnibus. We have him canvassing Eoytr 
 Collard, the Academician, who had never heard of ' Nofie Dame ' or 
 ' Marion Delorme,' and who, when the canvasser offered him a copy 
 of his works, replied : ' I never read new books.' We have him be- 
 lieving Louis Napoleon's pr( mise : ' 1 shall follow the path of Wash- 
 ington,' and making a two months' stay at Waterlo') before describ- 
 ing the battle in 'Les Miserables.' We have his sojourn in Jeisey, 
 and the ridiculous sentence which banished h.im thence, but only to 
 the neighbouring island. Hugo has been Lkened to Rou.-seau (who, 
 living in an age of greater abuses, had a mo-e definite social work) 
 and 10 Dante and It^aiah (by Mr. Swinlju.^ne). Mr. Barnett Smith 
 is quite right in denying him 'the uuiversality of Homer and 
 Shakespeare ; ' but it is for anecdotes lather than criticism that; 
 we go 10 a work like this, and these are abundant and to the point."
 
 Now Ready, the 10th Thousand of 
 
 THE DARK HOUSE: 
 
 A KNOT UNRAVELLED. 
 
 By George Manville Fenn, Author of "The Vicar's 
 People," &c. 
 
 Pictorial Wrapper, Is. ; cloth, Is. Cd. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " Aa inscrutable and bewildering mystery." — Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 '• ricnty of the elements of excitement and romance." — 
 At/icncruni. 
 
 " ' The Dark House ' proves that Mr. Fenn can give a pleasant 
 and even a genial air to a shilling dreadful." — Academy, 
 
 '• Keeps the reader engrossed to the end."— JiwA^i Bull. 
 
 " Deserves quite as well of the public as ' Called Back.' " Weeldy 
 Echo. 
 
 " Is essentially popular in style, reminding one of ' The Moon- 
 stone,' and ' Lady Audley's Secret.' " — Dcrhy Mercnry, 
 
 " Is an enthralling volume, and the denouement is worked out 
 so cleverly as to produce a fresh surprise for us when we thought 
 our powers of being surprised were exhausted." — Wliitehall lieview. 
 
 " Mr. Manville Fenn may be congratulated on the production of 
 a good, honest, blood-curdling romance." — Saturday Jteviem.
 
 NOW READY, THE SECOND EDITION OF 
 
 RUSSIA UNDER THE TZARS. 
 
 By Stepniak, Author of " Underground llussia." 
 Translated by William "Westall. 2 vols, crown 8vo. 18s. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " Excessively interesting . . . We would bear the most cordial 
 testimony to the excellence of Stepniak's work." — Times. 
 
 " His vivid and absorbing book should by read and pondered by every 
 one who appreciates the blessings of liberty." — Daily Telegrajjh. 
 
 " He exposes the hideous police system, he tells us tha secrets of 
 the House of Preventive Detection, of the central prisons, and the 
 Troubetzkoi Eavelin, and gives us graphic sketches of exile life on the 
 shores of the AVhite Sea and in the bagnios of Siberia . . . For all 
 who would form an adequate idea of the present condition of Russia, 
 gauge its capacity for war, or attempt to forecast its future, Stepniak's 
 work is indispensable." — Spectator. 
 
 " A remarkable work, and it appears at a most opportune moment. 
 . . . The state of things in Russian prisons, so far as political 
 prisoners are concerned, as revealed by Stepniak, is hideous, if it be 
 true. If it be untrue the Russian Government ought, for its own 
 honour's sake, to refute his statements . . . What he describes is 
 terrible." — Athenwum. 
 
 " Thrilling pictures of the terrors of prison life . . . TourgeniefE 
 and Stepniak, indeed, illustrate one another. Naturally the novelist 
 tells nothing of the worst side, the life in a Yakout hut for instance 
 (fancy the flower of a nation being brutalised by treatment of that 
 kind) ; the riot produced in a Siberian prison that the governor may 
 account for several escapes, due to gross negligence, by saying that 
 ' the rules were too easy ; ' the hunger-strikes — prisoners starving 
 themselves to death ; the coarse tyranny with its petty tortures ; the 
 comic side of the aifair — as when of two Belousoffs the wrong one is 
 seized and can't be set free, for the State can't own a mistake . . . 
 We have said nothing of the book as a book, because, being Stepniak's, 
 it is, of course, as interesting as a novel. We fear its thrilling details 
 are true as well as interesting." — Graphic.
 
 Xoir reivlii (ti all Booksellers, price f.*., picture hoards 
 or 2?. Gd. cloth. 
 
 HONEST DAVIPa, 
 
 15 V FIJAXK ]5A1{1;ETT, 
 
 Author (jf •' I'OLLV MoRRlsox," kc. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " JTr T'arrett's work has a distinct literary value which rniscs it 
 above the level of even the better class of fictioa. There is quMlity 
 in his style which makes itself felt at once. . . . Nothing less than 
 excellent."— Prt/^ JlJall Gazette. 
 
 '•A rcmaikable thrillinprnarrative of iiitriirne and adventure . . . 
 told with a freshness that is ])leasant to find iu thc«c days of conven- 
 tionality. 'Jhe love-makings, of which the author is not sparing, are 
 told with exceptional force and grace." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 " A deservedly and generally praised book, of considerable 
 interest, and even fascination." — Morning Post. 
 
 " "Who that has me,t and conversed with Honest Davie is not 
 richer for having sbakfn by the band one honest, grand-hearted, 
 chiva'rous man. . . . When in contemjioraneous ficiion has a finer 
 character been drawn t'\an that of Lord Kestral 1 . . . Thackeray, 
 that great master of satire never was more satiricnl in his best works 
 than is Mr. Barrett in his portrait of Lord Kestral." — Whiteliall 
 Jlcrlov. 
 
 '• The novel cannot fiiil to rlcasc all classes of leaders who hold 
 the wholesome faith that a good plot makes a good novel." — Globe. 
 
 '• The love-making is of a very piquant and interesting sort ; 
 fome of the scenes and passages are exquisite." — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 "Worked cnt with genuine pathos — a pathos not the less 
 effective because Mr. Ban-e.t has been able to dit<pense with a tragic 
 ( ndirg. Consideiiiig the romantic nature of the story, a remarkable 
 air of reality has been obtained, chiefly by means of the elaborate 
 completeness with which the characters have been studied. Each is 
 a tiuished portrait. . . . The most imi)ortant is, however, that Mr. 
 Barrett has consiructed a plot which is not only exceptionally 
 interesting, but is genuinely ncw.'^ — Grajihic.
 
 Xow ready at all Booksellers', price 3s. 6d. 
 
 FOLLY MORRISON 
 
 Bv FRANK BARRETT, 
 
 Author of "Honest Davie," "John Fokd," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " A more lasting and stronger work of fiction than ' Folly 
 Morrison' was never penned yet." — Whitehall Review. 
 
 Mr. Barrett's powerful story is full of strong situations, which 
 are described with a true dramatic instinct. . . . This novel 
 will give satisfaction of no ordinary kind." — At hence urn. 
 
 " Reminds us of the vigour and directness of Charles Eeade." — 
 Leeds Mereury. 
 
 " Painful as is the picture of our agricultural life presented by 
 Mr. Frank Barrett iu ' Folly Morrison,' there can be no denying its 
 bitter truth. . . . Folly's self-sacrifice during the fiery trials of 
 the Communist outbreak in Paris forms a fitting end to her exciting 
 
 adventures." — Lloyd's. 
 
 "A new edition of Mr. Frank Barrett's story, 'Folly Morrison,' 
 will be welcomed by all those who delight in reading a well-told, 
 well-devised story. . . . Regarding the work as an analysis of 
 character, and as an exposition of the working of several weaknesses 
 and passions, the novel will bear comparison with any that has been 
 published of late. It is indeed a very powerful story, and in its 
 present one-volume form it will he read with great satisfaction." — 
 Scotsnuin, 
 
 '•A story of singular power and ability." — Derby Mereury. 
 
 " The characters are boldly drawn, and retain throughout a well- 
 marked individuality." — Freemau''s JournaJ,
 
 Now rcadii at oil Boolselkrs\ price Gs. 
 A FIFTH EDITION OF 
 
 Great Porter Square : A Mystery. 
 
 By B. L. FARJEON. 
 
 Author of " Grif," " Tue House of White Shadows," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " A masterpiece of realistic fiction . . , Tlie descriittions of Mrs- 
 Precdy's surroundings and of the worthy landlady herself arc not 
 inferior to Dickens at his best." — Morning I'oxt. 
 
 '• The fascination of breathless interest." — Literary World. 
 
 " The Lamia of the story is as fair and deadly a creature as ever 
 lured a man to destruction. . , , All the personages of the tale are 
 vigorously drawn." — Spectator, 
 
 " Full of interest and excitement," — Court Journal. 
 
 " One of the cleverest and most fascinating stories of the day. . . 
 A thrilling combination of the romance and tragedy of every-day 
 life." — Society. 
 
 " Holds the reader's attention, and keeps him in escited expecta- 
 tion." — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 "Mrs. Preedy, the landlady of Xo. 118, Great Porter Square, is 
 almost worthy of a place in the Dickens' gallery. ... A sensa- 
 tional stoiy, which shows a high order of invention and skill." — 
 Academy. 
 
 " The most sensational of recent novels. ... By his realism he 
 proclaims himself the last and best of a long line cf story-tellers 
 descended through Wilkie Collins from Defoe : by his sentiment and 
 minute characterisation he is more than ever a follower of the 
 method of Dickens ; but this clever Mystery which will enhance his 
 reputation, gives further proof that he possesses distinct virtues of 
 his own. It would be impossible, even it were desirable, to convey 
 in a few words the outlines of his plot. Readers who like sensational 
 stories will find in 'Great Porter Square' a dramatic narrative of 
 unusual power." — Atkena;nm.
 
 Now ready at all Booksellers', price 6s. 
 
 THE HOUSE OF WHITE SHADOWS. 
 
 By B. L. FARJEON, 
 
 Author of " Grif," " Great Porter Square," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "A work of singular power ... A wonderful analysis of human 
 character and motive . . . Not many novels have been published 
 in which such a character as that of the Advocate has been treated 
 with so much firmness and command, and so much of almost startling 
 vigour. The novel is one to be read. It will interest those who 
 love sensationalism. It will interest still more those who think that 
 in such books it is good to find an attempt to analyse human motives, 
 and to present sound and valuable lessons in a palatable form." 
 — Scotsman. 
 
 " Strange and fanciful. ... A genuine bit of romance, powerfully 
 told.'— TAe World. 
 
 " An ably-written, interesting, even engrossing tale of the sensa- 
 tional and romantic order, but having something in it, too, above and 
 beyond what is usually to be found in productions of that class. 
 ... It would be unfair to tell too much of a story that depends in 
 so great a degree on sensational and startling incidents . . . has 
 more romantic material in it than goes to the making of many a 
 long novel." — Saturday Review. 
 
 " An exciting story . . . The reader will find himself interested 
 in the very parts his experience has told him he ought to skip . . . 
 The story at times gives the reader a pleasant sensation of unex- 
 pectedness." — Atlien(eum. 
 
 " A jewel of its kind." — St James's Gazette. 
 
 " There is a peculiar charm in Mr. Farjeon's writing. Tenderness 
 of thought, fineness of description, and broad humanity, are among 
 his chief characteristics. His pictured portraits are living people. 
 ... In ' The House of White Shadows ' he strikes new ground, with 
 Ihe same marked mastery of style and effect. . . . There is a great 
 fascination in the scenes and descriptions, and in the story itself 
 . . . Mr. Farjeon's writing throughout is that of a master of his 
 art.' — Society. 
 
 " Mr. Farjeon has the art of weaving his threads of interest so as 
 to hold fast the attention of his readers." — <S';^. Ste])hen's Review.
 
 .\0l\' I,' i:.\T> Y A T A L L Ji O OKSEL L JJIiS' 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 a- 1^ I I^: 
 
 A STORY OF AUSTRALIAN LIFE. 
 
 By K L. FARJEON, 
 Author of " Great Porter SQrARE," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "Admirers of Jlr. Farjc^n's work — and we believe their name is 
 Ifjrion —will gladly welcome a reprint of this popular btory in .-i 
 single volume of good type. The book is in a charming cover of 
 eav dc nil and black." — Whitehall Jlevierv. 
 
 " A capital story of AaFtralian life, issued by him tirst many years 
 ago : it is one of the best stories he has produced, and full of high 
 dramatic interest. There is no wonder, then, that it has gone into 
 this single-volume form, in which it wiil assuredly be popilar." 
 — Scotsman. 
 
 " A nicely-bound and well-printed edition in one volume of 
 Mr. B. L. Farjeon's strikingly clever and unconventional novel, 
 Grif,' a story of Australian life in its wildest and most picturesquely 
 hizarrc stage, •when the rush to the gold fields was at its fiercest 
 and the country crammed with adventurers and desperadoes. All 
 the strange medley of greed and self-sacrifice, of uncouth semi- 
 barbarity and growing civilisation, of vice, squalor, and misery 
 jobtling sudden accessions to fortune, and in close contiguity to 
 comparatively peaceful pastoral life — all the curious contrasts of 
 character which every new colony presents are drawn by Mr. Farjeon 
 with a powerful and truthful pen. The story is brimful of humour 
 and pathos, and the reader never once finds the interest flag from 
 cover to cover. The new edition is an exceilcLt one, and should 
 prove popular." — Society. 
 
 •' A story in which the pathos, excitement, and native roughness 
 of Australian life are most graphically portrayed." — Lloyd's.
 
 Now ready at all Booksellers', price 6s. 
 
 THE FOURTH EDITION OF 
 
 PROPER PRIDE 
 
 By B. M. CROKER, 
 
 Author of " Pretty Miss Neville," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " An exceedingly clever story. It abounds, moreover, in telling 
 situations, some of them admirably comic, while others are touching ; 
 and it is thoroughly original." — Times. 
 
 " The story is a very good one, highly written, and interesting to 
 the end." — Mornmg Post. 
 
 " A consistently humorous story, although it often touches the 
 pathetic, and is frequently verging on the tragic." — Saturday Review, 
 
 " w'e desire to record the pleasure it has given us to read a bright 
 clever novel, full of interest, distinguished by good taste and an 
 excellent style." — Sjjectator: 
 
 '• Mr. Gladstone was observed the other night, during a heated 
 debate on the hated Cloture, to be reading a novel ! Some curiosity 
 was manifested to ascertain the name of the particular romance with 
 which he was endeavouring to beguile the weary hours ; and it is 
 satisfactory to state that it was ' Proper Pride.' It is to be hoped 
 that the Premier will take the moral to heart. This is the novel which 
 the leading journal reviewed twice within a month." Court Journal, 
 
 " A wel'i-written story, told with spirit, and enlivened with lively 
 incident." — Leeds Mercuri/,
 
 Now read;/ nt all Booh'^ellers', price, 2.9. Picture hoards • 
 chth, 2.v\ Cul. 
 
 By EICHAED DOWLING. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " If his fame had not previously been assured, the three vohimcs 
 now before us would make f,'Ood his title, for the power he displays 
 takes the reader captive in the first chapter." — British 3fail. 
 
 " ThcfoUe (hi lor/ in nms riot through the three volumes. So bright 
 and sparkling is her flight, that the reader endeavours in vain to 
 chase her home. . . . Mr. Dowliug is perhaps the author of our day 
 who possesses the greatest share of imagination." — Court Journal. 
 
 " Mr. Dowling has given us an original, interesting and finally 
 charming heroine." — Grai)h ic. 
 
 " The admirers of ' The Mystery of Killard ' and ' The Weird 
 Sisters,' will Snd little of what fascinated them in those exciting talcs 
 in ' Under St. Paul's,' except the fluent, easy manner of narration, 
 the power of describing graceful feminine character, and the vivid- 
 ness of style which Mr. Dowling has it in his power to exercise at all 
 times. ... It appears to us to be the most thoughtful, finished and 
 powerful work of the author's that we have seen. . . . ' Under St. 
 Paul's is a book to be read rather than described." — Daily Nens. 
 
 " The more thoughtful section of the reading public will own that 
 the interest attaching to George Osborne's life history, is of a more 
 absorbing nature than any which could have been derived from a 
 record of improbable horrors or adventure. The book is, in point of 
 fact, a long and very cleverly worked out psychological study. . . . 
 Will give Mr. Dowling a much higher place in fiction than he had 
 previously attained." — Morning Post. 
 
 " There is not one amongst the novelists who have come before the 
 public during the last two or three years who has won a wider circle 
 of hearers by the sheer unaided force of his own ability than Mr. 
 DowlingJ. . . He is, in the widest sense of the term, an original writer. 
 ... It is impossible in any description to do justice to the delicacy, 
 the suggestiveness and the insight with which this plot is developed 
 and wrought out." — Scotsman.
 
 Now ready at all Booksellers, price, 2s. picture boards ; 
 2s. 6d. cloth. 
 
 THE DDKE'S 
 
 im 
 
 liijj 
 
 EART, 
 
 By RICHARD BOWLING. 
 
 Author of " Under St. Paul's," " The Sport of Fate," &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "Clever, and even fascinating." — Standard. 
 
 " The author of ' Les Miserables ' may, indeed, be taken to be Mr. 
 Cowling's master. Resemblances must strike even the most careless 
 and rapid reader. . . . It is refreshing to the weary novel-reader 
 to recognise that a certain amount of thought has been brought to bear 
 not only upon the composition of the sentences, but upon their matter 
 . . . In liis manner of dealing with his plot his last novel shows an 
 improvement on all the others, and he may be congratulated upon 
 having written a powerful and decidedly exciting book." — Athenwum. 
 
 " Fresh, free, and powerful, the work of a master's hand, is ' The 
 Duke's Sweetheart.' Strong elements are employed with great artistic 
 skill to give force and depth of colour sufficient to enable the author to 
 create his ell'ects. There are bits of unsurpassed pictorial writing in 
 these volumes so powerfully wrought out and described that the romance 
 almost takes the form of reality . . . Mr. Dowling, as a novelist, has 
 many great characteristics ; he possesses niarked descriptive talent, and 
 also the power of individualising his characters ; they are real. We find 
 ourselves accepting their words and actions as though they were living 
 people." — L'lfc. 
 
 " A good and interesting novel, full of exciting details, and contain- 
 ing at least one episode — that of the shipwrecked yacht — which may 
 challenge comparison with anything in recent fiction. ... As for the 
 description of the Duke's disastrous voyage, it is simply perfect. The 
 author has never been seen to greater advantage than in this portion 
 of the narrative, at once so realistic and so full of the truest romance ; 
 and the final rescue, when the yacht is breaking to pieces on the reef, 
 is tremendous in its power." — Morning Post. 
 
 "No novel-writer of the present day— not even Mr. Dowling him- 
 self — could write a better work of fiction than this. . . . Mr. Richard 
 Dowling has managed to give us a work of the most powerful interest, 
 and to create in the reader's mind the most intense curiosity even to 
 the very end. . . . No more charming and delicate conception has 
 ever been portrayed in fiction than that of Marion Durrant." — Court 
 Jotirnal.
 
 \(nv read}', in 2 \C)ls., price 6s. per volume. 
 
 COURT LIFE BELOW STAIRS; 
 
 OK, 
 
 LONDON UNDER THE FOUR GEORGES. 
 
 \\\ J. FITZGKRALD MOLLOY, 
 
 Author of " The Life and Adventures of Peg Woffington," 
 &c. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 " Mr. Molloy's style is crisp, and carries the reader along ; hia 
 portraits of the famous men and women of the time are etched with 
 care, and his narrative rises to intensity and diamatic impressiveness 
 a» he follows the latter days of Queen Caroline." — Brit ink Quavterhj 
 llcviiw. 
 
 " Mr. Molloy's style is Vjright and fluent, picturesque and animated, 
 and he tells his stories with unquestionable skill and viva<'ity."' — 
 Atheiiceum. 
 
 '■ The narrative is fluent and amusing, and is far more instructive 
 than nine-tenths of the novels published uovv-a-days." — St. James s 
 Gazette. 
 
 " Mr. Molloy's narrative is concise, and exhibits a wide acquaint- 
 ance with the men and manDCS of the age. The anecdotes of famous 
 men of fashion, wits, fools, or knaves intioduced are amusing, ajid 
 several not generally known enliven the pai'es." — Morninei Post. 
 
 '•Well written. full of facts beaiing on every subject under considera- 
 tion, and abounding with anecdotes of gay and witty debauchees." 
 — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 •'• What Pepys has done for the Stuarts, Mr. Molloy has done for 
 their Hanoverian successorg. The result of his arduous invest ign- 
 tions is one of the most interesting works which has ever come 
 under our notice. It is impossible to open the books at any pi't 
 without feeling ati overpowering desire to continue the perusal.' — 
 yewcasl Ic Chronicle.
 
 NOJV READY AT ALL BOOKSELLERS'. 
 
 Ill one vol. Croivii 8vo. js. 6d. 
 
 A NEW COOKERY BOOK. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY IN THE KITCHEN: 
 
 GENERAL HINTS ON FOODS AND DRINKS. 
 
 By the A utJior of 
 The Reminiscences of an Old Bohemian," &c. 
 
 * — - 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 — -^ — ■ 
 
 "Full of useful hints on food, drink and the general 
 ordering of the kitchen." — Queen. 
 
 " A remarkable book, cleverly written, full of thought, 
 and brimming over with original suggestions. " — British 
 Confectioner. 
 
 " A smarllj' written and really clever budget of recipes 
 and suggestions." — Society. 
 
 " "Written by one who evidenily knows his work. , . 
 lie writes sensibly about food, how it should be cooked and 
 dressed, and he has many a good and novel hint to give.'-- 
 Whitehall Review. 
 
 " Some capital receipts and culinary hints interspersed 
 with many gossipy anecdotes. We are much indebted to 
 him for having told us how to prepare more than one curious 
 dish, and how to mis half a dozen strange but seductive 
 drinks." — /S7. ./amev's Gazette.
 
 EXCITING NEW STORY 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTIIOK OF 
 
 ONCE FOR ALL," &c. 
 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING. 
 
 ii 
 
 HUNTED DOWN." 
 
 EY 
 
 MAX HILARY, Author of 
 
 "ONCE FOR ALL," &c. 
 
 WAED & DOWNEY, PUBLISHERS, 
 12, YORK STREET, COYEXT GARDEN, LONDON.
 
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