to me to supply the answers which you need. May I point out how important it is that my Committee should know as soon as possible if we are to have the honor of your support as Chairman on the 29th. Believe me,

Yours very truly,
Felix Stow.

X.

Sir Bonian Bogg to the Hon. Felix Stow.

Dear Mr. Stow,-I have had your speech read to me very slowly three times, omitting only the references to the enthusiasm of the audience-such collections of persons being to my mind very like sheep. But I cannot find any pronouncement either on the Deceased Wife's Sister's Bill or on the Zionist Movement. Kindly satisfy my mind on these important points; and in replying will you please mark the envelope as well as the letter with the reference number with which I furnished you? I am, Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,
Bonian Bogg.

XIII.

The Hon. Felix Stow to Sir Bonian Bogg.

I

Dear Sir Bonian,-Pray excuse my delay in replying, but I wished to give the matter earnest attention. With regard to the Zionist movement, I am, I may say, in complete accord with it. Palestine seems to me to be pre-eminently the country for the Jews. see a great opening for them there. As for the Deceased Wife's Sister's Bill, although I regret the necessity of dragging such intimate matters before the public eye, I am in favor of liberty. It would be better of course if the man married the right sister first, but I would none the less allow him to do so in time. After all, this is a free country. Believe me,

Sir Bonian Bogg to the Hon. Felix Stow.

Dear Mr. Stow,-One little point in your printed speech, which I now know almost by heart-as the saying is, although of course by head were more accurate causes me some anxiety, and until it is cleared up I do not see how I can give my consent to preside at your Meeting. You repudiate Mr. Chamberlain's Protective policy with unmistakable emphasis, but I cannot be absolutely certain how far your words are merely rhetorical or scientifically exact in your references to the Prime Minister. My own views on this question are crystallized, and so sacred that nothing short of complete unanimity would satisfy my science. I am, Dear Sir,

Yours faithfully,

con

Bonian Bogg.

P.S.-Please remember to alter your reference number to AA13, as I have just had a new set of pigeon-holes

made.

Dear Sir Bonian,-After giving your kind letter the utmost attention, I have come to the conclusion that it would perhaps be better not to proceed in my request that you should honor our Meeting by presiding over it. I feel certain that we are inevitably bound to differ here and there, and I know how painful it would be to you to find that you had by implication given your support to an opinion in which you did not believe. I am therefore very reluctantly asking Mr. Burge to take the chair as before. Believe me, Yours very truly, Felix Stow.

Oct. 14.

Mr. Harry Keast to the Hon. Felix Stow. (Next day.)

Am coming by 11.30 train. Burge threatens secede. Greatly regret your haste.-Keast.

XX.

Sir Bonian Bogg to the Hon. Felix Stow.

Sir Bonian Bogg is at a loss to understand the letter AA13, since Mr. Stow's agent yesterday called and quickly satisfied Sir Bonian Bogg's mind on all points that were in doubt. Together they arranged the procedure of the Meeting, and the agent at once fell in with all Sir Bonian Bogg's suggestions as to the occupants of the front row of the platform and other essential matters. After reading Mr. Stow's odd letter Sir Bonian Bogg cannot but feel that he has been played with, and the thought is an exceedingly distasteful one. If Mr. Stow has any explanation to offer, Sir Bonian Bogg will be pleased to give it consideration; otherwise it would perhaps be better if all correspondence between himself and Sir Bonian Bogg were to cease.

The voyage of the Baltic Fleet, this new Armada, which is going forth to deprive a gallant people of their freedom and independence, promises to be one of the most important historical events of the twentieth century. From the military and political standpoint it is the central incident of the naval war between Russia and Japan, and upon its success or failure hang issues of the utmost moment to England and the world, as when a hundred years ago another Armada was attempting by a great oceanic campaign to crush the freedom of our country.

There has been a tendency in England to decry the strength of the Baltic Fleet and to regard it as a miserable collection of old ironclads, of little actual value for the combat. This impression is incorrect; the Russian ships are for the most part excellent, and there is no reason to think that they will prove more unsatisfactory in service than the battleships of the Port Arthur Fleet, most of which were of Russian build, and which, so far as material goes, have shown themselves strong and trustworthy. The main strength of Admiral Rojdestvensky's command lies in his seven battleships. Four of these, the Suvarov, Orel, Borodino and Alexander III., are perfectly new, and among the best battleships afloat. They steam 17 to 18 knots, carry four 12-in, and twelve 6-in. guns, and are protected by 9-in. Krupp armor on the water-line. They are far better ships than our Canopus class, of which we maintain four on the China Station, and are little, if at all, inferior to our best battleships in commission.

There is another modern battleship, the Oslabia, carrying 10-in. instead of 12-in. heavy guns, and one less 6-in.

weapon than the Suvarov class, with a slightly greater speed. The other two battleships, the Sissoi Veliki and Navarin, are old and much smaller, but they carry a formidable artillery in the shape of four 12-in. guns and six or eight 6-in. weapons apiece, while their armor is thick, if of poor quality. They are slow, however, bad sea-boats, and great consumers of coal, so that for such an enterprise as a long voyage, which is to be followed immediately by a severe compaign, they appear ill adapted. The total value in points of the battle-squadron is 6, according to Mr. Jane's system of calculation.

The cruisers of the fleet are nine in number, five of them of good speed and modern design, though without armor protecting their guns, if we except the Oleg. These are the Oleg, Jemtchug, Izumrud, Almaz and Aurora, steaming from 19 to 23 knots, and all new ships. There are four older cruisers, three of which, the Admiral Nakhimov, Kornilov and Dmitri Donskoi, have been entirely reconstructed and modernized, so that they are more effective than would at first sight appear. The third of the older cruisers is the Svietlana, which is still capable of good service. There are twelve destroyers of a type built for hard work at sea, and in some respects resembling the latest British model, One of these vessels was obtained from England during the war, under circumstances which reflect discredit upon the vigilance of the British Government. A host of armed transports, Volunteer cruisers, repairingships, store-ships and colliers accompanies the squadron. The transports are for the most part well-known

In the

should gain cohesion and manoeuvring power. A British fleet of newly commissioned ships cannot be trusted to perform well, but the state of affairs is very different when a month or two months have been passed at sea. The weakness of the Russian personnel, then, remains serious, but will diminish as the fleet proceeds upon its way. From the British standpoint, the movement of this fleet is of immense importance for many reasons. first place, new precedents in international law are being created, such as may gravely affect the strategy of our navy and the protection of our commerce in any future war in which we may be engaged. If neutrals can with impunity harbor a belligerent fleet, supply it with coal and allow it to refit in their ports, the attack upon our commerce will be greatly facilitated. Hitherto it has been held that a neutral should give no assistance whatever to a belligerent, and England was bitterly attacked by Bismarck in 1870 for permitting coal to be sold by British firms to France, for the ultimate use of the French fleet. In 1898 France refused to allow the Spanish Admiral Cervera to coal his fleet at Martinique, and would only permit him to take on board a certain quantity of provisions. In no case that I can remember has a belligerent been granted coal by a neutral for the purpose of reaching the theatre of operations, the only exceptions being the Alabama and the Confederate cruisers, which were supplied with fuel in British ports-an act for which this country had afterwards to suffer very dearly. The three millions sterling paid to the United States as compensation for the damage caused by these cruisers were paid to protect British commerce in future wars. But the value of that precedent is being destroyed by the conduct of neutrals in the present case. At Vigo, Spain not only permitted the

Russian admiral to embark a large quantity of an article which his own Government had proclaimed as contraband, but also allowed the Russian ships to remain for several days, from October 26 to November 1, on the clearly trumped-up excuse that they needed to effect repairs. In November, she allowed the cruiser Kuban to overstay the twenty-four hours. The custom hitherto in naval war has been that no stay of more than twenty-four hours should be permitted, and that, at the expiration of that term, the warships should be compelled to put to sea, or be disarmed.

Nor was it only at Vigo that the Russians outstayed their time and were allowed to fill up with coal. Torpedo-boat destroyers put in to Cherbourg and Brest and were allowed to coal there; and a whole Russian division remained for several days first at Tangier, and then at Suda Bay, placidly coaling and obtaining supplies. The Russian authorities proclaim their intention of repeating these tactics at numerous points where their colliers have been assembling;' at the French colony of Dakar, on the west coast of Africa; at Kamarun, a German colony in the Gulf of Guinea, and at Gaboon, a French possession in the same quarter. They will also probably coal at Mossamades, a Portuguese colony on the west coast of Africa; at Swakopmund, a German possession in south-west Africa; at Delagoa Bay; at the French island of Bourbon; and in the Dutch East Indies. Such repeated infringements of neutrality, if permitted by the Powers concerned, would be the gravest of all conceivable injuries to Japan. Without such illicit assistance or tolerance, the Russian fleet could never reach the Far East. We have a state of affairs which certainly seems to establish a primâ-facie

They remained there from Nov. 12 to 16, but it is doubtful if they were allowed to coal.