f to the needs of a democracy. The spectacle of this purple
Emperor of the Press, with his ear constantly glued to the ground,
is not wanting in pathos. With him the idols of yesterday are the pet
aversions of to-day. He denounces me as 'a political chameleon, taking
on the colour of those who at the moment happen to be his associates.'
But what are you to say of a man who clamours for a saviour of the
situation and then turns him into a cock-shy; of a Napoleon who is
continually retiring to Elba when things are not going as he likes;
of a politician who claims the privileges but refuses the duties of a
Dictator?

"It is obvious that he is still labouring under the hallucination that
the War was a duel between him and the KAISER; that he 'downed' his
antagonist single-handed, and that the prospects of a stable peace
have been shattered by my failure to include him among the British
Peace Delegates. So, all in a moment, the 'Welsh Wizard' is converted
into the miserable creature of the Tory Junkers--a man without 'high
moral courage,' 'wide knowledge' or 'large ideas.'

"Personally I have no illusions about my consistency, but I _do_
think that here I displayed some moral courage, also some unselfish
consideration for CLEMENCEAU and WILSON and others. Just think of the
panegyrics that would have been showered upon my head in the Press
which he controls if he had been invited to the Table!

"But with all deductions he is a man to be reckoned with, if not
counted upon. He is a man of large type--almost of "Pica" type. And
sometimes he deviates into sound and just criticism; as for example
when he says that I 'depend greatly, upon others.' It is true. What is
more, I know on whom I can depend; and I have learnt that his support
can only be secured on terms which would reduce the PREMIER to the
level of one of his minor editors."

* * * * *

SHAKSPEARE WILL BE PLEASED.

"CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLIC.
PROBLEM OF OUTLET TO SEA.
Port at Prague or Dantzig."

--_Scottish Paper_.

"... Our ship hath touch'd upon
The deserts of Bohemia."

_The Winter's Tale, III_. 3.

* * * * *

"At the Dogger Bank fight, Lion, the flagship of Sir David
Beatty, was crippled. Some people say she was torpedoed,
almost miraculously, by a Hun destroyer from five miles' range
(which version is probably tripe)."--_Scottish Paper_.

Like so many things th