important functions to perform in the War Cabinet and is rarely in the
House he usually deputes some other Member of the Government to answer
Questions addressed to him. To-day the lot fell upon Mr. BECK, who
good-temperedly explained, when a shower of "supplementaries" rained down
upon him, that he really knew nothing about the Department he was
temporarily representing. This led to a tragedy, for Mr. SWIFT MACNEILL
worked himself into a paroxysm of excitement over this constitutional
enormity, and finally sat down on his hat. "I only wish his head had been
in it," muttered a brother Irishman--from Ulster.

Believers in "the hidden hand," which is supposed to paralyse our military
efforts, are divided in opinion as to whether this cryptic member is most
actively employed by Lord HALDANE, Sir WILLIAM ROBERTSON or Sir EYRE CROWE,
Assistant-Secretary to the Foreign Office. They will probably regard Lord
ROBERT CECIL'S statement that some seven years ago Sir EYRE drew up a
memorandum calling the attention of Sir EDWARD GREY to the grave dangers
that threatened this country from Germany as further evidence of his
duplicity. The rest of the world will rejoice at Lord ROBERT'S spirited
vindication of "one of the ablest of our public servants," who, despite
Miss CHRISTABEL PANKHURST, is not one of "the three black crows" of
legendary fame.

When Sir H. DALZIEL, at the outset of his appeal to the Government to make
another attempt to settle the Irish Question, promised that he would not
"explore the noxious vapours of the past," I feared the worst. But he was
as good as his word, and spared us any gruesome excavations in ancient
Irish history. Major HILLS did even better by implying that it was only
during the last ten years that the question had warped and diverted our
domestic politics. If all Irishmen were as reasonable and moderate as Mr.
RONALD MCNEILL showed himself this afternoon it would not need settling,