how to win offensives.  It is even reported that the Germans contemplate placing the ex-king of Greece on the throne of Finland.  Fantastic rumours are rife in these days; but there is only too good reason to believe the report that the ex-Tsar, the Tsaritsa, and their daughters have all been murdered by their brutal captors at Ekaterinburg.  It seems but yesterday when Nicholas was acclaimed as the Saviour and regenerator of his people, and now Tsardom, irrevocably fallen from its high estate, has gone down amid scenes of butchery and barbarity that eclipse the Reign of Terror in France.

Little has happened at Westminster to indicate a consciousness on the part of the members of the great and glorious events in France.  The Irish Expeditionary Force, after an absence of three months and a severe training at home, has returned to the Parliamentary Front, and their war-cry is “Devlin’s the friend, not Shortt!” But the Chief Secretary was able to make the gratifying announcement that the voluntary recruiting campaign is to be assisted by several Nationalist M.P.’s, including Captain Stephen Gwynn, who has been serving in the trenches, and Colonel Lynch, who, having raised one Irish brigade to fight against us in the Boer War, and been sentenced to death for doing it, has now, with an inconsistency we cannot too gratefully recognise, undertaken to raise another to fight on our side.  Mr. Bonar Law has revealed the interesting fact that only 288 members of the House of Commons have received titles, decorations, or offices of profit since it was elected in December, 1910.  The unnoticed residue are probably wondering whether it is their own modesty or the shortsightedness of Ministers that has caused them to be passed over.  Mr. Billing, after several pathetic but futile efforts to regain his place in the limelight, has at last succeeded in getting himself named, suspended, and forcibly assisted by four stalwart officials in his exit from the House—­the most salutary movement, in the opinion of most members, with which he has yet been connected.

Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, in a recent speech, said that the association between the two Services, the Royal Navy and the Mercantile Marine, had been so close during the War, whatever that association might have been before, that it seemed to him almost incredible that it could ever be broken asunder.  The First Sea Lord’s statement is welcome and natural.  But there is nothing really new in this solidarity of the seas.  The Secret of the Ships is an old story: 

  On their ventures in the service of a Tudor King or Queen
    All the ships were just as like as they could be,
  For the merchantman gave battle, while the Royal ship was seen
    As a not too simple trader over-sea: 
  Being heirs to ancient customs, when their upper sails came down
    As a token of respect in passing by,
  They would add the salutation in a language of their own,
    “God speed you, we be sisters, thou and I.”