* * * * * "We are inclined to attribute the form as well as the substance of the Note to the aloofness from the practical affairs of the outside world which seems to exist in the Vatican."--_Times._ The POPE may or may not be behind the times, but as our contemporary signed the Papal Peace Note, "BENEDICTUS XVI." it is plain that _The Times_ is ahead of the POPE. * * * * * Extract from a letter recently received by a manufacturing firm:-- "We are pleased to be able to inform you that we have seen the Munitions Area delusion officer at ----, and he has informed us that he would not hesitate to grant Protection Certificates for these men." We sympathise too much with Labour to care to see it labouring under a delusion officer. * * * * * HEART-TO-HEART TALKS. (_Herr MICHAELIS: Marshal VON HINDENBURG_.) _Herr M._ Good morning, my dear Marshal. I am glad we have been able to arrange a meeting, for there are certain points I wish to settle with you. _Von H._ I am, as always, at your Excellency's service; only I beg that the interview may not be prolonged beyond what is strictly needful. Time presses, and much remains to be done everywhere. _Herr M._ But I have the commands of the ALL-HIGHEST to speak with you on some weighty matters. He himself, as you know, has several speeches to make to-day. _Von H._ Oh, those speeches! How well I know them. I could almost make them myself if I wanted to make speeches, which, God be thanked, I do not need to do. _Herr M._ No, indeed. Your reputation rests on foundations firmer than speeches. _Von H._ You yourself, Excellency, have lately discovered how fallacious a thing is a speech, even where the speaker honestly tries to do his best to please everybody. _Herr M._ You are very kind, my dear Marshal, to speak thus of my humble effort. The result of it has certainly disappointed me. _Von H._ What was it that LEDEBOUR said of it? Did he not describe it as "a political hocus-pocus"? Such men ought to be at once taken out and shot. But we Prussians have always been too gentle in our methods. _Herr M._ We have. It is perhaps our only fault; but this time we must see that we correct it. In any case, to be so misunderstood is most painful, especially when one has employed all one's tact. _Von H._ Ah, tact. That is what you are celebrated for, is it not? _Herr M._ HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY has more than once been graciously pleased to compliment me upon it. And he, if anyone, is a judge of tact, is he not? _Von H._ I have not myself any knowledge of it, so I cannot say for certain. Does it perhaps mean what you do when you entirely forget in one speech what you have said or omitted to say in a previous speech?