SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this CON'S* sloes not necessarily loveluile subsequent review.] Imperial Germany. By Prince von Billow. (Cassell and Co. 6s. net.) —This is a new edition of the ex-Chancellor's well-known book, admir. ably translated by Miss Lewenz, which deserves attention because it has been enlarged and partly rewritten during the war. Prince Billow sneers at us for missing the opportunity of crushing Germany's naval power before it was fully developed; as a Prussian statesman, he would not of course believe that no responsible people here ever dreamed of such action on our part. It is noteworthy that he does not accuse us of having brought on the war, nor does he blame Rlls13111; he is significantly silent in regard to his successor Bethmami-Hollweg, whose name he never mentions and whose policy—if indeed it was the present Chancellor's 'policy—he covertly condemns by the praise -that he bestows on Bismarck's adroit statesmanship. - Writing in May last, he had nothing useful to say on the peace question, for he assumed that Germany must
annex at least part of Belgium and Poland, and perhaps Volhynia as well, and that if she failed to gain anything the war would be a defeat for her. Mr. J. W. Headlam contributes an illuminating preface, in which he says a few plain truths about the complacent author under whom Germany became a public danger.
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