Modern War and Peace. By Viscount Esher. (Macmillan and Co.
ls. net.)—Lord Esher recently delivered a lecture before the " Cambridge University War and Peace Society " ; and it is now reprinted. The main subject of the paper is Mr. Norman Angell's thesis, with which Lord Esher is in general agreement. He is not, of course, in favour of relaxing our military preparations at the present time, and declares that if he thought that in the world's present state of martial unrest Mr. Angel's teaching "would induce our people to abandon building those great fleets that preserve these islands from attack and keep the ocean way free for British commerce, I should look upon Norman Angell as an enemy of our race and country." Nor does Lord Esher accept the view that at the present time all wars are conducted for economic motives, for he recognizes that they are caused ultimately by feelings rather than intellectual processes. What ho suggests is the need for gradually counteracting these feelings by an emphasis upon the economic reasoning adduced by Mr. Angell.
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