21 MARCH 1903, Page 23

Abraham's Sacrifice. By Gustaf Janson. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Mr. Janson,

who is, we see, a Swede, dislikes war in general. That is quite natural. Sweden has nothing to gain by war, and has no Imperial questions to face. But what if Norway were violently to break up the union ? We doubt whether the Swedes, who have not forgotten Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII., would not draw the sword. Then Mr. Janson especially dislikes war as waged by the British. Has he had experience of it? The tale is published without a word of explanation, and contains some odious things about our troops. On what authority are they told? Probably on the lying reports of German and French Journals; possibly on the calumnies of our own Pro-Boers, the "methods of barbarism" talk which responsible politicians were not ashamed to encourage. We do not care to go into the details of the story. Any one who wishes to see the novelist at his best of his worst—as the reader may regard it--ehould look at PP. 78-94. Imagine an English clergyman pointing in the midst of his sermon and saying r.—" See that widow over these ! How proudly she carries her head, although her husband has fallen on the battlefield!"