SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Noting in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.] THE QuArtrznrsea.—The Edinburgh Review for January opens with an article on " Problems of the First World War " ; it is in effect a severe criticism of Colonel Repington's diary, which is unkindly contrasted with quotations from his articles published during the war. Mr. David Hannay writes temperately on Jutland, but concludes with a protest against the theory that a battle is " a risk to be avoided rather than sought " now that there are submarines and mines. This theory " contains the germs of the destruction of our naval supremacy." Mr. Wyatt Tilby has a lively and thoughtful article on " The Growth of London " through the ages and especially since Waterloo. Dr. Shadwell contributes a second valuable paper on " Capital- ism," pointing out very clearly the grotesque falsity of the Marxian theory and the way in which liberty is promoted by, and is inseparable from, the present economic dispensation. Dr. W. A. Brend has an interesting article on " Psychotherapy and War Experience." Captain Stephen Gwynn writes on the " Beginnings of Irish History." He says that Brian Born's death " was followed by six generations of internecine strife in which it is plain that Ireland desired peace through unity and despaired of finding it under any Irish head. Henry's coming to exercise overlordship (1172) was clearly not unwelcome to a very great part of Ireland ; only when that overlordship revealed itself as predatory did revolt begin." Captain Gwynn will shock his Nationalist friends by this admission of the truth. Mr. Philip Bagenal's " Irish Unrest Reviewed " is a useful summary of the fierce Roman Catholic rebellions from the revolt of 1641 to our own day ; there is nothing new about the Shin Fein rising or its atrocities, except in its connexion with the Bolshevik movement. The editor, Mr. Harold Cox, in a pungent article, " Ireland the Enemy," contends that Peel's policy of trying to win Ireland by kindness has failed, and that it would be better to cut Southern Ireland adrift and treat its inhabitants as aliens.—In the Quarterly Sir Ernest Satow gives a lucid account of " The Reorganisation of Europe " under the Peace Treaties. Mr. J. W. Gordon summarizes and comments on " The New German Constitution." Sir William Ashley examines Lenin's speeches and writings to show that Bolshevism and Democracy are incompatible. Dr. Hagberg Wright discusses " The Meaning of Russian Literature," in a review of the political tendencies of the best Russian fiction. Sir Henry Rew describes, in an informing article, " The Wages Problem in Agriculture " in Great Britain, and pleads for some kind of co-partnership in farming. M. Albert Thomas explains the functions of the International Labour Office. which he directs. Captain Alfred Dewar has an instructive paper on " The Reorganisation of the Naval Staff, 1917-19." He points out that Lord Jellicoe reverted to the old system, abolished in 1832, under which the general direction of the fleet was kept distinct from the work of supply. " The Agadir incident in 1911 revealed the bankruptcy of the no-staff system." A " great plan " was unearthed from a secret safe " and was found to contain a military campaign of which the General Staff had never heard," including a landing on the Frisian Islands. When the General Staff asked what the troops were to do there, the Admiralty rejected the " great plan " and decided to institute a War Staff, which has now become a properly organized Naval Staff. Sir Lionel Phillips writes a sympathetic and thoughtful appreciation of the late General Botha. An unnamed writer explains the rise of " The Agrarian Movement in Canada," which is a curious combination of farmers and Socialists, Prohibitionists and land-taxers. Mr. Henry Cloriston offers a pleasant and dignified verse-rendering of Leopardi's ode, " The Ginestra or the Desert Flower "—addressed to a flower which he found blossoming on the arid slopes of Vesuvius. Mr. Binyon, in an admirable article on the publications of the Walpole Society, discusses " English Traditions in Art."
Previous page
