24 MAY 1902, Page 25

The Call to Arms, 1900 - 1901. By H. Seton-Karr, M.P. (Long-

mans and Co. 5s. net.)—Mr. Seton-Karr begins with the critical time when the serious reverses of Storaberg, Magersfontein, and Colenso, all of them occurring in the space of a week, had made Englishmen seriously consider the position. They did not "despair of the Republic," but they felt that it was a time for action. The despatch of the Colonial corps, of the C.I.V., and of the Imperial Yeomanry was part of the answer of Britain and Greater Britain to the call. It is to the raising of the last of these forces, and especially to the "Mounted Sharpshooters' Corps," that our author gives his attention in tho first place, though he has some- thing to say about other matters cognate to the subject. A 'very interesting, and, we may truly say, a very instructive, book he has made of it. In Part II. he deals with the subject of rifle-shooting, emphasises its crucial importance, gives us some details of its history, including some notice of various weapons, and illustrates it from recent events. Then there is a dialogue in which a politician and two soldiers for the most take a part. There, among other things, the blame is laid on the right shoulders. There is one terrible story of a Boer woman smothering her own child for fear of the "British brutality." It must be a sad reflection for certain partisans here that they are deeply guilty in this matter.