SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
!Notice in this column elves not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
THE QUARTERLIES.—The Edinburgh Review for July opens with an instructive article by Dr. She.dwell on "Germanism, War, and Peace," in the course of which he summarizes a recent book by an able German Socialist, Dr. Karl Renner, Who justifies the war and pleads for the reconstruction of the world under German control as earnestly as any Prussian Junker. Mr. Ernest Fayle discusses the old Navigation Acts, urging that their effect has been much exaggerated, and that it would be useless and dangerous to revive them. Sir C. S. Addis, writing on "Problems of British Banking," expresses some doubts as to the value to the community of the recent bank amalgamations, but defends British bankers against the charge that they do not assist our foreign enterprises as much as they might do. An interest- ing account of the effect of the war upon Afghanistan is given by Ikbal Ali Shah ; the collapse of Russian power has transformed the situation in Central Asia, where anything may happen. Mr. Harold Cox, the editor, in an article on " The Government of England," considers the problem of reconciling the ideals of democracy and liberty. He scoffs at Federalism, and suggests that our Parliament elected on a territorial basis is fundamentally incapable of dealing with commercial and industrial problems, which might be referred to "bodies constituted on a commercial and industrial basis." —The Quarterly Review contains an important article on "Sian Fein and Germany," tracing the history of the German and Sinn
• Fein plots during the war. We may note one curious detail. In August, 1916, Count Bemstorff telegraphed to Berlin, asking the German Government to use their influence at Rome so • that Assistant-Bishop Cohalan, a cousin of Judge Cohalart, one of the chief Sian Fein agents in America, might be appointed Bishop of Cork, his chief competitor being regarded as anti-German. The Assistant-Bishop was duly promoted. The evidence regarding the Sinn Fein plot is so complete that we are left wondering why the authorities took no action until a few weeks ago. Mr. Waldo G. Leland gives an interesting summary of "America's First Year of War " ; the second year's record will be even more remarkable. Mr. Stephen Hobhouse, who was imprisoned as a "conscientious objector," describes "An English Prison from Within" with the object of promoting the reform of our prisons, which he regards as "places of demoralization and torture." Seiler Jose de Armes discusses very cautiously the question of "Spain and Gibraltar," and concludes that Spain is not anxious to raise it at present. Mr. Edgar Crammond writes on "British Finance during and after the War " ; he is hopeful of the future, provided that we all work hard and that we maintain our Mercantile Marine. Other articles of interest are "The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem," by Mr. William Miller; "The Ideals and Aspirations of Italy," by Mr. Horatio F. Brown; and "The Last of the Latin Historians," by Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, the Minister of Education, who is concerned with Ammianus Marcellinus, the fourth-century historian, who fought under the ill-fated Emperor Julian at Ctesiphon on the Tigris, and whose surviving books deal with the critical period from 353 to 378.
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