7 AUGUST 1909, Page 22

THE MAGAZINES.

Sin BAMPFYLDE FULLER has a valuable paper on "The Fouhdations of Indian Loyalty" in the August Nineteenth Century. He discusses the policy of the partition of Bengal and the circumstances of his own resignation without animus or heat. As for Lord Morley's reforms, some he commends and of others he disapproves. But be has no hesitation in describing these innovations as untimely, or in declaring that serious mischief has been caused by the method of their intro- duction. In particular he deplores the unfortunate impression created by the inconsistency shown in dealing with the claims of the Mohammedans, and the disregard which he asserts has been shown by Lord Morley for the advice of the experienced councillors of the Empire, whether in India or at Whitehall. In conclusion, Sir Bampfyide Fuller strongly demurs to the opportunist theory that the new policy has been-forced on us by irresistible development. " We haVe," he asserts, " no real ground for imagining that a caiTent is overpowering us, that we should take our haiuld from the oars and drift with the stream.'%----We are naturally gratified to find in Mr. .J. A. R: Marriott, who writes on " The House of Lords and the Budget," an able Supporter of the contentions put forward 'hi our editorial Columns. But though, as becomes a serious historian, Mr. -Marriott has no difficulty in finding precedents and sanctions for this view, he is not disposed to rely unduly • Femme Women of Nomura -By Edgeumbe Staley. Illustrated. London# A. Constable and Co. flOs. dd. net.]

Ilaac-letier arguments :—" The legists will ask : Have they [the Lords] followed or violated precedent? The people will ask : Have they done right P Have they dealt fearlessly and honestly with a series of 'measures of the first magnitude? Have they reached a decision with a single eye to the interests of the nation as a whole ?" Mr. Marriott then gives a number of excellent reasons to justify the Lords in reasserting rights which have been long dormant. We have only space to mention (1) that the Finance Bill of 1909 is a clear instance Of " tacking " ; (2) that for the Lords to swallow it whole is inconsistent with the effective maintenance of the bicameral system ; (3) that, on account of their revolutionary and dangerous character, the Lords would be justified in treating certain proposals in the Bill—notably the land clauses and the abolition of the Old Sinking Fund—as separable from the main body of the Bill, and refusing their assent to them. Finally, Mr. Marriott maintains that the Bill is open to much more serious objection than that it is an attack on capitalists. "It is an attack on capital."—Dr. Dillon's paper entitled " Great Britain and Russia: an Alliance or an Illusion" is a very curious performance. He pours cold water on the Duna in general and the Kudets in particular, and asserts that the nation ie moving gradually to

the speedy establishment of strong monarchical government. He sees no special significance in the visit of the Russian Deputies to England, and declares that the Tsar is no less powerful to-day than before the revolutionary outbreak of 1905. "The Conservatives are the coming men," and they want peace. The German element in Russia is extremely, if indirectly, . powerful. . Finally, Dr. Dillon undertakes to interpret the views of the Tsar as follows:- " The character of Russia's relations towards her neighbours is determined by the Tsar. He and lie alone can conclude treaties and transform ententes into alliances. The reasons why he is not at present in favour of an alliance with France and Great Britain are personal, 'dynastic, national. Believing that in the long run hostilities between Germany and Great Britain are unavoidable, he holds that the certain disadvantages which would accrue to Russia from participation in such a sanguinary war—whatever its tipshot—wOuld far outweigh the possible benefits. And what is more and worse, he is disposed to think that an alliance, informal or formal, would inevitably lead to a war between his own country and Germany. And anything would be better than that."

—A,remarkable paper on "Marriage Law in the Church of England" is contributed by the Rev. Charles J. Shebbeare. His position, which is fortified with quotations from the authorities, may be summed up as follows : Since neither in pre•Reformation nor in post-Reformation times did the Church at large teach the peculiarly severe views approved of in some Anglican circles, the doctrine of marriage needs radical rehandling. Indeed, in the opinion of the writer, " there are few more useful tasks in which the clergy of our day could engage than the systematic attempt to apply the fundamental principles of Christianity, untrammelled by the traditions of Roman Law, to the problems of Marriage and Divorce." So long as our Anglican divines think that the law of the Church is simple and satisfactory, and that all the difficulty arises from the sinful passions of mankind, there will, in Mr. Sheb- beare's opinion, be only an increasing divergence between the lay and the clerical view. Once they recognise what the Church Law has really been, they may be moved to inquire into the matter.—Mr. Frederic Harrison writes genially on the Tennyson Centenary, maintaining Tennyson's right to rank as a poet above both Browning and Swinburne; and Sir Edward Sullivan conducts an instructive inquiry into the quality of Francis Bacon's poetry. But perhaps the Baconhins would assert that this was written by Shakespeare.

The National Review has a short but interesting personal sketch of " The Emperor of To-morrow "—the Archduke

Franz Ferdinand—by M. Andre Mevil. The curiously com- plicated and paradoxical situation created by the Archduke's

Marriage—by which his wife and children are excluded from the Austrian succession, though their rights to the Hungarian throne are recognised—is only one of the thorny problems involved in his heirship to the throne. "He is an ardent Catholic, an enemy of Jews and Calvinists, who desires above all things that the Austro-Hungarian Empire should remain a Catholic Empire." He is alleged to be in sympathy With the Christian Socialists and that notorious anti-Semite, Dr. Lueger. Moreover, he is " personally self-willed, deter- alined, and anything but pliable," and, though for the moment reconciled with the German Court, be Is by no means likely to acquiesce in the indefinite continuance of Austria in the role of second fiddle to Germany. For the rest, he is credited with having initiated valuable reforms in the Army, with which he is popular, and with strongly supporting universal suffrage, "believing that such a measure would consolidate the crown of the Hapsburgs and weaken the position of the Magyars, whom Franz Ferdinand mistrusts." If the picture be true, there is no gainsaying M. Mevil's contention that such a character cannot fail to be a considerable factor in international affairs.—In " The Surrenders of the Sea Lords" "Navalis " seeks to show that by remaining in office all the Sea Lords who have served with Sir John Fisher at various times since 1904 must share his responsibility for weakening the Navy, and for impairing its solidarity by the regime of secret letters and espionage. The divulging of a confidential report by the Admiralty to a Member of the House of Commons to be used against Mr. Bellaire in debate is stigmatised by " Navalis" as the greatest scandal in the Royal Navy for the last hfty years, and we are not prepared to deny the statement.—Mr. Frank Fox contrasts the position of the landowner in Australia and in England. "As a rough generalisation it seems to me that the policy in Great Britain is to impose burden upon the landholder ; in Australia to grant subsidies to him Yet we find it difficult in Australia to keep the people from flowing to the cities from the country." —A curious paper is that headed " The Pampering of Prisoners," in which the writer, a graduate of one of the older Universities, who recently underwent a Month's imprisonment with hard labour, advocates a much harder and more dour treatment than that now enforced, on the ground that humanitarianism only encourages criminality, the cant df what he calls voluntary imprisonment being largely on the increase. As at present organised, "prison life it merely a negative hardship." The writer, however, indicate* some improvements in prison life, and expresses the opinion that the average prisoner cannot be the better for the blank solitude and gloom of his day of rest.—=,---We may also notiee Mr. Bernard Holland's fantastic and poetical dialogue between the Sea and the Moon; and a vivid account, drawn from old journals and letters, of the experience of a pioneer Colonist is New Zealand in the early "forties." The head of the family was so pitifully, unfit for the undertaking that, as " C. A. B."

observes, the wonder is not that things turned out so but that they did not turn out much worse.

Mr. Harold Spender discusses "The Lords and the Budget" in the new Contemporary. Starting from the assumption that the more uncompromising Conservative Peers are likely to overbear the caution of the " elder statesmen," Mr. Harold Spender sets himself to show that the claim of the Lords to amend is a revolutionary claim. He is fortified in this view by an observation of the late Lord Salisbury in 1894, when he said that the reason why the Lords could not interfere by amendment with the finance of the year was that it had not the power of changing the Executive Govet•ntnont ; and "tA reject a Finance Bill and leave the same Executive Govern- ment in its place means to create a deadlock from which there is no escape." This is all very interesting, but it partakes somewhat of the nature of knocking in an open door. Mr. Spender dismisses the claim to amend by dropping specific clauses, on the ground that it would in practice amount to the same thing as rejection. Having recently dealt fully with this point in our editorial columns, we may content ourselves with observing that Mr. Spender identifies amendment by alteration or addition with amendment by excision or partial rejection. But one must not expect much power to chi- criminate from a writer who asserts that " all that is left to the House of Commons under a Liberal Government is the power of finance."--,-Professor Harnack's Very interest• ing address to the representatives of the British Churches (delivered last Juno in Berlin) on "International and National Christian Literature" appears in an English dress. Perhaps the most remarkable utterance in the whole address is that in which, after• commenting on the conceit of the Greeks in refusing to learn from the Latins, he adds, "It is the loss of losses in the story of the Christian Church that Augustine, and the fruitful thoughts flowing from him, have left un- affected the whole of the Eastern Church." Professor Harnack attributes what spiritual unity there 'existed between the seventh and the thirteenth century to England—" the great

triple constellation, Bede, Boniface and Alcinm, represents the concrete effective theology and the religious culture of the time "—and declares that the greatest national movement within Christendom before the Reformation was the English movement under Wiclif. He speaks of the sermons of Kingsley and Robertson and the works of Carlyle as a common possession and handsomely acknowledges the high quality of the "scientific ecclesiastical literature" contributed by "such men as Hort, Westcott, Lightfoot and Hatch."— Mr. H. Stanley Jevons restates with certain modifications his father's theory of a relation between the recurrence of commercial crises and the sun-spot period, with special reference to the problem of unemployment. (It may be recalled that Mr. Jeule, of Lloyds, once formulated a similar theory, establishing a relation between sun-spots and the successes in the Oxford and Cambridge boat-race.)

Mr. W. A. Moore's "Scenes from the Siege of Tabriz" fully justify his description of it as one of the oddest in history. Perhaps the most luminous commentary on the Persian method of conducting warfare is that of Satar Khan : "It is not the custom here to fight after sundown." Mr. Moore notes individual instances of real bravery, but they were seldom pushed borne. He observes that "even the most cowardly took death and wounds with stoic indifference when they came. They were not ready to die and they took pains to live, but when the bullet came neither the victim nor those around him bemoaned the misfortune : a degenerate kind of fatalism."—We may also note Mr. Maxwell-Lyte's able paper on " Belgian v. British Oarsmanship," in which he asks: " Should it be necessary to put on an all-England eight to defend the Grand' if our style is really right ?" and Sir J. George Scott's amusing sketch entitled " A Chinese Solomon," describing the trials of a mule-driver who married a wife in the Shan States when he resolved to return to China.

In his " Review of Events " in the Fortnightly Mr. Garvin gives a remarkable quotation from the %rens Zeitung which is, indeed, a painful example of the desire not to understand, but to misrepresent. After the murder of Sir Curzon Wyllie

there appeared in this most influential of German newspapers a long attack upon our rule in India. Here is an example of the sort of thing to be found in the columns of a paper bearing the highest reputation for ability and respectability. England, we are told, " demands that Belgium shall introduce on the Congo the reforms which England in India has—not yet introduced ! As a matter of fact, the Indians, despite their higher culture, are much worse off under English rule than the negroes of the Congo under

Belgian. While England bewails the fate of the Congo negroes, she stops her humane' and civilised ears against the cries of the starving Indians, because the exploitation of India is the source of her wealth."

Well may Mr. Garvin say that he leaves the passage to stand in its own deformity.—Mr. E. B. lwan-Miiller deplores that although we take so much trouble to eliminate the undesirable in breeding horses, dogs, and cattle, the human unfit are in every way encouraged by the community. He quotes from Sir E. Ray Lankester to prove that wild animals are not subject to disease as are human beings. But this authority goes on to say that animals " unselected and humanly nurtured" are not immune from disease. He next points out the devastating effects produced among the native cattle and wild animals in Africa through man's importations of diseased animals of his own breeding from Europe. But Mr. Iwan-Miiller talks about " man improving upon Nature" in the cattle he has bred,—a statement which seems in contradiction to Sir E. Ray Lankester. If man has been so unsuccessful with cattle, perhaps he would not be more successful if he were to set about improving his own race.— The Rev. H. W. Clark's " Reconsideration and Appreciation" of Tennyson, without giving us anything very new, contains much that is sound and sensible. He looks upon the poet more as an interpreter than a creator ; one who took the ideas which were stirring in men's minds around him, and illuminated them with the touch of his great poetic genius. By his unrivalled power over forms of beauty, both of imagery and language, Tennyson was able to make current ideas of religion and philosophy more significant. As Mr. Clark says, he gave us " a new impression, though not a new revelation."—M. Rene Lara shows us a charming picture of the simplicity of the Pope's

manners and surroundings, when once the outer pomp and ceremony of the Vatican have been penetrated. Pius X. asked M. Lara questions concerning newspaper writers in France, and told how he had been accused by the Roman Socialist journalists of having enormous meals re. calling those of Lucullus. The entrance to the Papal kitchens was watched, with the result, said the Pope, that " in the end they were bound to admit that my succulent bills of fare were composed invariably of risotto and meat, meat and risotto. In point of fact, it was the memory of Lucullus that they calumniated."

The first article in Blackwood is an unsigned one dealing with Lord Kitchener's Indian military reforms. The writer considers that Lord Kitchener was able to make some of his most important schemes effective because there had been going on in the Indian Army for some time past developments and alterations which greatly helped the carrying out of his plans. Lord Kitchener is stated to have gone to India with his mind already made up upon certain matters, which had to be modified when he came into contact with those who under- stood the local conditions. This was notably the case with the plan of raising several batteries of field artillery, manned by natives. The writer of the paper before us divides the military reforms into two parts. First, the redistribution of the Indian Army, and its training in peace-time under war conditions. For this he has abundant praise. Secondly comes the question of the central military administration, which resulted in the resignation of Lord Curzon. This is a different matter, and open to many serious objections, since from the concentrating in one office of the purely military, the financial, and the administrative sides complications may arise. The writer of the article says :—

"Not only did Lord Kitchener's previous experience make him well fitted to control the complex machine which he had con- trived, but all his tastes led him towards the administrative duties of his post. In the work of command, inspection, and training, with which soldiers would generally find themselves more familiar, he was less interested. What will happen in the future it is impossible to say, when the heterogeneous functions of the Commander-in-Chief have to be performed by an officer whose tastes and experience may lie perhaps with troops rather than with office files, on the manceuvre-ground rather than in the council chamber."

Major-General Frank S. Russell gives us one of those delightful papers of reminiscences of which Blackwood alone has the secret. The writer went on an unofficial journey in the winter of 1876-77 at the request of the head of the Intelli- gence Department to try to discover the truth as to the military preparations of Russia and Turkey. The statesmen, and soldiers like the Duke of Cambridge, believed that there would be no war. It was to throw light on the subject that General Russell gave up his appointment at Sandhurst, and undertook at his own expense a journey which revealed the true state of things. Apparently because the authorities at home, from the Secretary of State and the Commander-in- Chief downwards, did not believe the reports which General Russell made, he was given no recompense for his work, although his reports turned out true in the end. The accounts we get of the unpreparedness of the Turkish Army are most curious. On the other hand Russia was concentrating soldiers and only awaiting the spring, while diplomatically she denied her warlike intentions. General Russell has not much good to say of either Russian or Turkish civilisation as he saw it in the places be visited. Indeed, be says there was nothing to choose between them. We sincerely hope that this will not be the last of these reminiscences.—" The Trumpeter" is a charming recollection of the Boer War. The Column-Commander's orderly—the trumpeter—is described with true sympathy for a character of exceptional bravery and capacity.

Mr. Wilfred Gibson's poem in the English Review, called "Daily Bread," is a sombre study. In it a dialogue takes place between a countryman who has lost all heart after a year's struggle for employment in a great town, and his sweetheart newly arrived in the slum. The girl brings with her hope and determination. The poem, although gloomy and depressing, is not squalid, and its author shows great power of restraint in the treatment of his theme.—Mr. Norman Douglas in his essay on Tiberius takes the view which makes out that the Emperor was much maligned by his biographers. Dignity, common-sense, and consideration

for 'others; we are told, were his chief characteristics. Indeed, Mr. Doughts could not say more if he were writing of the most virtuous of the Antonines. Tiberius seems' to have 'eV -little k value on the capacities of the nobles, and frankly superseded them by men of ability, irrespective of birth. It may be for this reason that a tradition grew up not favourable to the Emperor, which was adopted by Tacitus. The problem is a curious one, how there came to be two such totally different accounts of the same man. For• the solution, Mr. Douglas tells us, it is of no use to look further into existing authorities. They have been explored to the uttermost. But it is suggested that the libraries of Herculaneum, may answer the riddle.—Mr. Walter de in Mare possesses a Maeterlinckian power of creating a crepuscular atmosphere in which his characters move. In "The Almond Tree" there is nothing supernatural, nothing intentionally eerie, but the general effect is that of m3 stery. This setting of the story and the definiteness of the characters is of much greater interest than the story itself, which, if inquired into too minutely, seems to demand explanation. But as we read the magician has us in his power, and we accept the actions of the characters without question.—Mr. Montague writes of " The Wholesome Play," which he says people demand, and which is the negation of all that is stimu- lating to the mind. We are asked if Lear and Othello are wholesome plays, and their existence seems to be considered as. an excuse for the, plays by those young lions of the drama to which the normal playgoer refuses to listen. But must we not take into account both the mental attitude and artistic capacity of. the playwright ? Othello treated by many a modern writer would merely excite disgust, while Shakespeare dignifies and exalts the tragedy.—In the present number of this magazine both Mr•. Henry James and Mr. Ford Madox Hneffer have first instalments of stories.

The: United Service Magazine for August contains a very interesting article on "Bonaparte's Expedition to Syria," by Major-General Bullock, an article which we commend to all students of desert warfare, and to those of our statesmen who are inclined to think that the deserts which surround Egypt are impassable, and that 'therefore Egypt is strategically an islind, and only approachable by sea. In spite of the fact which is brought out very strongly by General Bullock that Napoleon failed to make adequate preparations for desert- Marching, and ran thereby many great risks, he did success- fully pass thirteen thousand men out of Egypt, and brought the bulk of them back again in safety. Had Napoleon's subordinates been more careful in the way of getting together camel-transport, and bad they generally made better pre- parations, the task would have proved a good deal easier than it did. In truth, deserts ar•e no more impassable obstacles to armies than are mountains.—Another very interesting article is Captain Johnstone's " Envelopment v. Penetration," in which the two methods are discussed. We cannot attempt to summarise the arguments, but may point out that here, as elsewhere, the increasing numbers of modern armies, and still more the increasing range of artillery and rifle-fire, have very much altered the conditions of the problem. On the whole, we are inclined to think that these new conditions give the advantage to the system of Moltke—i.e., envelopment—rather than to that of Napoleon,—i.e., penetration.—A kindred subject is that of "The Employment of Detachments in War," which is worked out with copious reference to specific instances by " Miles."—" The Early Use of Balloons in War• " gives some curious examples of the way in which balloons were used during the American Civil War.