THE MAGAZINES.

FOREIGN policy looms large in the new Nineteenth Century. Mr. C. S. Goldman, M.P., in "Eleven Years of Foreign Policy' endeavours to establish a close causal nexus between the existing situation and the policy of alliances and ententes suggested, if not rendered inevitable, by the temper of the Western nations during the Boer War. He contends that we have made great sacrifices of prestige and security, and that we can only be said to have succeeded in our game "if that game was to check German expansion." He does not exactly condemn the policy, but bolds that it has been vitiated throughout by our lack of military strength. "We cannot continue indefinitely the policy of paying tribute to our allies for their hypothetical support in order that we may drift inevitably into a war in which we shall possess no guarantees of assistance." Hence his ultimate conclusion that, as Liberal- ism is incapable of understanding the two main expressions of German thought—the industrial tariff or the Imperial Army and Navy—the problem will be solved by a Unionist Ministry either coming to terms with Germany or consolidating a real alliance of all who fear her ambitions. It is, however, pretty clear—so far as anything is clear in this curiously tentative article—that Mr. Goldman would greatly prefer the former alternative; indeed, he says it would be reckless not to make the attempt, and he suggests a "reasonable settlement" on the following lines :-

(1) That nothing must be proposed to Germany without the full previous knowledge and consent of Prance. (2) That the question of the limitation of armaments shall not be allowed to enter into the discussion.

(3) That the natural and legitimate desire of Germany to expand her commerce and population into other parts of the world should be recognized as far as is compatible with vital British interests; and that we should express the belief that such an expansion would in ninny ways be to our interest.

(4) That we should recognize that a restriction of Gorman commerce and the consequent failure to improve the condition of the German working claws is of no business advantage to us, and makes directly both for underselling in this country and for a war which will burden our industries and working classes for years even in the event of success.

(5) That as a corollary of these views we indicate our readiness to assist Germany, wherever we can, to attain her colonial outlets, and that we give a promise that when an Imperial tariff system is established her products shall be in no way penalized to the advantage of other external Powers ; on the understanding, of course, that she likewise will indicate her readiness not to dis- criminate against us.

We may add that Mr. Goldman goes so far as to say—d propos of the Franco-German Morocco settlement—that it is no thanks to Sir Edward Grey that war did not come first ; while his views on the increasingly close connexion of foreign policy and economic interests show an approximation to those of Mr. Norman Angell.—The attack on Sir Edward Grey is renewed by Mr. E. D. Morel in "The True Story of the Morocco Negotiations." The main drift of the article may be found in the statement that, as tested by the Morocco affair, the Anglo-French " Declaration " of April 1904 "has been transformed into an arrangement by which a British Foreign Secretary has undertaken to make the French case, in interests purely French, his own, and consequently, but without its consent., that of the nation." Mr. Morel observes that Sir Edward Grey is to be admired for his disinterested- ness and detachment from selfish arabitiens. But he charges him, during the course of the negotiations, with misinter- preting the German assurances, with lapses of memory, and with pursuing a provocative diplomacy in the interests of French colonial Jingoes. He is also "saturated with the anti- German prejudices which permeate the minds of his advisers," and, in fine, be is responsible for an attitude in regard to the Act of Algeciras, which causes Mr. Morel to say that, whatever is said of it, "in common decency let us leave the word honour out of the discussion." Mr. Morel winds up with a defence of M. Caillaux, who, though he may have erred in his methods, was "a man of broad and logical mind," who saw that the only way out of the difficulty "was a frank, full, and thorough understanding with Ger- many," and fell a victim to the influences wielded against the peace party in the French Ministry by the British diplomatic machine. We have abstained from any comment on Mr. Morel's

narrative, but may say that, if it is true, hanging is too good for our Foreign Secretary, and, if it is false, Mr. Morel has for ever shattered his reputation as a publioist.—Mr. Ian Mal- colm's article on "Justice to Ireland " may be specially recommended to the consideration of those English Home Rulers who persuade themselves, in the words of the Daily • Chronicle, that "Ireland will never have a frugal or an efficient Government until she controls it herself." The Nationalist leaders have been aggressively contemptuous of "material reforms" or " fleshpots," but do they really believe that a reduction of old-age pensions will be popular F- Mr. Anderson Graham, who has recently made a tour in the old congested districts, has come to a similar conclusion. We may particularly commend to our readers his bold condemnation of the present enthusiasm for Gaelic, which he holds to be leading education altogether astray. People who have a struggle to make their living are wasting . valuable time in acquiring an accomplishment which should be the luxury of leisured scholars.----Sir William White writes on the Recent Changes in Admiralty Organization, -which in the main meet with his cordial approval, and he demurs to those interpretations of the Memorandum in which Mr. Churchill is credited with belittling the achievements of his predecessors. Sir William White, however, in a. very interesting discussion of the duties of the additional Civil Lord, based in good part on his own long experiences as Director of Naval Construction, uuliesita- tingly expresses his opinion that the main work and responsi- bility must remain as at present, i.e., with the Controller.— We may also note Mr. Frederic Harri8011'13 attack on the art of Rodin, under the beading " Aischro-Latreia—the Cult of the Foul" ; Miss Mary Taylor's spirited vindication of her grand- mother, Mrs. John Stuart Mill, from the disparaging and com- promising references in the Edinburgh Review; Mr. MacColl's caustic survey, "A Year of Post-Impressionism " ; and Mr. Darrell Figgis's able if somewhat patronizing estimate of Dickens.

Owing to the regrettable illness of the editor, the February National Review appears without the "Episodes of the Month," thus losing what is its most characteristic feature. The National without Mr. Maxee is like London without the taxi. Lord Percy writes on Russia's role in a European war, urges the need of the closest combination for the triple entente, and expresses the hope that the present clamour against Russia will soon cease completely. The article winds up with a sensational account of the immediate cause of the recent supersession of the principal members of the Board of Admiralty and a direct impeachment of Lord Haldane's veracity. For the rest Lord Percy's platform is accurately defined in the following sentences:—' The British people must not be deluded by even the most reputable organs of the Press which assert that we have no mission to redress the balance of power ; that we must not meditate Continental warfare or organize ourselves to that end. On the contrary, we must do all three. Scanty as our military resources are we must do it or perish."—" Navalis " welcomes the appointment of the Navy War Staff and indicates the immense arrears of work which lie before it owing to tho "scandalous apathy" of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the absence of proper war plane, and the fluctuations of our

shipbuilding programmes. We may note that the writer specially urges on the War Staff the need of teaching the art of writing clear orders, the neglect of which led to disaster in the past.—The most readable article in the number is Mr. Bernard Holland's delightful study of Kent and the Poets, full of happy quotations and incisive comments. "Kentish poets," be observes, "have the advantage over those of other counties that the word ' Kent ' is good for rhyming and that ' Kentish ' is a good adjective. ' Surrey ' rhymes, indeed, to lworfy," hurry," flurry,' and scurry,' but these words call up nothing more pleasing than Clap-

ham Junction or Waterloo; the rest of the counties,

oddly enough, rhyme to nothing." In a most amusmg passage Mr. Holland observes that "the feeling of the populace for Jack Cade, as imagined by Shakespeare, was pre-

cisely like that of a later populace for Roger Tichhorne, a. poor man kept out of his rights by a conspiracy of the rich."

Shakespeare, who foresaw everything, anticipated the attitude of stalwart Radicals towards Lord Loreburn over the magistracy in the dialogue between two of Cade's followers, -while Cade himself anticipated the Home Secretary's attitude towards the Dartmoor Shepherd when he tried Lord Saye for appointing justices of the peace "to call poor men before them about matters they were not able to answer."— Another charming paper is Mr. Aubrey Bell's on" A Winter's Walk in Andalucia," with its many happy illustrations of the characteristic gaiety, indolence, and intelligence of the andaluz.—Mr. Maurice Low, in his monthly review of American Affairs, gives some remarkable facts bearing on the salaries and perquisites of members of the House of Repre- sentatives, which lead him to observe that in the United States statesmanship pays. Thus some thrifty Western members are alleged to have saved 28,000 in two years. On the other hand "there is no country in the world so neglectful of its public servants," in proof of which he instances the treat- ment of Colonel Goethals, the chief engineer in charge at Panama.

Mr. Joseph King, M.P., gives an interesting account of the German elections in the Contemporary, summarizing his impressions during a fortnight spent in visiting German friends, discussing politics with them, and witnessing party warfare. Though be attended meetings of the Centre and National Liberal Parties, we gather that for the most part he frequented those of the Social Democrats, to whose organiza- tion and solidarity be pays a well-founded tribute. Their 800,000 subscribing members contribute £200,000 a year, and the amount of unpaid missionary work done is amazing. They also utilize women more than the other parties. On the other hand the National Liberal Party "has many fine aims, but no popular cries." He also notices the drift towards Conserva- tism of the professors and students at the universities, due partly to a dread of Socialism, partly to interested motives. Thirty years ago they were mostly National Liberals. Mr. King declares that at none of the meetings he attended did he hear anything like racial hatred or bellicose menace in the criticisms of British foreign policy, but in private conversations with retired Ministers, professors, and journalists, as well as with candidates and active politicians of very different groups, he found general distrust, and even despair, of good relations between the Governments, even amongst those who declared that the people as a whole were anxious to trade together, live in peace, and join in a common civilization. These friendly critics suggested that it was no good for us to make speeches or say anything at all unless we could do something at the same time. But the only specific advice Mr. King records is that Englishmen should not go about talking and behaving as if the increase of the Gorman fleet to make it com- mensurate with their expanding commerce and world-wide in- terests was undertaken with the intention of invading England. —Si, George Wedderburn, writing under the heading "King George and India," eulogizes without reserve Western edu- cation as mainly responsible for rendering Indian public opinion strong and articulate, and approves of the Congress movement in all its workings. He admits the Indian Civil Service to be "the most honest and efficient body of officials that the world has seen," but "with grief" has seen it "degenerate from a friendly paternal autocracy into a bureaucratic machine of the Russian type, in direct antagonism with the aspirations of the people and angrily hostile to freedom and progress." He allows Lord Curzon capacity and energy, but most un- fairly charges him with throwing hie whole weight on the side of official domination, and denounces the Partition of Bengal as "the thorn in the flesh which poisoned all the body politic" and created chaos and exasperation against British rule. The heroes of the new era are Lord Harding°, Lord Crewe, and, above all, Lord Morley, whose "dictum of the settled fact,' the personal refusal to reconsider the Partition, was a temporary sacrifice in order to secure a permanent good."—" Disestablishment in Wales" is dealt with from opposing points of view by the Bishop of St. Davide and Mr. Llewelyn Williams, K.C., M.P., and amongst other articles we may specially notice Mr. W. M. J. Williams's useful record of Imperial Funds spent in Ireland, in which all discus- sion of the merits of Home Rule is carefully avoided; Mr. Henry Baerlein's painful account of the condition of the Mayas in Yucatan, which he pronounces to be nothing more or less than slavery, while admitting that some of the haeendados treat their labourers humanely ; and Mr. Norman Lamont's encouraging review of the " recovery " of the West Indies, as the result of the enlightened policy of encouraging new industries—rubber, cotton, cacao, bananas—instead of relying solely on sugar.

Mr. Baumann makes out a very strong case in the Fortnightly why the Unionist Party should not attempt to rival the present Government programme of State Socialism., If the Unionists are to return to power it will be by the help of the people who desire to husband the national resources to restore the Constitution, and to perfect Imperial defence. Mr. Lloyd George and the Radical electors are like Dr. Johnson, who, when he surveyed the grounds at Inverary, remarked, "What I admire here is the total defiance of expense." It is hopeless for the Unionists to compete in this direction. There are plenty of things for them to do, and which cry for attention. Mr. Baumann says, "The electors oughtnot to be asked to chcose between two competing programmes of Socialism, but between Socialism and a strong and orderly government of the Empire."—Mr. Laurence Jerrold writes of "French ' Patriots ' and English 'Liberals," and asks both to be more reasonable. It is indeed a strange world in which the English Liberal of the anti-military type and the fire- eating reactionary Frenchman are political brothers, and the Daily News and M. Paul Deroulede lie down together, each agreeing that the entente is a onesidod and embarrassing arrangement. What would happen to France if she broke away from England ? Mr. Jerrold answers the question thus : "She will either be attacked alone by Germany, or she must accept alliance with Germany against England. Germany will either fight heror absorb her." Here is his answer to the other question as to the result of our abandoning France and making up to Germany. "Firstly, we must let Germany catch us up in naval armaments ; and secondly, we must break with France. Both conditions obviously will be exacted; no one who doubts' that sees things as they are. Is the English Liberal prepared for either consummation P Does he imagine that it would make for the greater freedom of the world that the German Empire should equal us at sea and equal France on land, and thus have the upper hand of both countries ? "—The article by "G." on " Strikes " is timely. The battle is now being fought out amongst the miners as to which shall get the upper hand—the principle of the old-fashioned col- lective bargaining unions or syndicalism, and the article in question shows us something of what this foreign importa- tion is. The weapon of the Syndicalists is a strike on as large a scale as possible and approaching as near as possible to the general strike, the object being that during the anarchy of a general stoppage the government of the country may become so enfeebled that the workmen of a particular industry may be able to seize that industry and appropriate it to themselves. We are given various quotations to show that the Labour Party has largely identified itself with the Syndicalist idea, and we are told of some of the effects of putting Syndicalist ideas into practice in Liverpool last summer. The rise in child mortality was such that 500 poor children were killed by the methods of the new trade unionism in impeding sanitation and stopping food supplies. It is to be hoped that a coal strike will not bring about kindred results.

The most interesting article in Blackwood is the last. "The Durbar from the Crowd" gives us what so many of the picturesque and descriptive writers have missed, for here we are made to realize not so much what the crowd saw as what it felt. The impressive thing to the native come from his village was the actual presence of the Badsherh, and as he returned he said, "God sends the sun and the rain, and He used to send the spear, and now the land has seen their King." But it was not only the peasant who was conscious of the greatness of the occasion and the intensity of the feeling. The writer of the article tells us that the situation was summed up by the German Consul-General, who, when asked his views said, "There are no words."

The crowd was greatly impressed by the good humour of the police and by their consideration, this was expressed by an old farmer who remarked, "No doubt the Bildshah had given orders to the police to treat his subjects properly; it was only real Badshdhs who thought of the poor folk in the streets." At first the crowd was a silent one: the old memories of the Moguls still lived, when he who made a demonstration as the King passed was cut down by the guards ; but when the King and Queen showed themselves on the walls of the Mogul Palace for all the country folk to see them they "cheered as never the East had dared to do before."—A story, "From the Outposts," makes us realize the fearful difficulty of administering justice in remote places in Africa, and how great is the strain upon the official who has not only to be judge but public prosecutor as well. The writer in the present instance tells us how he bad to investigate a case of the murder of an Englishman, and how the evidence proved a certain men to be guilty. Before the sentence could be carried out it had to be referred to headquarters—a matter of many weeks. During the period of waiting the prisoner, who always declared his innocence, turned his attention to gardening, and grew excellent vegetables for his judge. At last the confirmation of the sentence arrived, and the judge was put in the unpleasant position of having to hang his efficient gardener. On the way to the execution the judge discovered that every one knew that the prisoner was innocent and that the murder had been committed by some one else; the fact was so well known that every one supposed that the Judge knew it, too, though no one had ever enlightened him. That lie was about to carry out the sentence was attributed to the fact that the white ants had eaten the cabbages under the prisoner's charge. So the execution was turned into an inquiry, and a free pardon was granted in due course.--Mrs. Andrew Lang gives a very amusing account of a book by M. Paul Eudel, True et Truqucurs, which seems to give a great deal of light on the dark subject of artistic forgeries, and Mr. Edmund Candler describes a Hindoo pilgrimage to a cave high up in the mountains of Kashmir, where Siva, is worshipped, the two great stalactites of ice being especially holy. The authorities of .Kashmir now supervise the procession, and the loss of life is not so great as formerly in this desert of rock and snow. Mr. Candler gives a curious account of the cave after the pilgrims had left it—no priest lives there—and of the native who had come there to seek knowledge living with his wife at an altitude equal to that of the highest Alps, with wild onions for their only food.

The first article in the United Service Magazine for February, entitled " Oversea Expeditions and the Command of the Sea," by "Two Seamen," is especially striking as coming from a naval source. With its main contention we are in full sympathy. It is that in case of war we must dispatch our expeditionary force immediately and without waiting till we have obtained a naval victory over the enemy. Every con- sideration of prudence and strategy demands this. Confucius, greatest of philosophers, in his ono recorded remark upon war, said, "If I fight I must win." If we follow this teaching we must certainly dispatch our expeditionary force at once. If we engage in war our object is to beat the enemy, not to proceed under some system of limited liability which is bound to break down if the enemy are successful on the Continent. To put the matter quite clearly, if Germany were able just to beat France on the Continent because we failed to send out 150,000 men, we should be the greatest fools in history. Germany then—such a victory if it were achieved would be an absolute victory—would very soon be in a position to deal with us, and we should have to fight her single-handed. If we go into war our side must win, and we must use every con- ceivable resource at our command by land and sea to ensure that that side does win. "In for a penny in for a pound" is an essential argument in war.—Another article entitled "The Annual Training of an Infantry Company," by "F. 0.," will be of great interest to regimental officers.