The Reckoning. By the Hon. James M. Beek. (Hodder and
Stoughton. 2e. fid. net.)—Mr. Beck, whose vigorous book, The Evidence in the Case, did much to persuade his fellow- Americana that they must take part in the war, urges in this pamphlet that the disintegration of Prussia, and not merely the uprooting of the Hohenzollern dynasty, is an essential condi- tion of a secure peace. Adopting Voltaire's motto, EMUS l'infdme, he contends that retributive justice demands the destruction of Prussian power. A good many Germans seem to agree with him. He compares the United States with Hamlet, and discusses in some detail President Wilson's "Fourteen Points." Several of them, and especially " the freedom of the seas," are, he thinks, non-essentials, the consideration of which might well stand over. He is fearful lest controversy over an ambiguous phrase should weaken the sacred union of the Allies, or disturb the good understanding between Great Britain and America, for the sole benefit of a watchful enemy.
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