RAMPARTS OF EMPIRE.* _Ma.- FRANK Fox has written an exceedingly
good book. It ie the best popular handbook to the Navy of to-day that we ;know, and also one of the most eloquent arguments on behalf of an Imperial system of defence. Like Dr. Fitchett, the writer is an Australian, and his oversee, sympathies seem to give him'h sounder historic perspective and a keener imagine- tire grasp upon the past than is common with us at home. The first chapter may be commended to all who wish to see Nelson praised as he should be praised. Here is an excellent description of the Nelson tradition: "A furious and yet calmly considered eagerness to grapple with danger : a cold rage that any hostile vessel should dare to ride the waters in any. part of the 'earth whilst a British Fleet was in being." The historical sketch which follows is well done ; but it is in the. technical chapters that Mr. Fox is at his best. He • expounds intricate matters of structure, seamanship and gunnery as lucidly and as picturesquely as the late G. W. Steetens ; and, like the same writer, he does not carry too -much paint on his brush. We like especially the passages where he describes the great Naval Review during the Press Conference, and where he expounds the heroic history of the . submarine. The last chapters are devoted to the story of Imperial naval organisation, from the days of Colonial . subsidies to the British.Navy to the scheme outlined at last year's Imperial Conference, which involved something not emlike British subsidies to Colonial navies. When the scheme is perfected the contribution of the overseas dominions to • theeImperial Navy will probably be "five 'Dreadnought' -cruisers, ten swift una.rmoured cruisers of the 'Bristol' class, • twenty destroyers, and ten submarines,"—a little fleet in itself well as a promise of greater things in the future. Mr. Fox's book should be in the hands of every boy, and of every man who wishes to get an intelligent view of the meaning of esp. power. Not the least of its merits is the wise and sane Olivet-. in which it is written. A word of praise must be added for the many excellent illustrations.
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