Russia at the Cross-Roads. By 0. E. Bechhofer. (Kogan Paul,
Trench, and Co. 5s. net.)—The main proposition of this intelligent but somewhat dogmatic book is that Russia must secure the Dar- danelles if she is to develop as a European Power. This, we believe, is now generally accepted by the Allies, but it is useful to have a clear statement of the economic, social, and political reasons why Russia cannot afford to remain a land-locked Empire, dependent for her chief commercial route on the goodwill of the Turk. The author's summary account of Russian institutions is somewhat prejudiced by his Liberal party sympathies, but he is at any rate free from the delusion that Stepniak, say, represented the soul of Russia. In speaking of the Mir he says, oddly enough, that it corresponds to the Anglo-Saxon Witenage. mat, "a system of local self-government " ; the Witan, of course, was the National Council and the precursor of our Parliament. He seems uncertain (cf. pp. 33 and 62) whether many peasants have sold their interests in the Mir and gone to the towns ; the number, we think, is relatively small as yet.
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