27 AUGUST 1921, Page 24

SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]

The Round Table for September has an interesting article on the Imperial Conference and an account of the development of the new situation in Ireland. " If the leaders of the South can accept no settlement now which does not bring Ulster within the jurisdiction of Dublin, there will be no settlement ; and the child is not yet torn who will live to see a united Ireland. You cannot make peace by openin; a fresh and bloodier chapter of war." There is an excellent article—clear, vizorous. and dispassionate—on " National Prosperity and Industrial Peace," to which we refer elsewhere. The writer of " The Imperial Conference from an American Standpoint " expresses some con- cern lest the Empire, without any " federal legislature," may be " peaceably disintegrating," inasmuch as " many Americans '' believe " that with the American Commonwealth it is the greatest instrument of civilization on the globe." He is suspicious of the Anglo-Japaneae Alliance, which he regards as unnecessary and undesirable. " It can accomplish no good thing which cannot be better accomplished without it. It can most certainly accom- plish evil which may otherwise be avoided." An article on " Problems of Europe " explains the Silesian difficulty as one phase of the difference between the British policy of conciliation and the French policy of security ; Great Britain desires a stable Poland, including few alien elements, whereas France desires a great Poland as a counterweight to Germany and a natural ally of France. There is an interesting and somewhat hopeful account of the situation in India. The quarterly letters from the Dominions are, as usual, of great value ; nothing so authoritative and illuminating is to be found elsewhere.