BOOKS.

COLONEL REPINGTON'S .-NEW DIARY.* Coeowni, 'LEXINGTON'S new diary, recording his travels and inquiries in various countries after the War, will not repeat the success of his -War diary. The strange underworld of the War diary which managed to find the equivalent of fleshpots while the world was in its agony, which tried to look personally beau- tiful while .all the surroundings were ugly, and which seemed to invest the gravest subjects with touches of detachment or callousness, has for the most part disappeared like a lot of goblins fleeing before the first flush of dawn. Nevertheless, in his new book Colonel Repington has followed the old method. Ho has copied out of -his notebook records of dinner-parties, bridge- parties, luncheon- and tea-parties, but now that the setting has changed the accumulation of social facts has lost the adven- titious and fatal fascination of the first diary. Colonel Repington would do well to recognize that circumstances no longer justify him in setting down bare lists of the entertainments he enjoyed and thopeople who were there. There is a great deal in this book that is of value, for Colonel Repington has brains and knowledge and he loves thinking. He should, however, display some power of selection, be much more critical of himself, and be vastly more careful in dealing with other people's secrets.

It must have been a wonderful experience to travel through most European countries, all of which were well known to the author before the War, and to find them changed. Everywhere he had opportunities of talking to the most important people and -he tells us at length what they said and also—and some- times -particularly—what he said. We catch ourselves wonder- ing again and again whether the 'assent of some interlocutor to Colonel Repington's opinions was quite so definite as Colonel Repington supposes. It may have been no more than the formal assent of civility, and if this be so some of the distin- guished persons with whom he talked will not be very pleased at finding ideas attributed to them which they do not accept.

Still stronger objeotion must be taken to the publication of conversations which were meant to be private. By his training and his official experience Colonel Repington has had every oppor- tunity of learning to distinguish between what is suitable and what is unsuitable for publication, yet we should be surprised to learn that -ho thinks it -necessary to suppress anything. Take as an example -the following statement which is put into the mouth of Lord Hardinge on p. 177 :— " H. told us 4hat he and -Grey had bought up the Constanti- nople quays in 1906, squaring tho French by half the loot, and at the expenditure of £260,000, which the Bank of England had advanced, had made £80,000 profit. When the War broke out, Parliament -knew nothing of the transaction. The profits had been spent •on secret service during the War, but now they would be accruing again. I said that it was Dizzy's Suez Canal coup on a small scale."

We tan hardly believe that any capital invested in Turkey yielded such interest. -Did Lord Hardinge really say it ? Someone ought "to :ask a question in Parliament as -soon as possible. The matter is indeed -serious. Colonel -Repington's statement suggests that -between 1906 -and the outbreak of -the -War the • Altiw the War: a Diary. BS Lieut.-Colonel C. A'Court ueelautea--GAI.G. London: • Cositabls. [21s. net.] British Government had in respect of certain money spent is Turkey evaded the ordinary Constitutional control. Moreover,

the profits are said to have been spent during the War on secret service. All this raises a large question. How far do the Govern- ment evade control ? How much money do they spend on services about which the public knows nothing ? We are by no means among those who say that secret service is unnecessary. But the public ought to know how much is being spent, though they cannot, from the nature of the case, know the details. We have no room in this country 'for such transactions as Bismarck carried out—for example, his expedient of using an unknown proportion of the revenue from the Guelph estates, seized from the Duke of Cumberland, for secret service. It may be said that money advanced by the Bank of England was not public money at all. That might be true in most cir- cumstances, but Colonel Repington distinctly writes as though tho Government controlled the money, otherwise they could

not have spent the proceeds on secret service. Certainly a question ought to be -asked in Parliament.

But let us come to the main narrative. The French Ambas-

sador in Italy declared that there was only one serious Italian newspaper left, and that was the Corriere della Sera. It is not a good sign if it be true, but oven if it be true there is so much else to

the credit account of Italy that we are reassured. Colonel Repington was impressed by the simplicity of Italian life as compared with the pre-War period,-and there could certainly be no better proof of an earnest intention to win back to the old prosperity. From Italy Colonel Repington went to Greece. He describes the part dutifully played by Princess Christopher, who was formerly the American Mrs. Leeds :-

"Princess Christopher fords her duty here. It is severe, and if she had known what trouble she -would have found she ' would never have gotten into it.' She must build or buy a palace now and means to spend three or four months of each winter here. The Royal Family are very nice to her. It is fortunate for her that she has married the youngest brother, and so trots -about last at the functions. Albania wants her for Queen, but she has not the faintest intention of accepting. Sho looked at the country as she passed and did not fancy being enthroned on a trackless mountain among banditti. whose only idea of a Government is what they can get out- of it. She wants a quiet, peaceful life and to enjoy herself with her friends in England. Prince Christopher, who is a cheerful, friendly, and sociable man, is wholly of her view. When asked if ho would like to be-King, he pulled off his hat and said that a crown could never remain on his head. Hi-s head of hair is not luxuriant."

Colonel Repington found Prince Nicholas " cool-headed, well- informed and perspicacious." Prince Nicholas said that if the Allies gave a hint the Greeks " would make friends with the

Turks to-morrow." King Constantine, however, seems to have taken a very optimistic view of the Greek military prospects in Anatolia. Possibly he had borrowed the opinions of the Greek Minister of War, who believed that the Greek Army could " finish off " the Kemalists in two months. Colonel Repington remarks that French influence at Athens had quite spent its strength.

One cannot help thinking that to produce this result there must have been something -seriously wrong with French diplo-

macy. It must be remembered that the modern Greek army, which when Colonel Repington was in Greece and before affairs developed in Smyrna was still very proud of itself, is entirely the product of French instructors. One would have supposed, therefore, that' the Greek militarists would have been profoundly grateful'to France, and there is truly no nation in Europe which is more worthy of a soldier's respect than the French nation. - Yet Colonel Repington assures us that French influence no longer counted. As regards M. Venizelos, Colonel Repingtou says :-

" I am impressed by meeting shoals of people who have been imprisoned, exiled, or ostracised by the Venizclists. It is really a tragedy in real life, and carries one-back to the ?diddle Ages. I had no idea before I came hero how utterly Venizelos was discredited in Greece, solely on account of his internal policy. It may bo mainly the fault of his agents and subordinates, but the fact remains that he is loathed. Hardly a person I meet but has suffered by Venizelos's reign of terror. Ho kept up the censorship to the last, so England is still most ill-informed. Stratos said to-day that Venizelos's tyranny was terrible, but that it was really weakness and not Strength. The eternal answer to -tyranny had -been given at the elections. But the country is to a man in favour of the foreign policy of Venixelos, and later on, when the misdeeds of his Cretans are forgotten, Greece will erect a great statue to him and admit that he deserved well of his country."

This opinion was corroborated by the French NH/lister at Athens, who said that 31. TenizeloS, in spite of 'his great ability, had a child's notion of finance and let others carry on the internal policy while he was interesting himself in the great questions of foreign policy. It may be that M. Venizelos will yet be recalled to Greece, but he himself has stated that he could " never work with King: Constantine."

In Germany, Colonel Repington was struck by the contrast between th,e temperaments of the British and French officers and officials of the occupying forces. He says that the French were hard, domineering and unforgiving, while the British officers and officials were impartial, patient and not unsym- pathetic :-

" We are not pro-Boche, though some French now speak of us as ' les Beetles Anglais.' It is merely a racial and tempera- mental difference and reminds us in a somewhat uncomfortable way that we are racially and temperamentally more akin to the. Teuton than the Latin. The Italians, it is true, generally share our moderate views, but for political reasons mainly, I think. Neither of us has had a huge area of territory ravaged as the Boches ravaged Northern Franco. That may account for much, but it does not account for all. After all, the difference has not been unmarked on the Supreme Council."

Here is Colonel Repington's description of Dr. Bent, the able and still youthful leader of Czecho-Slovakia " Tuesday, March 29, 1921. Went to the Foreign Ministry to see Dr. Benes. An agreeable man with a clever face. Im- peccably honest, wholly without vanity, clear and most frank. Such was my first impression of the man. I told him that I considered him the defence minister of Czecho-Slovakia and not General Husak. When he asked why, I pulled out my map of modern Europe and asked how a country like his, one thousand kilometres long and not two hundred broad, surrounded by five potentially hostile States, was going to be defended by anything but a Foreign Minister. He agreed, and said that this had been his view from the first."

In Paris, Colonel Repington went to see Sir Basil Zaharoff. Colonel Repington's sympathy with the Greeks is unfailing, and he thinks that Great Britain has behaved very badly to them. In a sense we agree. We ought never to have encouraged the 'mad Greek gamble in Smyrna, though we suppose that when Colonel Repington wrote this book his complaint was that we were not helping the Greeks more in what turned out to be a disastrous enterprise. But it was not of Greek affairs after all that Colonel Repington talked to Sir Basil Zaharoff. We are told of Sir Basil Zaharoff's " complete dinner-service of pure gold (not silver gilt) for 36 people." " The only one in the world," as the proud owner said :-

" Z. fancies himself as a cook and is often in his kitchen. His food is first-rate. He has a special little dish made of transversely sliced bananas. They are cooked inside a boin- marie and kept constantly soaked by melted sugar poured over them. I hate bananas, but he made me try them. They were quite excellent. Huge 'strawberries, and the grapes with the stalks in water, which keeps them from getting dry and shrivelled. This was his discovery and other people had begun to copy it. His cigars are sent every month from Cuba. He opened a box dated April 4."

But perhaps the most interesting thing in the Paris chapter is the story which Sir Basil Zaharoff told about his business experience in China :-

"Have you not found the Chinese very honest ? ' I asked. Z. smiled and told me a -story. He had almost completed a largo contract with the Chinese when the chief Chinese man began to make endless objections about the quality of the materials. So Z. went to see him and told him that the Japanese had been perfectly content and would take the contract if the Chin did not. The Chin remained entirely imperturbable. Z., exasperated, at last said, How much do you want to make you report that the material is perfectly satisfactory " Two hundred and fifty thousand francs,' said the Chin blandly. Z. went off and got it. The Chin counted the notes with the utmost deliberation, and took out two or three which were a little torn and asked to hard them replaced. Z. began to take hold of them to take them away to change. No, don't do that,' said the Chin, you can bring fresh ones here.' So-Z. did, and then the Chin handed over the contract signed, evidently thinking that he had been a scrupulously honest business man.'

There is a very interesting account of M. Clemenceau's decision to ignore all his critics and of his reasons for doing so. M. Clemenceau disapproved of the Ruhr operation and evidently has a higher opinion of Marshal Petain than of Marshal Foch.

On a second visit to Germany Colonel Repington met the Chancellor,. Dr. Wirth :-

" I keep on asking myself whether the attraction of Dr. Wirth comes from the character of the man himself or from the glamour thrown over his office by Bismea-ck, and I cannot decide what the answer may be. All that one can say is that here is a man who fills Bismarck's place at the age of forty-one and on his public form is an honest man who is striving to do his duty by his country and the world without fear and favour. He is simple, pleasant, intelligent, and strong, without a trace of heat or prejudice, but, for the rest, events will measure his statesmanship '

.We have room for only one more extract, and we shall choose the astonishing story of why the Austrian Intelligence Service was so efficient during the War :-

" It seems that the Italian Ambassador at Petrograd, being unable to advise his Government by the telegraph, was given the use of the Russian Wireless every day and sent detailed reports of everything that was happening, including strengths and disposition of Allied troops. He sent them, of course, in cipher. But when Italy entered the war she had published a Red Book to defend her action. Owing to inexcusable over- sight the telegrams published were not paraphrased, but, were word for word as sent. The Austrians had kept the tapes with the Italian cipher messages, and the Rod Book enabled them to discover the Italian cipher."