THE MAGAZINES.
THE Nineteenth Century opens with a paper from Mr. J. A. R. Marriott on "The Constitution in Suspense." He asserts that on one point Unionists, Democrats, and Syndicaliete are agreed—all are profoundly dissatisfied with the working of the Constitutional machinery. By the avowal of the party in office we are living under an interim Constitution—a con- dition abnormal even for our anomalous Constitution. The unsatisfactoriness of the situation is illustrated by Mr. Marriott in the attitude of foreign commentators—notably 11. Poineare and Mr. Root. They have ceased to envy and admire and have begun to criticize. Bagehot, he reminds us, found the efficient secret of the English Constitution in the almost complete fusion of the executive and legislative powers. Would he have approved of the recent encroach- ments' of the Executive on the Legislature, the increased perfection of the party machine, tho scandal of party funds, of the purchase of honours, and of salaried membership voted by Members themselves ? Mr. Marriott notes as a serious symptom of the present crisis that the cleavage between parties extends to fundamentals, and emphasizes the dangers we incur by being the only State which deems it prudent to permit a sovereign Legislature to effect fundamental changes in the Constitution by the ordinary recess of law-making. We are now confronted with two supreme issues: "the rebuilding of a shattered Constitution, and the solution of the secular problem of the relations of Great Britain and Ireland." In regard to the latter, Mr.
Marriott inclines reluctantly to some form of federalism. He sums up as follows
"Federalism, if accepted as the basis of a settlement of the Irish Question by consent, will not leave other gnetrtions as it found them. It must involve a written Constitution; it mast lead to the creation or adaptation of a judicial tribunal competent; to interpretthe Constitution ; it must provide some machinery for the revision of the Constitution ; it must involve a strong Second Chamber; it probably will lead to some readjustment of the relations between the Legialatere and the Executive, it may lead to the adoption of such devices as the Referendum and proportional representation."
—Mr. Lathbui7 has an article on "Compromise or Dis- solution P" and gives his reasons for preferring the former alternative—i.e., the exclusion of North-East Ulster—as involving the lessor risk. In a striking passage he comments on the position of the Prime Minister and the attitude of the country at large
" A Minister may become so impressed by the probable con- sequences of his own policy—consequences till now unsuspected, but at last suddenly become visible—that he may feel bound to sacrifice his reputation rather than his country. That would be a great and painful act of high patriotism—an act worthy to be set by the side of Peel's surrender on Catholic emancipation. Unfor- tainately there is no evidence that Mr. Asquith has yet reached this conviction. He is willing to listen to the case put forward on the part of Ulster, and to do what he can in meet it. But there is nothing in his speeches answering to the language of the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords in 1829, no declaration that 'if I could avoid by any sacrifice whatever even one month of civil war in the country to which I am attached, I would sacrifice my life in order to do it.' Those who share the Duke of Wellington's feeling on this point must not look for the defeat of the Bill which at this moment threatens to bring civil war. They can only hope to reach this end by the way of compromise- They may find some comfort in the reflection that a General Election might easily settle nothing, or even place the Opposition in is worse position than they are in already. There is no certainty theta Dissolution would make the opinion of the country on Home Rule unmistakably clear."
He dismisses the argument that Mr. Redmond will never coneent to exclusion, on the ground that the effect of this refusal on the Government will wholly depend on their estimate of the Ulster movement. "If they can honestly tell him that they are not prepared to carry out, at imminent risk of civil war, a promise given in wholly different circum- stances, they will be guilty of no real breach of faith." As regards the financial side of the compromise, be maintains that even the most limited civil war in Ulster would cost more in money, and immeasurably more in reputation, than any addition to the Imperial contribution consequent on the retention of Belfast in the Union.—Sir Harry Johnston discusses the relations of Germany with Alsace-Lorraine from the standpoint of a sincere friend of Germany, who is yet conscious of imperfections in the existing regime. He believes that the overwhelming majority of inhabitants of Alsace- Lorraine would vote for inclusion within the German Empire, but that the native inhabitants of French-speaking Lorraine would vote to a man and woman on behalf of reincorporation with France. And he is of opinion that a large party of reasonable Germane—mostly, but not entirely, outaide the kingdom of Prussia—would favour a solution of the problem on the basis of the retrocession of French-speaking Lorraine, an area of not more than four hundred and fifty square miles, to France in return for further concessions on her part in Congoland. Sir Harry Johnston concludes by warmly peals. lug the German administration of the conquered provinces, and giving a frank summary of the qualities and defects of the Prnseians.—The "Recollections of the War of 1870 and the Commune" by the late Sir Charles Dilke are extremely interesting, not only from exciting incidenta in which they abound, but from the sympathies and antipathies of the writer. Sir Charles Dilke had a hereditary detestation of
the Second Empire and exulted in the downfall of the Emperor, but as the war advanced his sympathies veered over strongly to the French. We can only find room for an amusing account of Mr. Labouehere's monkey trials on September 4th—the birthday of the Republic. As he stood with Sir Charles Dilke in front of the Grand Hotel on the boulevard "Labouchere kept on making speeches to the crowd in various eharacteni--sometimee as a Marseillais, sometimes as an Alsatian. sometimes as an American, sometimes as an English sympathiser ;I in terror all the while lest the game listeners should catch him playing two different peals and should take us for Prussian spies."
Mr. Steel Maitland in the National Review subjects the election addresses of Cabinet Ministers at the two General Elections of 1910 to a careful analysis. Here are the results of his investigations. In no single case at either election was any definite promise given by a Cabinet Minister that a Home Rule Bill would be introduced in the new Parliament, while at each election nine out of the sixteen Ministers made no reference whatsoever to Irish Home Rule. As regards the main issue before the electors in January, 1910, eight Ministers explicitly stated that it was the question of the House of Lords, six implied that the two math questions before the country were those of tho House of Lords and Free Trade, while the remaining two made no statement on the subject. As regards the December election, ten out of sixteen Ministers explicitly stated that the Lords question was the main issue, while the addresses of the remaining six, by a necessary impli- cation, show that their authors were of the same opinion. In view of these facts, Mr. Steel Maitland observes that it would be difficult to maintain that Home Rule was a definite issue at either election. Moreover, while in no single address were the electorate warned that a Home Rule Bill would be passed whilst the Constitution was in suspense, seven Ministers used words "which in some cases definitely state and in others necessarily compel the inference that the chief or one of the chief objects of the Parliament Bill was to secure a Second Chamber of a representative character."—Lord Arran, writing under the heading of "Compromise alias Capitula- tion," maintains, on behalf of those Ulstermen living outside Ulster who signed the Covenant, that the oath absolutely precludes the acceptance of any compromise which, while excluding Ulster or any part of Ulster from the government of a Home Rule Parliament in Ireland, allows that Parliament to be set up.—The Hon. Walter Guinness, 21.P., contributes a very interesting and ably written paper of impressions of Armenia and Kurdistan. Wholesale massacres of Armenians no longer take place, but that is the utmost that can be said on behalf of the new regime. "Murders, rapes, and abductions are committed with impunity, and robberies are accepted as a matter of course." The Turkish officials are absolutely incap- able of providing the very elements of safety for the life, honour, liberty, or possessions of the population in the vilayets of Trebizond, Erzeroum, Bitlis, Van, and Mosul. The Kurds have not failed to take advantage of the paralysis of the Turkish Government, and the pusillanimity of its representa- tives; the villagers are unarmed and completely at their mercy and while the Christians are by far the worst sufferers, neither race nor religion is any protection from Kurdieh exactions; The massacres have removed almost all the native Christians of position and education who would be essential to a scheme by which Christians should be represented in the administra- tion—such as that presented by the Powers in 1855. Mr. Guinness found everywhere a most pathetic confidence in the integrity and disinterestedness of the British—largely due to their abstinence from bagman diplomacy. In this context we may quote the following passage :— " Great surprise and disappointment were often expressed to me at the refusal of the British Foreign Office to lend adminis- trators for the purpose of carrying out reforms. 'Why,' it was asked,' had British statesmen spoken of their anxiety to do all in their power to assistin the reorganization of the Asiatic provinces if they were unwilling to render BO small a service ? ' The news- sity for union among the Powers and the danger of such appoint- ments being misunderstood are no doubt good reasons for the refusal, but it must be pointed out that it has strengthened the growing tendency among Armenians to look to Russia for protection. Thirty-five years of waiting have exhausted their confidence in the efficacy of the European Concert."
As Mr. Guinness points out, we cannot indefinitely go on opposing partition if it is proved to be the only alternative to a continuance of unbearable insecurity for the Christian popula- tion.—Earl Percy writes on "Bulgaria's War of Liberation," mainly from the military side. He rightly insists that in looking back on the sordid end to so much heroism, on the internecine conflicts of the Allies, and the subsequent loss to Bulgaria of all she had gained, we are liable to overlook the striking character of her performance, and the means by which she attained her end. In his comprehensive review of the operations it is interesting to see that be relies largely on Major Howell's Campaign in Thrace, and fully recognizes the value of a work which was made the subject of a violent anonymous attack in the November issue of the Nationa. Review.
Sir E. T. Cook leads off in the Contemporary with an article ca. "Eight Years of Liberal Imperialism?' He takes for his text the admission of Lord Milner, in his recent collection of speeches, that the idea of Imperial unity had never progressed so rapidly as during the last five years. While admitting that Lord Milner may think that this progress has been in despite of the words and actions of the present Ministers, Sir E. T. Cook proceeds to vindicate their claim to be regarded as the promoters of this idea by a review of their achievements since 1906. He notes first the grant of responsible government to the Transvaal and Orange River Colonies, and its salutary effect, not only on the movement towards Imperial union, but on European opinion. He dwells suggestively on the new conception of Colonial independence as reinforcing rather than impairing Imperial unity, andon the development of our Imperial estate on the lines of a co-opera- tive commonwealth as laid down by Mr. Chamberlain during his tenure of the Colonial Office—i.e., the direction of the flood of emigration within the Empire, and the development of inter. Imperial trade. Turning from trade to defence, Sir E. T. Cook notes the remarkable change in the attitude of the Dominions, thus verifying Seeley's anticipation in 1883 that "some organization might gradually be arrived at which might make the whole force of the Empire available in times of war," while in the domain of foreign policy he maintains that the policy of continuity, preached and practised by Lord Rosebery, has now become almost an accepted tradition. Finally, he notes the signal development of that potent organ of Imperial union, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, on which repre- sentative Judges from the Dominions are now qualified to sit. —Sir E. T. Cook says nothing about the home policy of the Government, an omission which is partly made good by Mr. H. G. Chancellor, M.P., in his article on "The Urban Land Policy." The only fault that Mr. Chancellor has to find with Mr. Lloyd George's proposals is that they do not go nearly far enough. Under them the agricultural labourer will still remain an industrial serf. In short, Mr. Lloyd George's proposals can at best be regarded as a meagre instalment of the economic liberty which can only be achieved by the annihila- tion of the land monopoly. Assertion rather than argument is the strong point of this apostle of the taxation of land values—e.g., "it is proved that small-holdings employ most labour and capital, and are most productive, except in the case of special kinds of land."—Mr. Maurice Low whole-heartedly defends President Wilson's Latin-American policy. "He has formulated a new doctrine that will have lasting and beneficial results, and for which the world at large may be grateful." He has made it plain that the Monroe Doctrine, in its new interpretation, will tolerate European financial mastership even less than European political control :— " The Monroe Doctrine was a warning to Europe not to attempt colonization, but it did not specifically set forth the duties and responsibilities of the United States. That omission President Wilson has supplied. The advantages conferred upon the United States by the Monroe Doctrine impose a moral obligation. It is the duty of the United States not alone to protect the political entity of Latin-America, but also to preserve its financial inde- pendence; to save it from its own weakness ; to prevent it becoming the victim of concessionaires whether they be American or European; to enable Latin-America to be developed without selling itself into bondage; to encourage Latin-America to respect itself so that it may have the respect of the world. That, in substance, is President Wilson's foreign policy. It means a new era in Central America. It means that the principle laid down by Mr. Wilson that a revolution is not in itself sufficient to confer a valid title to a Presidency will discourage revolution, and that future Americas Presidents will be more cautious in recognizing rulers who have substituted force for constitutional methods. It means peace where now no peace prevails. It means, eventually, a contented and prosperous Latin-America in whose contentment and prosperity other nations will share. Mr. Wilson has placed the relations existing between Latin-America and the rest of the world on a different basis from those hitherto existing, and more in harmony with the enlightened spirit of the age. He has taken a long step forward. Under his guidance civilization advances."
—Mr. Philip Gibbs, lately special correspondent to the Daily Chronicle at Lisbon, sums up his impressions in a paper entitled "The Tyranny in Portugal." His verdict is one of unqualified condemnation of the present rIgirtte. The scandal of the political prisoners is only one aspect of the tyranny which is afflicting the country. The economic condition of Portugal is deplorable, but even worse is her spiritual ill. health, the cruelty of official secularism far exceeding the worst excesses of religions bigotry and superstition. In fine, "the people of Portugal are being governed by a devilish tyranny which is raining the very soul and body of a nation which once played a noble part in history."—Professor Emery Barnes discusses in an interesting paper the value, even if it be only of a negative order, of the testimouy of Joseplins to Jesus Christ —Another noteworthy paper is that of Professor Albert Thumb, of Straaeburg University, in which be adduces ethnographic, anthropological, and linguistic evidence to rebut the contention of Fallmerayer that the Greek race had been annihilated in the Balkans and submerged by the Slave.
Mr. Arthur Baumann, writing in the Fortnightly about the Ulster problem, cleverly sums up the situation in the following sentences:— Until a few weeks ago it was universally assumed that the settlement of the Irish question concerned the Irish Parlia- mentary parties alone, or, to state the case accurately, the Redmondite party. If Mr. Redmond was satisfied, why, then, there was no more to be said ; the Ulstermen were tiresome creatures, but, being a small minority, they must submit in the long run to the rule of Tammany in partibus. Sir Edward Carson has stopped that gabble. Unaccountable and most unreasonable man, he has been acting while others were talking I' Mr. Baumann deals with the queetion of the poseibility of the Nationalists resorting to force, but points out that even Parnell could never get beyond the methods of the Carbonari and the Camorra, Is it likely that Mr. Redmond could do even thise And assassination might not be popular in England. The great achievement of Sir Edward Carson is that he has made England think.—Mr. Spencer Campbell, in an article on Ferdinand of Bulgaria, gives a clear summary of the dramatic events which have hurried one after the other since the beginning of the reign of Prince Alexander up to the present time. A curious story is told of Ferdinand's youth. The Emperor Francis Joseph, looking out of a window in the palace in Vienna, saw an officer pass below. The Emperor asked Kossuth, who was with him, what he thought of the. young Prince, and received this reply, " That boy, Sire, has a long nose, but it will not be you who will pull it." The writer of the article is unable to give any explanation of the fatal policy of Ferdinand, which in a few days undid the work of twenty-fire years, when he allowed the attack on the Servian Army.—Dr. Angelo Crespi vehemently denounces the views lately expressed in this magazine about Italy by Signor Villari. Dr. Crespi is an ont-and-out opponent of the Libyan policy of adventure, and we are told the war was the creation of the Press, literati, aesthetes, the naval and military classes and the industries dependent on them. This familiar combination apparently exists in all countries, and is habitually called in to account for the phenomenon of a country, like an individual, committing a rash act. More important is Dr. Creepi'a statement that recent researches show, what was always suspected, that the Tripolitaine is worthless. Did not a scientific expedition, which some years ago examined the geological conditions in view of a Jewish settlement, pronounce that the soil was of so porous a nature that the storage of water on a large scale was impoeisiblef—Mr. Henry Baerlein gives us his impressions of Alsace and Lorraine gathered before the last regrettable incident of German folly. The bulk of the population, we are told, regard the question of their nationality thus "Francais ne penx. Prussien no veux, Alsacien riais" If there were no attempt to Germanize them, matters would be simpler. Also, it is a great want of tact on the part of Germany to employ Prussian officials ; South Germans would be much snore sympathetic to the Alsatians. Here is a story which throws light on the petty tyranny of the con- querors. A jeweller in Strassburg, when about to remove to another shop, made the announcement on placards of equal size in French and German. "lie was condemned three times, and even in the austere Court of Appeal at Colmar. He avenged himself by hanging up another placard with the words Hier spricht man Deutsch."
In Blackwood Mr. T. F. Farman reviews "French Civil and- nd Military Military Aviation in 1913." A wonderful record it is. A flight across the Mediterranean, many over the Alps, and a journey to St. Petersburg and bark are among the striking things accomplished. According to Mr. Farman, not only are fliers learning how to handle their machines with greater success, but also with greater security. We are told that "in 1910 one fatal accident occurred for every twenty thousand miles flown, in 1911 one fatal accident for every thirty thousand miles flown, and in 1912 one fatal accident for every one hundred and seven thousand miles flown." The conclusion of Mr. Farman is that, " in any case, there is no longer any doubt that Great Britain mutt not count exelneively on her superiority at sea to preserve the advantages of her insular position."— "Beaten Tracks" is the first instalment of some reflections made by an Indian official who has just retired as he leisurely revisits some famous places. Delhi and its surroundings occupy the writer. He mentions that in a treaetwe-house, one of the most notable shops in the world, were to be seen Persian pictures, and wonder is expressed that no critic has been bold enough to praise them. But if Persian painting has not been much written about, it is well known to attolente, and it has been badly imitated, as witness many unsuccessful illustrated editions of Omar. The paper ends with a description of the ground on which the great struggle took place during the siege of Delhi. as seen from the ridge.—This description is a good preparation for General Scott-Moncrieff's article on Sir Alexander Taylor, to whom was entrusted the practical part of the engineering work which made the final attack on Delhi successful. The problem which confronted Taylor was this the batteries which were to breach the walls had to he established sud- denly and without warning during the night. It was therefore necessary not only to make complete preparation of every detail beforehand, but to study the ground so that there should be no mistake in the direction of the fire when the batteries opened. To accomplish this, Taylor surveyed the whole of the position himself at night, and during his expeditious had many hairbreadth escapes. It was Taylor who, after the siege, proposed to destroy the city, including the Great Mosque. Fortunately John Lawrence intervened, and the Delhi of Shah Johan was saved. Taylor after the Mutiny returned to his road-making in the Punjab, refusing high Staff appointments so that he might continue his work of peace. —" From the Outposts" is by Colonel idaelinnn, and tells a tragic story of a police raid on some bandits. When the English officer is killed the natives look for orders to a white man, who happens to be a Germain piano-timer who has repaired the piano belonging to the mess.
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