THE MARCH PERIODICALS
The Round Table opens with an interesting article on " Crown, Constitu- tion and Commonwealth " in their new relation, and shows in a second article on " The Empire and the Crisis " how the Dominions reacted to the difficulty which led to the abdication of King Edward VIII. Under the heading of " Power Politics and the Imperial Con- ference " it is suggested that the Dominions may not again be willing to take part in a European war, and that British policy must avoid European commitments of. which the Dominions could not approve. Intervention in
Spain, as another article shows, would be a commitment of this kind. In " The Birth Rate and the Empire " we are reminded that the birth-rate is falling in the Dominions, except Canada, as well as at home. 'Can it be only coincidence," the writer asks, " that the nations which have accepted authori- tarian government, militarism and extreme nationalist doctrine are also those which are increasing their ` numbers ? "
The Nineteenth Century prints, follow- ing a short article on Civil List pensions, a complete list of the pensioners from 1838 to 1936. The Marquis de Merry del Val, writing on Spain, protests that the atrocities of the civil war, even if practised by both sides, are not " six of one and half a dozen of the other."
In his view General Franco is " acting in vindication of jusffee ". on behalf of civilisation and may, presumably, kill as many " Reds " as he thinks necessary. The argument will not appeal to English minds.
In the Contemporary Sir George Young deduces " Three Spanish Lessons " from the civil war. One is that advanced politicians cannot safely practise heresy hunts ; another is that Syndicalism with its respect for the individual is more vigorous and more popular than Socialism, though British Liberals to whom he commends this " lesson " may regard it doubtfully. Mr. I. M. Horobin, in " Further Thoughts on Planning in Industry," sharply criticises the " planners " as idealists who seek what is impossible and undesirable. Europe, he thinks, has the choice between "an effective gold standard and universal economic dictatorship." In the National Review Professor Hearnshaw asks : " Is the Labour Party Democratic ?." and answers that it is not, because it is intolerant, sectional and dictatorial in temper. Mr. Charles Emmott, M.P., discussing " Realities and Geneva," declares that, if British foreign policy is still founded upon the League, it shoUld be modified now that the League has broken down. In Chambers' Journal Miss Gwladys Cox has some' pleasant " Chelsea
Memories of Mrs. Perugmi," Charles Dickens's- younger daughter. General H. E. Carey gives an amusing account of " The ' Ship in the Nineties," when Woolwich Academy cadets had a Spartan Veining- Under primitive conditions.
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