THE MAGAZINES.

THE "ideal Alliance" which Sir Bampfylde Fuller advocates in the Nineteenth Century is between Germany, England, and the United States. He urges it on the ground of a community of ideals and a copartnership in forging the habits and institu- tions distinctive of modern civilization—the independence of the individual, the cult of sanitation, the war on poverty as expressed in the Insurance Act and kindred measures. He also notes the common possession of the self-reprefisive impulse—the root of Puritanism—which makes for a certain standard of political honesty, and sums up the similarity by saying that these three peoples, taken as a whole, think alike. As for the antagonism which he admits exists between us and Germany, it has resulted from short-sightedness pure and simple; while in regard to America, he owns that conflict. ing financial interests have stood in the way of a better understanding. Sir Bampfylde Fuller's premissee, so far as Germany is 'concerned, are open to serious criticism, but we may content ourselves by noticing his crucial admissions that " beyond question it is the Entente Cordiale that hi at present the active and continuing cause of Germany's antagonism," and, again, that "it would be an evil day for the practical ideals to which we are inclined should France and Russia Modrai Preaidency with Mysore, °dory, 611(i the Associated States. By • Revolutionary Syndications. By J.A. Relay, Pb.D.- Landow r. 8. nee

attain a position which enabled them to dominate the course of European development." It will need more potent argu- ments than any adduced by Sir Bampfylde Fuller to convince us that the peace of Europe or of the world will be promoted by substituting his "ideal Alliance" for the Triple Entente.—Mr. Sydney Brooks has an informing article on the Army of the United States, in which be criticizes the distribution and excessive costliness of what is the smallest Regular Army maintained by any of the Great Powers. No provision is made for Reserves, the proportion of desertions rose in 1913 to seventeen per cent, and though the American private is more highly paid than the rank-and- file of any other Army in the world, he is poorly paid in comparison with the standard of wages in civil life in his own country. But Mr. Brooks notes a great improvement, which began with the administration of Mr. Root and the accession to the post of Chief of the Staff of General Leonard Wood, " the greatest soldier administrator that America has produced 'since the Civil War." General Wood's career is an astonishing record of romance and reform, culminating in his Report on the organization of the land forces of the United States. In this Report General Wood outlines a scheme of reorganization providing for the institution of a Reserve, both for the Regulars and the Militia, that would bring the former to 260,000 and the latter to 200,000 men.—Mr. Edgar Crummond's paper on the "Financial Problems of Federalism" forms a useful sup- plement to that of Lord Charnwood in the Contemporary. No one knows better than Mr. Crammond how strong the financial case against Federalism is, but at the present juncture he holds it to be the obvious duty of economists as well as states- men to approach this aspect of the question from a constructive rather than a critical point of view. We have not space to go into his scheme in detail, but may note that he lays it down as a fundamental principle that all State Governments must enjoy similar legislative powers and identical powers of taxa- tion. Here his distribution of legislative powers as between the Federal and State Governments differs considerably from that of Lord Charnwood. We may also note the cautions reminder that daring the past two centuries "the national finances of the three kingdoms have become so interwoven and interdependent that it is quite hopeless to expect to be able to disentangle them without acute controversy. It must be remembered that the only modern example of the dissolution of an ancient partnership in national finance (namely, Sweden and Norway) was coincident with a complete political and economic separation."—Sir Henry Blake, under the heading "In the Rapids," discusses the present critical stage of the Home Rule struggle. He cautions his readers against the mistake of underestimating the power, for good or ill, of the Nationalist Volunteer Force. It he concludes, the country is to be saved from the disaster of civil war, there must be an appeal to the people by Referendum or by a Dissolution.—Amongst other articles, we may note the second instalment of M. Andre Geraud's "Story of the Baghdad Railway," in which he attributes the abandonment by France and England of their beneficent protectorate of the Orient to the rule of democracy ; Mr. W. H. Mallock's investigation of Mr. Lloyd George's inaccuracies in dealing with the economic history of the Highlands ; and the protest of Professor Clark, Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, against the present system of unequal direct taxation as exemplified by the use of the Income Tax by Mr. Lloyd George and hie predecessors.

Lord Percy in the National Review writes on "The Terri- torial Army in History," with special reference to the force raised by the Government of National Defence in France after the disaster of Sedan in 1870 :—

"The only force lying ready to their hands was the Garde Mobile. At first sight it may seem unfair to compare this force with our own Territorials, but, when we take all the factors into account, we shall see that by the time it actually came to fight it was in fact a force similarly constituted, having about the same degree of training that ours would have after two or three months' embodiment, and possessing, indeed, certain advantages denied to the Territorials."

The superiority claimed for the Garde Mobile is in the quality and intelligence of the rank-and-file, while Lord Percy admits that the Territorials have the advantage of being armed, equipped, and clothed in time of peace. But with all reservations, Lord Percy maintains that numbers can never ecmpensate for efficiency, and that, in spite of the

lessons of 1870-1871, our lawyers, professional politicians' philosophers, and theorists are following the example of the 011iviers and Favres, and sacrificing, not the trained warrior, but the humble artisan and peasant in a hopeless cause.— " Dreadnought," discussing "The Navy and the Plot," recapitu- lates the series of events which led up to the contemplated use of a battle squadron to coerce Ulster. The article is avowedly an impeachment of Mr. Churchill's administration of the Admiralty, which has been marked, in the writer's opinion, by entire disregard of all naval traditions and sentiment, repeated interference with discipline, and the assumption of dictatorial powers only rendered possible by the subservience of the Board.—Captain Bertrand Stewart's paper on " Germany and Ourselves " deserves to be read in connexion with Sir Bampfylde Fuller's plea for an "ideal Alliance" in the Nineteenth Century. Sir Bampfylde Fuller finds a common ground between us and Germany in the cult of individual independence and personal liberty. Captain Stewart, on the other hand, maintains, on the strength ci the Zabern incident, secret trials governed by political exigencies, the employment of agents provocateurs, and the treatment of her conquered provinces, that Germany has yet to learn the meaning of freedom and justice.—The Bishop of Ossory, in a dispassionate article, sums up the gains and losses of forty years of Disestablishment in Ireland. He cordially acknowledges the value of the increased co-opera- tion of lay members in active Church work, and the power which the Irish Church possesses of making her own laws. Against these advantages he sets the elimination of all recog- nition of the Christian faith from the corporate life of the nation, and the dangers of a democratic system of patronage. Furthermore Disendowment has brought with it the diminution in numbers as well as impoverishment of the clergy. A living wage has been secured for every beneficed clergyman, but the cases are rare where an incumbent receives more than £300 a year, and there are very few good livings. In con- clusion, the Bishop of Ossory contends that the case of Ireland provides no parallel to that of Wales. The working of the Act of 1869 was facilitated by a dwindling popula- tion, whereas the Welsh Church is increasing in the number of its adherents, and the demands upon its ministers may be expected to be greater and more numerous In the future than in the past :— " We do not complain about Disestablishment or Disendowment now. We have long ceased to complain. We are prepared to do our own work for God and the Church as best we can by the aid of the free will offerings of our own people. But to say that we could not do it better, if we could pay our clergy better, is absurd, and to predict that the growing and thriving Welsh Church will not suffer by the sudden withdrawal of its ancient endowments is to predict something that our forty years' experience forbids us to believe."

—" A Diplomatist," discussing future developments in the Balkans, forecasts a rapprochement between Servia and Bul- garia on the one side, and the maturing of the present Greco- Roumanian friendship into something more precise and permanent on the other,—Mr. Maxse, under the heading "The Campaign for Clean Government," reprints the Report of the Lords' Murray Committee with an ample commentary. —In the "Episodes of the Month" the editor bases his contention that the Amending Bill is a mere manoeuvre on an ominous article in the Manchester Guardian, which speaks of the possibility, remote but conceivable, that the Amending Bill may have to wait for a new Session or a new Parliament, since under the Standing Orders two Bills dealing with the same subject-matter cannot be introduced in the same Session.

Mr. Chiozza Money, M.P., in the Contemporary endearoure to reassure financial alarmists who condemn the Budget because it is big. He begins by comparing the income of Income Tax payers with national expenditure for the last twenty years, and concludes that we have found an increased public expenditure to react favourably upon trade and produc- tion. Income has grown even more rapidly since 1894 than the number of Income Tax payers. "In 1894 the average income was £681 per annum ; in 1914 it is probably £983. Whatever increased public expenditure Las done, it has not diminished taxable capacity." Pursuing his reassuring investi- gations into the relation between national expenditure and the aggregate of the incomes of all classes of the community, Mr. Chiozza Money finds that in 1867 we were spending nationally 7.9 per cent, of our aggregate income, while in 1914 the proportion was no more than about 81 per cent., or 04 per cent, more than forty years ago ; " it is clear, however, that as the National Dividend increases the same proportion of expendi- ture amounts to a decreasing burden." The most interesting part of the article is that in which he analyses the nature of the increased expenditure, and emphatically declares that it ie not true that the greater part of it is spent upon munitions of war. It is upon social reform that money has been chiefly spent. What is more, Mr. Chiozza Money declares that, when the rise in prices during the last ten years has been taken into account, the troth is that the Army and Navy Estimates have risen by only about two millions in ten years, as compared with forty-nine millions in Germany, forty-two in Russia, and thirty-one in France.—Lord Charnwood discusses "The Federal Solution," with a view to promoting an under- standing as to what form that solution, if it be adopted, must take. As regards the new provinces, Lord Charnwood is no believer in Heptarchies: the unnecessary multiplication of provinces would, be holds, make for inefficient government and enhanced friction. He is not even sure that Wales may not choose permanent union with England, or postpone her decision and remain part of England for the meantime. When lie conies to Ireland, lie at once makes the fatal yet familiar admission which reduces discussions of provinces and their legislative functions to an academic absurdity. "It is hardly denied that the one course of escape from a perilous situation in Ireland is the formation of a so-called ' federal' scheme for the United Kingdom." That one course of escape involves as its corollary an allocation of functions as between the Imperial Government and the provincial Legislatures which, as sketched by Lord Charnwood, would add to the diversity already existing. He would, for example, leave local Legis- latures free in regard to factory legislation. As for finance, Lord Charnwood gives us but cold consolation when he observes that, "difficult as it may be to devise a satis- factory financial system for a comprehensive scheme of Home Rule, the difficulty is in some ways less than arises in regard to the finance of Home Rule for Ireland alone." The whole article conies to this, that we are to acquiesce in the disintegration of Great Britain to save the face of a Government which finds it cannot wholly destroy the Union in Ireland.—Mr. Graham Wallas writes a mod interesting paper on " The Universities and the Nation in America and England." As a result of a recent visit—his third—to the United States, Mr. Wallas is greatly struck by the diminishing distrust of the college-bred man as opposed to the plain citizen. This is shown not only in the personal differences between Mr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan, but in the shifting of the intellectual centre of gravity from uninstructed opinion to instructed thought, Mr. Graham Wallas notes that by far the largest body of students in the American Universities take up economics, the science of government, or some other modern sociological course—the figures represent thirty times the corresponding figures in the United Kingdom —and the influence of these courses on thepersonnel of American political and social administration can already be detected. —Mr. John H. Harris contributes a trenchant article on the Report of the East African Labour Commission, with special reference to the evidence given by the white settlers in favour of cutting up the native reserves, and improving the labour supply by a system of forced labour, though, as Lord Cromer and Sir Edward Grey have pointed out, forced labour for private profit is but another name for slavery. We are glad to give currency to the vigorous appeal to British public opinion with which Mr. Harris concludes his spirited onslaught on the theory that the African is a "lazy devil," and that the first duty of Government is that of "making the nigger work" for the white man at the white man's price and upon the white man's conditions :— "In three directions British public opinion must operate with the object of strengthening the hands of those local officials who are obviously fighting an unequal battle for the maintenance of British traditions and the general prosperity of British East Africa, Foremost is the question of the Reserves. In a few weeks now the Colonial Office Vote will be before the House of Commons, and then will be the time to obtain assurances from Mr. Harcourt that the Native Reserves will be maintained intact, and, where con- gestion admittedly obtains, steps must be taken to place other areas at the disposal of the native tribes. In view of the increas- ing native population, it is clear that there must be no curtailment of existing Reserve areas. In the tropical and sub-tropical labour world, one of the gravest menaces to human liberty is the policy of forcing a labour supply in the interests of private profit. King Leopold tried it and in the process murdered millions of people and brought economic ruin upon the heart of Africa. Germany, France, and Portugal pursue the same policy in several of their colonies. Fortunately, German statesmen are now realising the danger of such a practice, and it promises soon to disappear. France retains it to some extent, and Portugal is developing it to her own ultimate colonial ruin. The British Government is at present adamant against the suggestion, but powerful influences are at work and a categorical statement upon this particular feature would render incalculable service to the British Empire. For the Foreign Office, Sir Edward Grey has declared that forced labour for private profit is slavery, and a similar declaration by Mr. Harcourt would bring both departments into line upon this cardinal issue. The African has shown his mettle as a contributor to the world's supply of commodities. To-day our bath-rooms, our kitchens, our breakfast tables have become luxurious by reason of the black man's labour, and the first duty of civilised administra, tious is to keep the ring' so that he may have a fair chance of competing for the supply of cocoa for beverage, sweetmeats, and scented pomades ; cocoanuts, so that our cooks may have 'nuts and milk,' oil for soap, and balm for our wounds ; rubber for our motor- cars, and raw cotton for our looms. Given a fair chance, the African will not fail civilisation."

—We must content ourselves with quoting the final sentences of the remarkable vindication, by the Rev. J. M. Thompson, of the position of the Liberal clergy :—

"The responsibility for the present position of the Liberal clergy," he maintains, " rests not so much upon themselves as upon the Church, which first fails to educate them and then handicaps their ministry with impossible conditions. Having been placed in this position, they ought not to be expected to relieve the Church of the responsibility of getting them out of it. So long as -they are happy in the work and do not want to give it up, why should they sacrifice their whole ministry to an intellectual difficulty? . There is no fair ground on which the re-interpretation of the Creeds that they desire can be disallowed, whilst other forms of re-interpretation are common and uneondemned. And, finally, the Liberal clergy believe that they have a vital message for the Church, which can only be delivered by themselves as members of

it, and to which they cannot be unfaithful." •

The Fortnightly opens with the first instalment of Count Ilya Tolstoy's reminiscences of his father, translated by Mr. G. Calderon. This translation is lively enough to read, but contains such doubtful English as "I was very pleased."4 The reminiscences comprise the eon's memories of the incidents of his childhood, giving pictures of his father, amongst others. —"Philalethes," after reviewing all the arguments, comes to the old conclusion that Ulster must be excluded, either with or without bloodshed. He believes that Ulster will desire Inclusion when "the Irish Government proves itself capable of successfully conducting the affairs of Ireland." He does not stop to consider bow far the achievements of Tammany in New York or the Municipal Government of Dublin encourage any prospect of this ideal being reached.—. Mr. Archibald Hurd takes a gloomy, view of the naval and military outlook, especially of the former, owing to the vast permanent increases of our expenditure in other direc- tions. He calculates that the man of the wage-earning class who neither smokes nor drinks contributes 4s. 50. a year to national expenditure, and thus the responsibility for the safety of the country has been shifted. He argues that this is the negation of Mr. Gladstone's dictum that " the privileges of freedom and the burdens of freedom are absolutely.associaled together; to bear the burdens is as necessary as to enjoy the privileges in order to form that character which, is the great ornament of freedom itself."—Mr. Crozier Long, in a letter, from Berlin, dwells on the fact that the change in the European situation has produced its effect in Germany. Weitpolitik is now at a discount. No newspaper, of course, openly repudiates policies of expansion, but the Press pays very little attention to them. Writers are beginning to point out,. also, that world-policy without the true spirit is of little use. To have great trade exports to other countries is not to have a world-policy. They say that, while Germany has merely increased her trade, France has consolidated her dominion in Madagascar, Tunis, Cochin China, and Morocco,. Another matter of concern is the unexpected revival of Russian power. , No longer will it be enough to set Austria to watch the eastern frontier, leaving Germany free to act elsewhere.-- Mr. J. M. Kennedy sees in the attitude of the United States towards Mexico the desire to prevent English enterprise prospering in that country. For reasons connected with the Panama Canal, the. United States domination of Colombia. stopped the growth of English interests in oilfields there. " It is in ease we should aim at making up in Mexico for what we

have lost in Colombia that the United States Government is now supporting General Villa."

Colonel Patterson describes in Blackwood one of those strange contrasts which are involved in the impact of modern life upon primitive savagery. In the present instance we are told how before a great waterfall on the West Coast of Africa could be surveyed, with a view to its being used for electrical power, the devil who lived in the whirlpool at the bottom of the fall had to be appeased. The process was a simple one— a white kid and a white fowl were to be sacrificed by the priest, and this would make it safe for the native porters of the exploring party to approach the waterfall. Under these conditions of safe conduct the whole village turned out and joined the expedition. The number appeared to embarrass the priest, who retired to a secluded place to perform the rites. These, it appears, consisted in nothing more than dining upon the sacrificial animals provided by the white men. In spite of the propitiation, the powers of the water demanded their victims. These were two natives who accompanied one of the engineers on a raft above the falls. This raft was swept out into the river. The white man just managed to jump on to a rock in mid-stream, but the two unfortunate natives, one a much-valued servant, were swept over• the abyss. After the rescue of the engineer from the rock—by no means an easy task—which was accomplished by ropes made of creepers, the priest was questioned as to the failure of his sacrifice. His answer showed a real power of dealing with awkward situations : " White man pay for sacrifice, white man saved. Black man no pay sacrifice, Devil take him."—Mr. Edmund Yale writes about another Welsh walk. This time, instead of crossing the mountains in the winter to pay a visit, he walked round "Anglesey coastwise " in search of a house-boy. This person was difficult to find. One likely specimen would only consent to do some of his duties in fine weather ; another could not go so far as nine miles from home. In the end a boy was imported from England ; but the quest served as an excuse for a delightful if rambling essay, which only wants compression to produce its full effect.—Mr. David Hannay discusses the history and uses of fireships in naval operations. According to him, disaster on a great scale by this means was only pro- duced twice. Curiously enough, on both occasions it was the Turks who were injured, first by Englishmen serving under Catherine of Russia, and secondly during the Greek War of Liberation. To make a fireship effective, not only was a favourable wind wanted, but also the enemy had to be in such a position that he could not disperse easily, so that the occa- sions on which this means of attack were available were few. Mr. Hannay points out one difference between naval warfare in the past and now. In the pant the use of such methods as fireships was never considered quite gentlemanly. There is no such feeling about the modern equivalents, torpedoes and submarines.—Mr. Hilton Brown's story shows how difficult scientific theorizing becomes when the facts are complicated by Indian native ingenuity. A certain official constructed a theory of the manner in which plague had entered a district by means of rate. Another official invented a new form of rat-trap, and the Government offered four annas a rat. Many traps were sold, and dead rats were produced in great numbers. But the police officer had to be reckoned with, and he made the discovery of a thriving business for breeding imported rats. The system was simple. The organizer of the business had a brother who was a rat- catcher in Hyderabad. He brought the rats with him, thus proving the official scientific theory of the spreading of the plague. As the Government paid four annas a rat, the villagers could afford to buy them for three, the margin of profit left to the traders being sufficient to pay for a number of official traps, for had these not been bought suspicion might have been aroused.

In the United Service Magazine Commander the Hon. Henry N. Shore, R.N., has a most interesting paper on "British Naval Prisoners-of-War under Napoleon." The record of the privations, the sufferings, and the chivalry of the British naval officers and men is full of moving incidents, the most remarkable being the episode of Napoleon's visit to Givet in the year 1811, when the bridge of boats over the Meuse was repaired by English prisoners-of-war, and Napoleon crossed over under an escort of British seamen—a subject, as Commander Shore remarks, well worthy of the brush of a British artist. The

scrupulousness with which the Midshipmen regarded the obligations of their parole is illustrated by several remarkable anecdotes, best of all by the retort of a French lady to General. Monlean, when he complained of the impossibility of guarding the English Midshipmen, declaring that he had put them in the strongest dungeon in vain. "I will tell you the only way, General," was her reply. "Put them on parole the English are the slaves of their word of honour."— We may also note the paper by a Swedish artillery officer on the defence of Sweden, in which he describes the financial schemes and reforms in the military laws proposed by the Government. The latter include special winter training and proposals providing for a numerous and capable reserve of Officers and non-commissioned officers. The counter-pro- posals of the Radicals involve less outlay, but admit the necessity of strengthening the national defences. The conflict between the parties, according to the writer, is explained by the fact that "the Radicals have coupled the solution of the defence question with the solution of the so-called constitu- tional question, and made a party question of it. Conse- quently they fight with all their might against the present Government's proposals, in spite of these being recommended by all naval and military experts, even by experts appointed by the Radicals to inquire into these matters."