Review of Revidct 20,2/05. 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



195 



THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. 



Tlie Fortnightly Review opens the new year well 

 with dissertations by Count Tolstoy and M. Maeterlinck 

 on themes which go down to the roots of human con- 

 duct. They are noticed elsewhere, as also are a re- 

 markable paper on " The Germanisation of Brazil " 

 and two political essays by volunteer advisers of the 

 coming majority. 



There are several literary articles which do not call 

 for any special notice except to remark that Mr. 

 Sidney Lee says that Pepys went to the play 351 times 

 in nine years, and did not distinguish himself as a 

 Shakespearean critic. A new serial, '"The Whirlwind.'' 

 is begun by Mr. Eden Phillpotts, and Mr. Aflalo re- 

 views "The Sportsman's Library for 1905.'' There is 

 also an interesting paper by Mr. Laurie Magnus on 

 •' The History and Character of the Jews." and a 

 pleasant, gossipy chat by Mrs. Lane on "The London 

 'Bus." 



THE NAVIES OP GERMANY AND BRITAIN. 

 According to " Excubitor." the Germans have ut- 

 terly failed in their attempt to rival Great Britain as a 

 sea power. All their ships are too small and carry too 

 light guns to hold their own against the British Navy. 

 He says : — - 



Step by step in the past five years the Admiralty has 

 met the challenge of Germany on the seas, and step by 

 step Germany has been defeated, although the expenditure 

 on the German fleet has already risen from less than five 

 millions to nearlv twelve millions sterling, and will con- 

 tinue to increase year by year until it exceeds sixteen 

 and a-half millions in 1917. The new Act writes the word 

 "failure" over almost every clause of the Act of 1900. In 

 short, the new Navy Bill confesses the failure of the small 

 battleship, the comparative uselessness of the small ar- 

 moured cruiser, and the wasteful expenditure on little pro- 

 tected cruisers and flimsy torpedo craft. The German Navy 

 is no stronger to-day in comparison with the British fleet 

 than it was in 1897, the year of the Diamond Jubilee 

 Review. 



Then why on earth do our idiots make such a hub- 

 bub about "the German menace"? 



THE FRENCH ELECTIONS. 

 Mr. R. Dell, writing on the approaching General 

 Election in France — part of the Senate is renewed this 

 month, and the Chamber will be re-elected next May 

 —says : — 



The only change that seems to be at all possible is an 

 increase in the strength of the "Progressists." led h\ U 

 Meline. The chief hope of the Centre is that the " unifica- 

 tion " of the Socialist party, and the consequent retirement 

 01. M. Jaurea and his followers from the organisation of 

 tho Bloc, may force the rest of the Left to combine with 

 the centre after the elections, in order to secure a working 

 majority. This would mean a coalition Ministry, probably 

 including M. Ribot a.nd M. Meline. with a much moderated 

 M. Rouvier as Premier. Among all the trends of political 

 opinion there are two characteristics of modern Frame 

 that, stand out clearly. She is overwhelmingly Republican 

 and overwhelmingly anti-clerical; but anti-clerical does not 

 mean anti-relie-ious. 



A PROPHESIER OF SMOOTH THINGS. 

 Mr. Iwan Miiller, writing on Unionism, its past and 

 its future, complacently winds up his survey by de- 

 claring : — ■ 



It, will be an easy and pleasant task for Fiscal Reformers 

 of all hues to co-operate in an assault upon the citadel of 

 Cobdenism. And on all other issues there is complete 

 unanimity in the ranks of the Opposition. Mr. Balfour'* 

 leadership is accepted with enthusiasm, and under a fight- 

 ing chief, unless all the teachings of Parliamentary hi«- 

 tory are wrong, a homogeneous Opposition will make com- 

 paratively short work of an Administration itself but 

 loosely knit together, supported by a majority more divided 

 even than the Administration. 



It would be interesting to hear what Mr. Chamber- 

 lain thinks of this optimistic assumption that Mr. 

 Balfour's leadership is universally accepted with en- 

 thusiasm. 



THE WORLDS WORK. 



The World's Work is very readable this month, but 

 its articles are not of special importance. It opens 

 with a number of excellent portraits of members of 

 the new Ministry. An editorial, fully illustrated, deals- 

 with "Lessons of the 1 Motor Show at Olympia " ; two 

 travel papers deal with " the coming country " — South 

 America, the second being a review of Mr. Percy Mar- 

 tin's •Through Five Republics"; there is a strongly 

 Free Trade article, a oropos of the first report of the 

 Tariff Commission, by Mr. George Sankey, a Midland 

 manufacturer, and papers on the newly-opened Belgian 

 Ship Canal, 6J miles loug, which brings us some six 

 hours nearer Bruges, from which it runs to Zeebrugge. 

 better known to English people as Heyst. An in- 

 teresting paper also deals with Messrs. Colman, of 

 mustard fame, who are, it seems, what one of Mr. 

 Shaw's characters became, " moddle hemployers," ex- 

 cept that, while the fictitious employer employs no 

 women, they employ a great many, and seem to pro- 

 vide excellently for their comfort. 



Mr. J. C. H. Beaumont, writing on "How Dangers 

 are Met at Sea," says the value of the Marconi sys- 

 tem of wireless telegraphy in regard to the safety of 

 -hips and lives at sea cannot be over-estimated. In a 

 recent voyage from London to New York, the s.s. 

 Minneapolis was in constant communication with one 

 or other of no less than fourteen different ships, all 

 fitted with the Marconi apparatus. 



An alarming article by Mr. John C. Evans deals 

 with food adulteration and some simple methods by 

 which we may know the pure from the adulterated 

 article. .Mustard, apparently, is now very largely 

 adulterated ; and recently a young girl admitted to a 

 Loudon hospital gave as her occupation " making 

 wooden seeds for raspberry jam." Sugar is one of the 

 most difficult articles to adulterate, but the consump- 

 tion of coffee has actually diminished largely owing 

 to the use of chicory. The modern mania for cheap- 

 ness, says the writer, is at the bottom of all this. 



Several other articles are dealt with separately. 



THE UNITED SERVICE. 



The north-west frontier of India exercises the minds 

 of two writers in the United Service Magazine. Major 

 J. F. Cadell thinks that we need not regard Russia as 

 the one possible aggressor, but says "the power be- 

 yond our frontier may change hands. Bulgaria may 

 own the country from the Danube to the Helmund 

 before a hundred years have passed." From which we 

 may infer that when Russophobia has proved ground- 

 less, our military alarmists will never be without some 

 other panic cry. Major Cadell concludes by saying 

 that "the defence of a mountain range is B very diffi- 

 cult affair, and history shows that the defence is 

 always beaten." Angus Hamilton discusses the army 

 of Afghanistan, which lie thinks has fallen away in 

 efficiency as well as in numbers Binoe the death of 

 Abdur Rahman. The population is. he says, much 

 more peaceful than a generation ago. Prosperity and 

 peace have numbed their warlike instincts. "Sea 

 Power" endeavours to show from history that volun- 

 teers generally possess 1 'e ardour and intelligence 



than the regulars, but, lacking discipline and training, 

 they are only armed citizens, not soldiers. Captain 

 Meinertzhagen urges thai our so-called striking force 

 should be the whole regular army, and should be cap- 

 able of moving to any part of the Empire without 

 delay. Our reserve armies should be furnished by the 

 auxiliary tones. There is much else that is very 

 1 eadable. 



