Revietc of Revietcs, iOjSIOS. 



Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



LORD SALISBURY'S FOREIGN POLICY. 



Port Arthur and President Kruger. 



In the current number of the Quarterly Review, a 

 writer who professes to speak with intimate know- 

 ledge of the mind of Lord Salisbury makes two in- 

 teresting statements upon that nobleman's dealing 

 with foreign Powers at critical moments. 



THE RUSSIAN SHIPS AT PORT ARTHUR. 



The first relates to the much-debated question of 



the abandonment of Port Arthur to the Russians. 



On this point the Quarterly says : — 



Lord Salisbury's motto, which he impressed apon all who 

 came within his influence, was " Never nag unless you 

 mean to fight." Probably the most unpopular pariod of 

 hia career as Foreign Minister was that during which he 

 acted upon this mott« in the complications arising out 

 of the annexation of Kiaochow by Germany, and the forti- 

 fication of Port Arthur by Russia. There is a myth, which 

 has assumed the dignity of a fact, to the effect that Lord 

 Salisbury, on an insolent demand from Russia, ordered 

 the British wai ships out of Port Arthur. A reference 

 to the blue-books of the time will siiow that there is not 

 a word of trutli iu this legend. On the only occasion on 

 which M. de Staal called Lord Salisbury's attention to 

 the presence of British ships in Port Arthur, Lord Salis- 

 bury vindicated their right to be there, ackuowledginB 

 that he himself was ignorant of their presence; and, on 

 communicating with Mr. Goschen, then First Lord of the 

 Admiraltj', lie found that the vessels in question had en- 

 tered the jiort on the unquestionable authority of the 

 British admiral, and had left it spontaneously some two 

 days betoie the Russian protest was made. If he did 

 not resent the assumption which app>eared to underlie that 

 protest, it was because he was actively engaged at the 

 time in discovering a modu* virendi with Russia, and was 

 in hopes that it could be found — hopes which, it is true, 

 were doomed to be disappointed when, after securely plant- 

 ing herself in Port Arthur, Russia dropped the negotia- 

 tions. 



HIS INTENTIONS AS TO PRESIDENT KRUGER. 



Still more remarkable is the reviewers statement 

 that Lord Salisbury had resolved not to allow Lord 

 Milner to make war on the Transvaal. His pacific 

 intentions were of none effect, because Mr. Chamber- 

 lain and Lord Milner between them convinced the 

 Boers that England was determined to seize their 

 country eoilte que eoi'itc. This anticipated attack they 

 fore.stalled by their ultimatum. If the Quarterly re- 

 viewer be correctly informed, Lord Salisbury would 

 have held back his prancing Pro-consul. He savs : — 



Lord Salisbury, influenced by his own pacific nature, and 

 above all by the passionate anxiety of Queen Victoria that 

 her happy reign should close in peace, would have re- 

 fused to make war on Kruger or to send him such an 

 ultimatum as would have left him no alternative between 

 war and humiliation. Lord Salisbury's intention was so to 

 strengthen the military forces in South Africa as to render 

 impossible any attempt on the part of foreien Powers to 

 take advantage of the strained relations between the 

 suzerain and the South African Republic, to secure the 

 safety of the Cape and Natal, and at the same time to 

 protect the Outlanders against any arbitrary and oppressive 

 treatment by their autocratic ruler. 



But how could Lord Salisbury have protected the 



Outlanders by force of arms without making war? 



Lord Milner would soon have created a pretext for 



intervention, and so forced Lord Salisbury's hand. 



-Tf Lord Salisbun^ had really been resolute for peace, 



he was officially assured that there would not be 

 the least difficulty in arriving at a satisfactory settle- 

 ment if only he would take the negotiations into his 

 own hands. The Boers would have trusted him. 

 They could not trust Mr. Chamberlain. Lord 

 Salisbury preferred to risk war with the Boers rather 

 than to risk offending Mr. Chamberlain, and that 

 preference cost the taxpayer ^250,000,000. Pro- 

 bably that is one of the reasons why the result of 

 the polls so considerably astonished the Quarterly, 

 who bid the Unionists to '" enter upon the impending 

 contest in a spirit of cheerfulness and sanguine 

 hope." 



RUSSIA'S ECONOMIC FUTURE. 



VV'olf "Von Schierbrand, in the Forum, severely 

 condemns the former economic policy of Count 

 VV^itte, whose carefully subsidised protected mono- 

 polies have come to useful grief. He predicts that 

 " the industrial rise of Russia on legitimate and 

 national lines will come through the medium of the 

 cottage industry, a feature of Russian life which is 

 well worth noting here." He expresses much alarm 

 at the prosj^ect of the ever-increasing severity of 

 famines. He quotes Professor Mendeleef as his 

 authority for saying that — 



Our black-earth belt is doomed unless the Government 

 can find both the courage and the money for sweeping 

 reforms and ameliorations. My chemical analysis shows 

 that this "Soil, once deemed of perennial fertility, is speedily 

 becoming exhausted. 'W^ithin ten years it has lost twenty- 

 five per cent, or more of its nutritive qualities. The aver- 

 age yield per acre of the whole of the " black-earth belt " 

 has steadily sunk. It is now lower than in any other 

 country of Europe. It is, for instance, just one-third that 

 of the average of Germany, and yet the latter country 

 has, by nature, rather meagre soil. But the Russian x>€a- 

 sant is too unprogressiv© and unintelligent to till his land 

 properly, and too poor to buy manure or fertiliser. 



The one bright spot on the horizon, according to 



Herr von Schierbrand, is thus stated by him. I 



quote it on his authority, for I was not aware of 



the fact: — 



The Tsar has promised nothing less than to dispose of 

 his Crown domains for the benefit of his peasant popula- 

 tion. These domains cover more than one million square 

 miles in European Russia alone, i.e., one-third of the total 

 area of the empire, west of tlie Caucasus. Much of it is 

 morass or otherwise unsuitable for cultivation; but enough 

 of it is available for tilling to insure to each peasant 

 family more than double its present average holdings— 

 namely, about twelve acres. To carry out this project on 

 any terms should be, for many years to come, the salva- 

 tion of the peasantry, no matter whether the land be given 

 as a free gift, or, as planned at this writing, sold on small 

 instalments muning through a period of thirty-five years. 



The Young Woman has an illustrated paper on 

 Kate Greenaway, while various ladies discourse, with 

 unconscious humour, on the kind of husband they 

 would choose for their daughters. There is a paper 

 about the Guild of Brave Poor Things, and many 

 papers of great interest for girls. 



