Beview of Eevieivs, l/3fl3. 



NOTABLE BOOKS. 



87 



THE TRUTH ABOUT PRUSSIA. 



The Anglo-German Problem. By Charles 

 Sarolea. (Nelson. 2s. uet.) 



Professor Sarolea, a cosmopolitan of 

 Flemish birth, and for many years Bel- 

 gian Consul in Edmburgh and closely 

 associated with the L'niversity, is a man 

 who deserves to have attention paid to 

 him when he takes up his pen. The 

 argument of his book is that the present 

 conflict between England and Germany 

 is the old conflict between Liberalism 

 and despotism, between industrialism 

 and militiarism, between progress and 

 reaction, between the masses and the 

 classes. He draws a strong line between 

 the Germans and Prussians, contending 

 that the Southern and Western German 

 is an idealist, the Prussian a realist and 

 materialist, and that it is to Prussia the 

 present situation is due. His argument 

 is that outspokenness is necessary, a free 

 and frank discussion based on a 

 thorough knowledge of facts, because 

 two great peoples must not be afraid of 

 facing realities such as they are. 



PARLIAMENT OR TALKING CLUB. 



Mr. Sarolea brings us face to face 

 with the difficult problems confronting 

 Germany as well as Britain ; in fact, 

 he writes as much for Germans as for 

 English, and hopes that the very fact 

 that he is not an Englishman will in- 

 duce the former to listen to him. He 

 describes clearly and well the working 

 of the various German institutions, such 

 as the Reichstag and the Bundesrat. 

 The Reichstag is a talking club, he 

 says ; it does not initiate legislation ; it 

 may censure, but its censure does not 

 carry any sanction. On the other hand, 

 the Bundesrat is an inner council of 

 the rulers of the various German States, 

 its power is autocratic — the Bundesrat 

 can dissolve the Reichstag, but the 

 Reichstag cannot dissolve the Bundes- 

 rat ; it works in secret, and is, in fact, 

 an indissoluble secret college. In the 

 hands of the Bundesrat lies the decision 

 as to war or peace. But in reality the 

 Prussian Landtag holds the strings^ 

 that most mediaeval assembly of modern 

 Europe, says Professor Sarolea, and to 

 illustrate this view he describes the vot- 

 ing for the nominally democratic Land- 



tag electors. The voting power is in 

 proportion to the taxes paid ; thus, in 

 division 99, circle III., of Berlin, there 

 lives the family of Botzov, brewers and 

 landowners. Two members of the 

 family pay very high taxes, and conse- 

 quently the two Messrs. Botzov elect 

 twice the number of candidates the re- 

 maining 571 electors together have 

 power to choose ! 



THE VOLCANIC ZONE. 



\^ery amusing is his description of the 

 Koepenick affair ; very interesting his 

 remarks upon the Balkan States and 

 Turkey, written, of course, some time 

 before the outbreak of the war. His 

 conviction is that England, aiming at a 

 federation of her States, is becoming 

 more and more pacific in temper, be- 

 cause her people have outgrown the 

 bonds of a narrow nationalism, whilst 

 Germany has become the storm centre, 

 the volcanic zone in International 

 Politics, because she is reactionary and 

 increasingly narrow and parochial. 

 ]\Iany other aspects of the question are 

 treated in a book which is both inform- 

 ing and captivating. 



THE ANGEL OF THE LITTLE 

 ONES. 



Life of Benjamin Waugh. By R-oea AVaugh. 

 (T. F. Unwin. 5s. net.) 



This rarely beautiful and touching 

 biography of one of the men who not 

 only was famous, but who will be 

 famous for all time, is written bv his 

 youngest daughter, and the devoted 

 love which is an equal honour to both 

 is shown in every page. 



A GOD-LIKE MAN. 



The delicate son of a saddler, a Non- 

 conformist and a man of unswerving 

 integrity ; of a mother whose one desire 

 was that " Souls might flock as doves 

 to the Church of God," he was taught 

 from babyhood to love and care for the 

 poor. That Benjamin Waugh became 

 so unusual a compound of mystic and 

 practical was a heritage acquired from 

 parents and forefathers, but that sense 

 of humour which made him so loved 

 and so effective seems to have come 

 from the father, James Waugh. To 



