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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 







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"/ 



WeMmimier Gazette.] 



John Bull: "Bother these inventions!" 



ing time, and more or less scouts the 

 ])ossibility of an invasion such as that 

 depicted on the next page. Meantime 

 after having had to gi\e way some- 

 what to the Hghter-than-air machmes, 

 the aeroplane is again proving that in 

 the long run this type of airship is tiie 

 more reliable and the more serviceable. 

 A fact which should be of some com- 

 fort to those who go to bed o' nights 

 imagining that a hostile airship may be 

 destroying London at its leisure whilst 

 they sleep. That the few unexplored 

 places of the earth will soon be visited 

 by aeroplane is obvious. Four French 

 military airmen have flown their ma- 

 chines 500 miles across the Sahara, 

 and the 300-mile ladius of the aero- 

 plane, mentioned last month, has al- 

 ready been considerabl}' increased. 

 The other day a flight of over 900 

 miles was achieved. Whatever the 

 flying machine may do in war, it is 

 bound to do away more and more with 

 boundaries and customs tariffs, and to 

 knit the peoples of the earth still more 

 closely together. 



The Hard Case of Belgium. 



The value of the guarantee of neu- 

 trality or independence made by one or 



several Great Powers in Europe is ap- 

 parently ver\' small. Tliis at least if 

 we may judge by the action of Bel- 

 gium. Here we have a small artificial 

 country whose safety is guaranteed by 

 the European Powers possessing the 

 greatest potential forces for offence 

 and defence. Because, however, the 

 whirligig of time has brought these 

 nations into opposition, the Belgians 

 are now convinced that the guarantee 

 is worthless, and it is tempting de- 

 struction to rely upon it for salvation. 

 The position of Belgium is a very un- 

 pleasant one, since through Belgian 

 territory lies the most ea<^y and natural 

 hne of attack between Germany and 

 France. Famous battlefields of fie 

 past stud the lue of advance, and the 

 ground ploughed and cultivated by 

 the iiard-workiiig ])easaiit has been 

 watered by much blood, and covers 

 man\- a skeleton. And there is every 

 probabilit}' that were war to come, 

 Belgian territory would be violated and 

 Belgium overrun. This touches Great 

 Britain closely, since she is one of the 

 guaranteeing Powers, but still more 

 because the disappearance of Belgium 

 as an independent State means a very 

 serious change in the ownership of the 

 coasts most adjacent to her shores. 

 Belgium, however, does not rely even 

 on Britain's self-interest, and is deter- 

 mined to double her army, fortify her 

 frontiers, and do her best to make her 

 territories respected. Thus the " beg- 

 gar-m\--neighbour " game goes on in 

 Europe, and the very life-blood of the 

 smallesit nations, like those of the 

 greatest, is being drained in the ter- 

 rible race for armaments. But that a 

 guaranteed State lik€ Belgium must 

 look to herself to defend her frontiers 

 is not a happy augury for a guaranteed 

 Albania, or, nearer home, a guaranteed 

 Republic in the Philippines! 



