lUviev of Kfvietcs, l/ii/Od. 



Leading Articles. 



479 



If France does not step in at the present psycho- 

 logical moment, Germany, who is not a great banker, 

 will do so, for she hjs been already working for 

 i>early a year for a rapprochement with Japan. 

 Everything combines to hasten the realisation of a 

 Franco-Japanese Alliance — the situation in Indo- 

 China, the development of commercial Pan-Mon- 

 ^olism, the internal condition of China, the needs 

 'A Russia in her Far-Eastern possessions, the happy 

 Anglo-French entente, the financial interest and the 

 sorry condition of the political European exchequer 



— ever\\vhere there are solid irrefutable arguments 



for the necessity of the diplomatic work here de- 



s<-ribed. All Japanese statesmen, without exception, 



ire in favour of the scheme which would embrace 



a one desire for peace and prosperity Russia, 

 Japan, England, France, and the United States. 



A DEMOCRATIC GERMANY. 



In the first March number of La Revue, E. Revbel 

 has a study of the Democratic Evolution of Ger- 

 many. 



ALCOHOLIC LETHAEGY. 



The writer notes that in the year 1905 a wave of 

 unjrest and reform has passed over most European 

 States, but Germany alone has not seemed to stir. 

 He gives various reasons for the apparent passive- 

 ness of the German people, suggesting that they 

 may not have become sufficiently discontented to 

 move, or that their patience is not yet quite exhaust- 

 ed. Beer and alcohol, the writer thinks, have pro- 

 bably had much to do with keeping the people 

 loyal. Not that they are habitual drunkards, but 

 that the daily drinking causes lethargy of mind and 

 body. 



Another factor is religious sentiment, and a third 

 is the fact that the Germans ha\^ not hitherto taken 

 so active an interest in political events as the people 

 of most other countries have done. 



INDICATIONS OP NATIONAL AWAKENING. 



Nevertheless there are indications of a democratic 

 awakening. The old Prussian discipline in the 

 army has broken down, and the soldier will no longer 

 stand bein;; treated as an inferior being, but rebels 

 against the brutality of his superiors. Everywhere 

 a certain indej'iendence towards authority is mani- 

 festing itself. Electoral contests are more spirited, 

 and strikes and other popular movements are on the 

 increase, .\mong other general causes of demo- 

 f-ratic progress mav be mentioned the spread of 

 popular education, the establishment of libraries, 

 popular theatres, reading clubs, music clubs, etc. 

 Thu.s the man of the people is gradually beginning 

 to think of other things than his daily life ; his 

 horizon being widened, he wants to know what is 

 going on in the worJd. 



A GREAT INDUSIEIAL STATE. 



Before 1870, Germany was an agricultural coun- 

 try, but since that date the Germans have become 

 more and more industrial. In a word, the German 

 people have raised their material and moral condi- 

 tion, especially in the towns; but as all progress is 

 costly, the working classes have to pay higher rents, 

 and consequently they demand higher wages, and 

 hence many of the strikes. The feudal world, which 

 lived on the land, has been crushed by the young 

 industrial bourgeoisie. As it is the workers of the 

 towns and great industrial centres who have trans- 

 formed England into a democratic State, the indus- 

 trial development of Germany is the most potent 

 factor in German democratic evolution. 



THE DEMOCEATIC PROS l.VCES. 



The democratic evolution, however, is not mani- 

 fested in an equal degree in all parts of the German 

 Empire. It is much mere accentuated in the South 

 and in the West than in the North-East, and the 

 States of the South and West are much more ad- 

 vanced than Prussia. Nearly all the democrats are 

 from the Southern and Western States. Still, the 

 democratic evolution is very real, though the con- 

 trasts betneen the different regions and the pre- 

 ponderance of Prussia may seem to retard it and 

 give it something of the character of a struggle 

 between the aristocratic North-East and the other 

 regions. The drawback is that Prussia, the heart 

 of the Empire, remains reactionary, while the demo- 

 cratic regions are the provinces. Nevertheless the 

 triumph of democracy in Germany is certain. .It 

 has already attacked the army and the bureaucracy. 

 The spirit of revolt is growing among the people; 

 crimes of Use-majeste are more common ; religious 

 sentiment has disappeared in the towns, and is dis- 

 appearing in the coimtry districts ; and the masses 

 are beginning to play an active part in political life. 

 A new democratic Germany is at hand. 



A MASTER OF THE LYRIC. 



The March Westermann contains a most interest- 

 ing article, by Julius Bab, on Theodor Storm as a 

 Master of the Lyric. The study is based on two 

 anonymous articles on the Lyric as an Art-Form, 

 which Storm contributed to an art-publication some 

 sixty years ago. 



The real business of the lyric, according to Storm, 

 consists in maintaining an attitude of mind in the 

 poem, which the poem will in t-'m reproduce in the 

 mind of the receptive reader, and thus the value and 

 the effect of the poem will depend on the most indi- 

 vidual representation being found together with the 

 most universally available subject-matter. The 

 higher the sentiment the more convincing will be 

 the form of expression. The lyric ought to offer the 

 reader a revelation, a satisfaction which he could 

 not give to himself. The mo.st perfect lyric first 

 appeals to the senses, while the .spiritual arises out 

 of it as fruit comes from the blossom. 



