482 



The Review of Reviews. 



June 1, ISOo. 



THE GERMAN BOGEYMAN. 



Help ! Help ! Sir E. Grey to the Rescue. 



The Gerraanophobists of the Fortnightly have at 

 least one redeeming virtue. They are so profoundly 

 ashamed of their mischievous work that they skulk 

 behind pseudonyms and asterisks. Cowards, with 

 their visors down month after month, do their best 

 to hound Great Britain into war with Germany. 

 This month " Perseus '' leads the van, fittingly sup- 

 ported by " * * *." Both profess to be consumed 

 by a deadly fear lest the Kaiser will gobble up 

 Austria-Hungary. Take ''Perseus" first: — 



THE TASK OF SIE EDWAED GREY— AKD RUSSIA. 



There is only one statesman capable of restoring the 

 European equilibrium. Thi.t statesman is S.r Eawara Grey. 

 There is only one means by which might be created a 

 counterpoise massive enough to relieve the cause of Euro- 

 pean peace Irom its present entire dependence upon the 

 Kaisers personal will, and to provide sufficient collateral 

 security. Tnat means will be found, if at all, in the definite 

 adl esi n of the Tsar to a purely defensive compact or 

 alliance formed in the first instance between EnglaBd, 

 France, ana ii/ss a. Nothing e.se can set limits to the 

 exercise of the German veto in the affairs of Europe. No 

 th-ughiful obse ver of international events, indeei, can be 

 too sansuine upon this point. It maj' prove that the cause 

 of Europe ceased to exist upon the plains of Mulsden. Bnt. 

 unpromising as the present sitnat.on in the Tsardom may 

 appear, it is nevertheless obvious that until Russia recovers 

 her forner pl.ice in the Continental system there will be 

 no adequate security for the western ttatus quo. 



SOUNDING THE TOCSIN. 

 There is no security for .Austria-Hungary, and none for 

 Holland ani B-lgium; none for the d'pl matic independence 

 of France: none for the sea-p3wer of this country. For a 

 German Empire of 61.0(X),Q0O, expanded, as it might be 

 exp3ndel even now, by the results of a war such as the 

 WilhelmstrasSD has permitted itself to threaten repeatedly 

 during the list twelve months, into a pan-German Empire 

 of 120,C0O.00O, w.th Antwerp and Trieste for sally ports, would 

 sound the knell of British naval supremacy, and would 

 create a Colonial d minion for the Kaiser's subjects by the 

 dismemberment of the British Empire. The problem of the 

 European equil britmi is in reality for all the Great Powers 

 except one — an . for all the li tie nations— the problem of 

 Atist ia-H Tgariau integr ty. For future purposes all din- 

 lomTio roads lead to Vienna, and the alternative upon 

 which all the interests of the Western Powers and Russia 

 mu=;t. in the long run, depend is the choice, and in time, 

 between a politique d'Autriche and a politique d'autruche. 



THE LOGIC OF THE ALARMIST. 



" * * * " declares out of the plenitude of his inner 

 consciousness that — 



a war for breaking the power of Great Britain and taking 

 her commerce and her colonies, or for conquering Holland 

 or Swi zerland. or for joining the German parts of Austria- 

 Hungary to Germany, would powerfully appeal to the 

 imagincition rf the masses, and such a war would not onlv 

 be immensely popular all over Germany, bnt it would, if 

 successful, be exceedingly profitable to t;hat country. 



A page or two later he tells us that 



In these circumstances it appears that Great Britain has 

 the dest ny of Europe in her hands, and the question 

 ar.ses: What should Great Britain do if Germany should 

 strive to use her oppartunities by an attacK on Austria- 

 Hungary or on Holland, and endeavour to become all-power- 

 ful in Europe.-' . . . We can really not be expec;ed to 

 save Europe against her will. Therefore we must agree witli 

 Prance on a plan of action, in case of certain clearly 

 ceterminable contingencies. 



Really is it quite decent to allow anonymous 

 scribblers to incite nations to impute all manner of 

 murderous and fanatical designs to their neigh- 

 bours ? 



i ? ^"* Liio uisucd.1 icuiug. aiiu periiaps lue muiinv. 



of the irmv, and it won'd a» ':ist lead to the creation of a 

 Continental coalition against Germany, for Germany's weak 

 neiebb-urs would regain courage should Germany be greatly 

 enfeebled. 



WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE SATED? 



After a harrowing sketch of the fate of Europe 

 under the mailed foot of the Kaiser, "* * *" 



s.ivs : — 



A GRISLY GHOST STORY. 



Some years ago the tenant of a house in the 

 North-West of London brought me a weird and 

 terrible tale of her experiences in one of the rooms 

 in h«: house. Everyone who slept in that room was 

 wakened up by the attempt of some invisible spectre 

 to strangle them. The haunted room became unin 

 habitable, and my visitor abandoned the house. 

 The story ran that early in the century a litck 

 French girl, of the name of Ursula, had been foully 

 murdered in that room, and that the spirit of her 

 murderer, being unable to leave the scene of his 

 crime, perpetually attempted to repeat it. He is 

 probably doing it to this day, but I lost all trace 

 of the case ten years ago. It is brought back to my 

 mind by a somewhat similar story — but this time it 

 was the couch, and not the room, that was haunted 

 — which Mr. R. B. Span tells the readers of the 

 Occult Review for April in his paper entitled " Some 

 Glimpses of the Unseen." It is as follows; — 



Two ladies. Miss I and Mme. de B (friends of my 



mother's), were travelling in the Ai s'rian Tyrol, and had 

 occasion to stop at a mcnntain village, where they were 

 accommod ted at a small hotel (or inn). They occupied the 

 same room, a large old-fashioned apartment. 



Miss I had a curious old couch for a bed, and Mme- 



de B had a bed at the further side of the room. Miss 



I was aroused in the night by a horrible sensation as 



of Borne awful p-esence near her, which was quite indescrib- 

 able, and as she maved to strike a liaht a hand seiied 

 her by the throat and pressed her head back on the pillow, 

 nearly strangling her. She struggled violently and 

 shrieked, and seized the wrist of the hand which was at 

 her throat, bat could find no arm beyond the wrist. Her 



sister. Mme. de B , was awake-:el by the noise and called 



out, and at her voice the hand relaxed its grip and the 

 horrit le presence withdrew. Viss I w.-is nearly faint- 

 ing with terror, but her s'ster insis'ed that she must have 

 been dream'ng, and had a bad nightmare, as there was no 

 one or nothing in the room besides t''emee'ves,_ and the 

 doors an'l windows were securely fastened. Nath'ng would 



in-^uce Miss I to occupy that bed a?ain, sa her sister 



said she would s^eep there, as she was sure it was all non- 

 sense; and so Miss I dressed and lay down on the bed 



at the other side of the room, and Mme. de B took the 



couch. 



A light was kent burning for Miss I — - -'s convenience, bnt 

 it seems thev bo'h fell asleep and the light went out nn- 



accanntablr. M'SS I ws aroused bv V-earine the shrieks 



of her sister, and at once inmred off the bed an-l struck 



a match. Mme, de B hid juH gone through the game 



experience as Mign I h^d. After that they agreed to give 



the couch 'a wde berth." and spent the remainder of the 

 hours of darkness to?e*her on the bed at the firther side 

 of the room where thev were nndistnrhed. Thev learnt 

 later on that someone had been murdered on that conch 

 b"- be'ng strangled, bnt not in that house or even that 

 village. 



