i6 



The Review of Reviews. 



July 1, 1906. 



London, May, 1906. 



Two sensational catastrophes oc- 

 Progress curred in April — the eruption of 

 Indeed. Vesuvius and the destruction of San 



Francisco by an earthquake. These 

 disasters, which between them have entailed less loss 

 of human life than the little war in South-West 

 Africa has cost the Germans, have impressed the 

 imagination of mankind. But in themselves they 

 are of little importance, and they should not be 

 allowed to obscure the really great advances that 

 have been made last month towards a better social 

 and political order. The Russian elections to the 

 Duma have resulted in the return of a strong Liberal 

 majority, which may enable the Tsar to establish 

 liberty and order throughout his dominions. The 

 threatened war between Austria and Hungary has 

 been averted by the formation of a temporary Coa- 

 lition Government. The Conference at Algeciras 

 has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and 

 active steps, public and private, are being taken to 

 heal the feud which has too long rem.ained open be- 

 tween Germany and England. In the United States, 

 President Roosevelt has given the plutocracy its first 

 warning. Lord Grey has visited New York, and 

 Mr. Carnegie has visited Canada, making speeches 

 affirming in the strongest terms the unity of the Eng- 

 lish-speaking race. At home, the Trades Disputes 

 Bill has been read a second time without a division. 

 The Education Bill has been introduced, and Mr. 

 Asquith's first Budget has been laid before the 

 House. But the most satisfactory of all signs of 

 progress are the innumerable instances of the growth 

 of the spirit of international brotherhood which ha-se 

 to be chronicled at home and abroad. 



Of the momentous decision de- 



" Brothers All for scribed at length in the Character 



A' That." Sketch, " John Bull as Interna- 



national Host," which the Prime 

 Minister will, I hope, announce in the course of this 

 month, 1 need only say that I regard it as the most 

 hopeful indication of the progress of the world that 

 I have had to record since I first put pen to paper. 

 But the growing spirit of international brotherhood 

 is too impatient to wait for official manifestation. 

 This month a party of seventy German burgomas- 

 ters and councillors are visiting Britain to inspect 

 its munici|3al institutions. They were preceded by 

 a party of German trades unionists, who are now 

 visiting our industrial centres. Next month a still 

 more important visit is expected, when some twenty 

 or thirty representatives of the leading German 

 newspapers will spend a week in England as the 

 guest of the Anglo-German Friendship Committee. 

 They will be welcomed by all that is best in Lon- 

 don, and afterwards they will visit Stratford-on- 

 Avon and Liverpool. An Austro-Hungarian Exhi- 

 bition will be opened at Earl's Court, which w-ill 

 bring us nearer our ancient allv. At Athens the 



revived Olympic Games have drawn together the 

 picked athletes of all nations. Another International 

 Congress of Textile Workers met last month in 

 Brussels and decided upon making further advance 

 in the direction of internationalism. The Inter- 

 national Postal Congress is meeting at Rome, where 

 a resolution in favour of universal penny postage 

 was mo\ed by the representative of New Zealand 

 and seconded by the' representative of Egypt — a 

 curious illustration of the ends of the world coming 

 together to facilitate human intercourse. Add to 

 this the tiny but significant fact that a French news- 

 paper, the Gazette de Loiidres, has just been estab- 

 lished in London. And we have enough to thank 

 God for and take courage. 



Besides these international con- 



nf a* gresses there was one international 



Key Language, gathering in London this Easter 



which calls for special notice. The 

 Federation of Employes or Shop Assistants, which 

 met in the Great Central Hall, Marylebone, after 

 struggling through its debates in French, finally de- 

 cided that the adoption of a universal key language 

 was indispensable. The following resolution was 

 affirmed unanimously: — 



Considering that the knowledge of foreign languages has 

 become indispensable to wage-earners in order to facilitate 

 their means of assuring existence, and considering that 

 this knowledge needs the most ardent study which hinders 

 workers from acquiring them: 



Considering that international relations have a tendency 

 to extend continually, and that much would be gained by 

 the adoption of a common atixiliary language, which would 

 avoid the great loss of time and the fatigue caused by 

 translations at international gatherings, this Congress ex- 

 presses its desire that Esperanto should be adopted as an 

 official language at all future international discussions, 

 and that the different federations participating in the 

 Congress of London should do their utmost so that their 

 respective Governments should inscribe Esperanto amongst 

 the languages to be taught in their primarr and secondarr 

 scjliools, and that their groups should lie invited everv- 

 where where not existing to form Esperanto groups charged 

 to propagate by adult classes the study of Esperanto. 



The Congress included representatives of the em- 

 ployes of Britain. Germany. France, Austria, Bo- 

 hemia. Belgium. Spain, and Portugal, and was 

 attended by M. ;Mauvaut, of the Belgian Ministry 

 of Labour, who had honourably distinguished him- 

 self in passing legislation in favour of Sunday rest 

 and other reforms. 



. „. In the midst of this blossoming of 



At Riii 

 ,^A internationalism comes the invita- 



the Hague. '"^n or the Russian Government to 

 all the Governments of the world. 

 Liberia alone excepted, to meet at the Hague in 

 July to consider the questions of the rights of neu- 

 trals, the exemption of private property from 

 seizure in naval war, the question of contraband, 

 and the amendment of the Arbitration Convention. 

 The Conference will, however, be postponed, prob- 

 ably till February. The American Governments can- 

 not attend in July, as that is the month for the Pan- 

 American Conference at Rio Janeiro, In Septem- 



