176 



The Review of Reviews. 



August 1, 1906. 



ANTI=.MILITARISM IN FRANCE. 



The most remarkable paper in ihe June Indcpen- 

 dtnt Rcviav is M. Urbain Collier's on the above sub- 

 ject. It begins by a recital of the numerous ills to 

 which the French soldier's flesh is heir, from bad 

 food to the certain acquirement of bad habits, 

 notably that of alcoholism. The French soldier, it 

 is alleged, is often even underfed, because the con- 

 tractors, subalterns, cooks, and many of the ofiicers 

 combine to make criminal profits out of his food. 

 As certain university diplomas confer the privilege 

 of much reduced military_«tTvice, manv voung men 

 with no vocation for literary, legal or medical studies 

 nevertheless engage in them, if only thev mav 

 thereby escape military sen'ice. M. Go'hier savs that 

 in consequence higher education is often a factorv 

 of doctors, lawyers and other professional men, 

 many of them quite incapable ; and French intel- 

 lectual culture as a whole has noticeably declined. 



TWENTIETH CEXTURT ANTI-MILITARISM. 



Especially since the beginning of this century has 

 anti-militarism advanced in France. In 1901 the 

 representatives of more than 500 anti-militarist 

 groups in France, and six other European States, 

 proposed unanimously that the Xobel Peace prize 

 should be conferred on " the author of I'Armee 

 contre la Nation," M. Urbain Gohier himself. Thev 

 were not qualified to present a candidate, but their 

 demonstration was nevertheless highly significant, 

 and marked a new epoch in the anti-militarist pro- 

 paganda, which was thenceforth conducted bv 

 interested parties— the youth of the working 

 classes. Then began the publication of journals de- 

 voted to anti-militarist propaganda, which was fur- 

 ther reinforced by 300,000 trade unionist working 

 men. Then, in 1904, came the Amsterdam Con- 

 gress, which resulted in the formation of the A.I..-\. 

 — the Association Internationale Anti-militariste. 



ANTI-MILITARIST SUCX^ESSES. 



M. Gohier claims for anti-militarism that last vear 

 it twice intervened so as to influence the destinies of 

 Europe by averting war. Once was when William of 

 Germany was meditating using the mailed fist to 

 crush the revolution in Russian Poland, and was 

 dissuailed by his Ministers, who urged that the 

 German people would not be armed to fight insur- 

 gents in the name of mere absolutism. The second 

 time was during the Morocco dispute, when M. 

 Rou\ier's argument prevailed- -that the army, and 

 esjjecially the mass of the working class making up 

 the re.sen-es, had been so much influenced by anti- 

 militarist propaganda that war could not be risked. 

 This result, M. Gohier argues trulv enough, would 

 not have been attained '' by academic and drawing- 

 room " pacifistes.' '' 



M. Gohier then comments on the trial of twentv- 

 eight members of the A.I.A. for " inviting soldiers to 

 disobey orders " and " inciting to murder," i.e., for 

 haying placarrled throughout France an anti-mili- 

 tarist document in the autumn of 1905. when there 



were rumours of wars. He was, of course, among 

 the twenty-eight, most of whom, however, were of the 

 working class, who apparently talked red revolution 

 and anti-militarism enough lor aI. Passy himself. 

 They were most variously sentenced, on the whole, 

 with '■ iniquitous severity.'' The A.I.A. replied by 

 re-placarding the walls with the condemned mani- 

 festo, enriched and aaomed with 2500 signatures, 

 which greatlv embarrassed the Government. If anv 

 trial takes place, sa\s M. Gohier — 



the A.I.A. has ready a third edition of the placard, sup- 

 ported by 25,000 siguatures. The moyement has assumed 

 such an impetus that nothins: will stop it. It would be 

 encouraged by impunity: it is accelerated by severity. 



TNESPECTED REINFORCEMENTS. 



M. Gohier says: — 



Auti-militarism has even received reinforcements which it 

 never e.xpected. The French Catholics comprise the most 

 conservative part of the nation: they were, therefore, in 

 spite of the commandments of Christ, strongly opposed to 

 the destruction of armies and the abolition of war. But 

 the dispersion of the Congrejations, the denunciation of 

 the Concordat, the inventories taken in the churches, have 

 occasioned military interventions, acts of violence, indis- 

 cipline, and mutiny, which have had great effect on public 

 opinion. A large number of Catholic otflcers. in the pre- 

 sence of their troops, have formally refused to execute the 

 orders of their superior oHlcers, because those orders out- 

 raged their conscience as Catholics. 



HOV, TO NATIONALISE THE LAND. 



Mr. Pctavel. writing in Broad I'/'acs for June, 

 presents what he describes as a broad view of the 

 land question. He thus explains what he means by 

 the term, and the advantages that would result fron) 

 its adoption : — 



Advocates of land nationalisation nropose that the 

 Government should collect all rents, iii the form of a 

 land tax. and pay each landlord, or ex-landlord, his share 

 in the form of interest on bonds issued to him. thus 

 buying the landlords out entirely. To render deceiitralisa- 

 tion possible, all that would be necessary- would be to 

 issue bonds for the market value of tlie land, less the 

 capitalised value of its present rent, as landlords could 

 remain in possession of present advantages, but having 

 sold their right to all future increases of rent. 



The reform would be quite drastic enough, although it 

 wou'.d spire country landlords, wlio have" a sentimental 

 attachment to their property. Their position it would 

 le.ave very much as it is now. Such a reform is the 

 only thing needed now to make decentralisation possible, 

 aud to enable our towns to be made healthy, so. whether 

 it is drastic or not, difficult or easy, it, "or sometliing 

 similar to it, will have to come as soon as the public 

 is made aware of the facts of the case. 



The moment prospective values were collected by the 

 public, all convenient land near towns could be kept for 

 allotments at the agricultural rate, and cliildren taught 

 to cultivate them under the supervision of the School 

 Board. Large cheap allotments would also encourage the 

 practice, already in vogue among working men, of taking 

 allotments, building summer houses on them, and spending 

 their leisure time in them in the summer. Tlitis many 

 would get immediatel.v the benefits, moral and physical, 

 from the occupation of gardening. 



The second volume of " The Cathedrals of Eng- 

 land '' (Dennis and Sons, 20 Cheapside, Large 4to, 

 art cloth gilt. i8s. 6d,) has just appeared. It con- 

 tains sixty-four artistic photographs of Elv, Chester, 

 Oxford, Bangor and St, Asaph's, Litchfield, Xew- 

 castle-on-Tyne, AVorcester, and St. Paul's, London, 

 with useful historical notes bv Arnold FairbP'^n. 



