£88 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



Novemher 1, 191S. 



shows that the world can be at peace only 

 if it is controlled by one nation. It Avill be 

 at peace only when the ^jaa; Homann has been 

 replaced by the pax Brifannica, by the peace 

 of the Anglo-Saxons, when the military 

 Gre, t Powers have, owing to the growth of 

 the Anglo-Saxon nations, become military 

 small Powers. The world must either becom>' 

 Anglo-iSaxon or fall a prey to militarism. 



Readers of The Review of Reviews 

 have been familiar with this excellent 

 doctrine for over twenty years, and we 

 welcome even the tardiest conversion. 

 Mr. Barker recog"nises that militarism is 

 not likely to exact its full toll : — 



Great possessions are to their ownea's a 

 responsibility and a danger unless they are 

 adequately guarded. Neither the United 

 States nor Great Britain po.ssesses an army 

 that can be pitted against the vast military 

 hosts of the Continental Great Powers and 

 of Japan, and they will probably never possess 

 such an army, because the spirit of the 

 people is impatient of compulsion, restraint, 

 and discipline, even if it be for national 

 defence. They must therefore put their trust 

 in their fleets. 



MAY THE KING BE A PARTISAN? 



" Auditor Tantum " discusses " The 

 Veto of the Crown " in the Fortnightly 

 Review, and we endorse every word of 

 his warning to those purbli.^d politi- 

 cians who imagine that any good pur- 

 pose can be served by the exercise of a 

 privilege which is dead, if not beyond 

 recall, assuredly not to be ventured on by 

 any monarch who respects constitutional 

 government. The granting of Home 

 Rule to Ireland may be an exi3eriment, 

 but it is at least a legitimate experiment 

 in administration, and hardly calls for 

 the heroics of Sir Edward Carson or 

 other self-appointed champions of an 

 autocratic minority, and to call in aid 

 an extinct veto to suppress Home Rule 

 is to add one more to the list of insults 

 to poor Ireland. 



The writer states the simple fact when 

 he avers that the loyalty of Radicals 

 and Socialists is " strictly conditional on 



the scrupulous observance by the Crown 

 of its constitutional position " ; and, ad- 

 dressing the advocates of this impos- 

 sible remedy, he says : — 



But there is another and even more com- 

 pelling reason why no Unionist in any c:r- 

 cumstances whatever should tolerate the sug- 

 gestion of using the Veto of the Crown in 

 the Home Rule controversy. Let thovse who 

 are tempted to coquet with it consider how 

 disastrous to the British Empire would be a 

 furious agitation at home against tlic 

 Monarchy. It is the Crown which holds the 

 British Empire together. The Crown is tlie 

 one symbol of union ; the Sovereign is the 

 one focus of loyalty. Tlie Empire has watched 

 the downfall of the House of Lrords without 

 an audible, and, we suspect, without an in- 

 ward pang. Ife regards the House of Com- 

 mons with different and more kindly eyes, 

 for that assembly is the Mother of all the 

 Free Parliaments overseas. But there is no 

 idea on the part of the Dominions of yield- 

 ing loyal obedience to what Disraeli called 

 in " Coningsby " a "sovereign of Downiug- 

 street," and still less does any such senti- 

 ment exist in India. Tlie House of Commons 

 could be no successor to or substitute for 

 the Ornvn. Jt -is the Crown alone whicli 

 is idealised in the imagination of the Em- 

 pire, which stands forth as something augu.st 

 and unifying, permanent and xuichangeable, 

 austerely aloof from the clash of party battle 

 and yet humanly sympathetic with erery 

 noble aspiration which sways the peoples. 

 It would be a violent shock to the Empire 

 if the Crown were dragged into party con- 

 troversy, and he is no true Imperialist who, 

 whatever the provocation, allows himself to 

 be drawn into advocating or supporting a 

 course which must lead straight to that wot>- 

 ful result. 



Those who mean to fight Home Rule to the 

 death may justify to themselves — and pcrhajis 

 to posterity — their use of almost every 

 weapon in their power. But there is one 

 weapon which to use were a crime. That is 

 the Veto of the Crown 



The editor of The National Review 

 is quite convinced that the King should 

 not be " the marionette of the Molly 

 Maguires." In their extremity the " last 

 ditchers " are ap]3arently prepared to 

 sacrifice all the traditions of constitu- 

 tional government, but we are not yet all 

 Anarchists. 



IN THE FAR EAST. 



WH.'\T' japan THINKS. 



In the Japan Magazine the Editor 

 writes on the concord between East and 

 West, and the sentiments expressed re- 

 buke the apparent divorce between the 

 practice and alleged principles of the 

 " superior " races : — 



The progress of recent years, as well as the 

 remarkable growth of commerce and the 

 world-wide spread of Christian missions, hare 

 all combined to break down ancient barriers 

 of race and nationality, and to transform the 

 whole world into one great family, moved by 

 mutual purpose and character. The head 

 ha,s changed faster than the heart, how- 

 ever; and the intellectual and moral forces 

 of East and West are now bent upon com- 



