DISCOVERY 



27 



Sofia they only lost the confidence of the Greek and Serbs 

 without gaining that of the Bulgars." 



The account of the policy of bullying interference with 

 the Greeks is a sharp blow to our national pride. Perhaps 

 this is why we turn with such relief to Mr. Abbott's 

 explanation that it wm all France's fault. " France 

 pursues now the plan laid down by Louis XIV, continued 

 by Napoleon, fitfully carried on in the nineteenth century 

 and facilitated by her installation in Syria — the equivalent 

 of the German Drang nach Osten : a plan incompatible 

 with the safety of the British Empire in the East." The 

 policy of creating a Greece dependent on France and 

 capable of being used to further French policy in the 

 East has, he holds, been consistent. The reversal of that 

 policy is a sudden change due to finding Greek feeling 

 entirely anti-French. At aU events this book throws con- 

 siderable light on the apparently anti-French policy which 

 the late Government pursued in the Near East. From 

 Mr. Abbott's account it would seem that the French 

 sowed the pro-Greek policy and left us to reap the Turkish 

 whirlwind. 



The writer's chief charge against il. \'enizelos is one of 

 deliberate misrepresentation of King Constantine's motives 

 and personality. To those accustomed to look upon the 

 king as the serio-comic villain of the piece it is surprising 

 to learn that " in town, mansion, and village huts men's 

 mouths were filled with his praise," that a weeping crowd 

 obstructed the path of the car that bore him from Greece 

 and that wild acclamation greeted his return. But 

 there is a vaguely familiar ring about the indictment of 

 " the Cretan " which is puzzling, since our Press has been 

 as unanimous in praising M. Venizelos as in condemning 

 ex-King Constantine. M. Venizelos is described by our 

 author as a " man of many talents and few principles, 

 ready to employ the most tortuous and unscrupulous 

 methods — sometimes indeed for ends in themselves 

 patriotic but often merely for aggrandising himself." 



We have heard something like that before, but it was 

 about one of our own politicians. It is the same con- 

 troversy about brains and character which is perplexing 

 many of us in England. There is a tendency, doubtless 

 healthy, to grudge " principle " to aU but the mentally 

 mediocre ; a feeling that not only may a lady be " too 

 pretty to be good," but that a politician may be too 

 clever to be principled. Mr. Abbott tells us of M. Venizelos 

 at the beginning of his career that " the new man did not 

 disappoint the faith placed in him. Through the next 

 two years he stood in every eye as the embodiment of 

 constructive statesmanship. . . . Greece seemed as an 

 invalid, healed and ready to face the future." It is hard 

 to believe that this man is an unscrupulous opportunist. 

 Is it not at least a possibility that M. Venizelos is a genuine 

 and single-minded patriot, and that the troubles of his 

 country are due rather to Allied intrigue than to his own 

 bad judgment or unscrupulous methods ? At aU events 

 we prefer to reserve judgment until we hear the other 

 side. 



Mr. Abbott's book is obviously written with the purpose 

 of vindicating the good name of Greece. We are too 

 near the period which he covers, and we are certainly too 



near the results of that period, which have involved us 

 in such a perplexing position in the Near East, to pro- 

 nounce a definite opinion upon the attitude which he has 

 assumed. But this we can say about the book, that it 

 wiU provide a valuable antidote to the one-sided pro- 

 paganda of our daily Press since 1915. 



E. L. M. C. 



Books Received 



(Mention in this column does not preclude a review.) 



MISCELLANEOUS 



Bibliography of English Language and Literature, 1921. 

 Edited for the Modern Humanities Research Associa- 

 tion by A. C. Panes. (Bowes & Bowes, Cambridge, 

 4s. 6d.) 



The Pattern of the "Iliad." By J. T. Shepp.\rd, M.A., 

 Litt.D. (Methuen & Co., Ltd., 7s. 6d.) 



Early British Trackivays. By Alfred Watkins. (Here- 

 ford : The Watkins Motor Co. ; London ; Simpkin, 

 Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., 4s. 6d.) 



Lola, or the Thought and Speech of Animals. By Henry 

 KiNDERMANN. (Methuen & Co., Ltd., bs.) 



Greece and the Allies, 1914-1922. By G. F. Abbott. 

 With a Preface by Admiral M.a.rk Kerr, C.B., 

 M.V.O. (Methuen & Co., Ltd., -js. 6d.) 



Everyday Life in the New Stone, Bronze, and Early Iron 

 Ages. Written and Illustrated by Marjorie and 

 C. H. B. QuENNELL. (B. T. Batsford, Ltd., 55.) 



Water-Power in the British Empire. The Reports of the 

 Water-Power Committee of the Conjoint Board of 

 Scientific Societies. By Sir Dugald Clerk, K.B.E., 

 F.R.S., and Prof. A. H. Gibson, D.Sc, M.Inst.C.E. 

 (Constable & Co., Ltd., 5s.) 



Readings from the Literature of Ancient Rome. In English 

 Translations. By Dora Pvm. (George G. Harrap 

 & Co., Ltd., 35. 6d.) 



PSYCHOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY 



The Measurement of Emotion. By W. Whately Smith, 

 M.A. With Introduction by William Brown, M.D., 

 D.Sc. (The International Library of Psychology, 

 Philosophy, and Scientific Method : Kegan Paul, 

 Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd., 105. 6d.) 



Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus . By L. Wittgenstein. 

 With Introduction by Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. 

 (The International Library of Psychology, Philo- 

 sophy, and Scientific Method : Kegan Paul, Trench, 

 Triibner & Co., Ltd., los. 6d.) 



Our Unconscious Mind and How to Use It. By Frederick 

 Pierce. (Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., 

 Ltd., xos. 6d.) 



