132 



DISCOVERY 



third reading on Chrrboaig, provided that a chicle 

 on these observ-atioos b required. Under the con- 

 ditioas the direction-fiiKier indicates that Land's 

 End is somewhere on a Une malcing an angle of 66 

 degrees with the fore and aft Une of the ship, and the 

 coi r esp onding an^ for Ushant is 5 degrees. The 

 direction in which the ship is heading at the moment 

 of the experiment is known, since it is given by the 

 compass, and it is therefore not a difEoilt matter to 

 combine observations and set oat the ship's position 

 on the chart. 



• • « « • 



It may be mentioned that it is not always necessary 

 to ascertain the ship's position, the direction of a 

 known point from the ship being often all that is 

 needed. In such cases one observation only is neces- 

 sary, as, for e.xample, in determining whether a ship's 

 coarse will take it inside or oatside a lightship or 

 isolated h^thoase. A wireless signal from one or 

 the other will settle the question almost as certainly 

 as though the h^ts were viable. Again, when ibe 

 ship is about to enter haiboor, signals from a station 

 in the harboar wiD show iimnediately if the ship 

 has drifted to one side of the entrance. 



« « • « « 



An interesting point bearing on the trathfolnes of 

 novelists is dealt with by Mr. H. iL Paul! in a recent 

 nmnber of the Fortnightly Review, ilr. Panll points 

 oat that it b a not infrequent practice for an author 

 to write an introdoctioa to bb story in which he 

 gives deliberately an errooeoas account of its origin. 

 Defoe, for example, informed hb public in the preface 

 to hb Journal of the Plague (1722) that fhi^ work was 

 really written by a man who continued all the time 

 in London while the Plagoe was raging. As Defoe 

 and no other was the author, and as he was only two 

 at the time of the Plague, it b evident that hb idea of 

 truth is — wdL b simply not truth at aD. Scott, 

 Goldsmith. Horace Walpt^, and in more recait Hmt'^; 

 George Gbsing, are also dted as smrmg in thk way. 

 It b, however, not a conmuHi practice. Those who 

 write these fictitious prefaces generally do so for 

 reasons similar to those which lead writers to adopt 

 noms-de-guerre, but in a few cases the motive b less 

 worthy. Some authors 6nd that a certain kind (d show- 

 man's lie in the preface helps the sale of their books, 

 others do it for the pure intellectnal joy of lying. 



• • • « • 



In sabseqoent numbers of thb journal we hope to 

 make a new departure in having pictures and diagrams 

 iDnstiating the articles. In the next number we hope 

 to pdnt articles on St. Francb, the Recent Dbcov'eries 

 in Crete, the Origins oi Mnriran Mythology, .\ir-Roates 

 oC the Empire. Aviation and the Postal Service, 

 Beet and Indostrial Alcohol, and on other subjects. 



The Concert of Europe in 

 the Nineteenth Century 



By F. J. C. Hearnshaw, M..\., LL.D. 



Pr'.:<jici- -,; .'/ i.';r; i.-\ Kmg'i C^Oeife, CaioenUf ol London 



\Coni:n:{eJ from April So., p. i*.8.) 

 IV 



ALTHOtTGH by 1830 the Quadruple .Alliance was quite 

 broken up, and although its members found themselves 

 ranged in antagonism to one another on several funda- 

 mental issues, yet even then the tradition of common 

 interests and common action established during the 

 Napoleonic era and the period of the Congresses was 

 never again wholly lost. From 1830 right down to 1914 

 the Concert of Europe, albeit it ceased to give con- 

 tinuous performances as during the years of its glory, 

 never went entirely out of existence. On the contrary 

 it maintained a useful vitality ; it enlarged its member- 

 ship ; it made it a particular bnsjwss of its own to deal 

 with the Eastern Question and other acutely contro- 

 versial jwoblems of international politics ; it succeeded 

 in preventing several wars ; it managed to e&ct more 

 than one important worid-settlement. 



First, as to its members. The four Powers of the cAd 

 Quadruple Alliance continued to occupj- the position of 

 prime importance. Next, and almost equal to them. 

 came France.' Italy was admitted in 1S59. In 1871 

 Prussia brought the newly constituted German Empire 

 with her into the innermost circle of the elect, and 

 began to claim in her name a hegemony. For purposes 

 extra-European — ^with which we are on this occaaoB 

 not concerned — the United States and Japan began to 

 be included. \Mien problems of world politics came 

 into question, the States of Asia and Southern .America 

 were increasingly asked to send delegates : thus at the 

 first Hague Conference twenty-six Powers were repre- 

 sented ; at the second, forty-two. 



It did not prove easv- for Powers so numeroos and so 

 diverse to co-operate for common ends. Each of 

 them had its own particularist interests which it por- 

 soed in preference to those of the community of States. 

 These particularist interests tended more and more t* 

 dash with one another, especially in the spheres al 

 eco n omic and ctAonial expanaon. The associated 

 Powers, moreo ve r, represented and embodied an- 

 fiicting poEtical principles, and it became increasin|^ 

 hard for those which stood for democracy and natioo- 

 ahty to work in harmony with those that were inspired 

 by ideas of mihtary autocracy and world duminiooL 

 From 1S71 in particular, the youthful German Empire; 



> Under the Exapaoc Xapobioa HI. indeed. Frxnce tyt a few 

 jeaa, tsfedaOj tSs6-6o. rose to a iwwi l kM of mermAtmc f. 



