224 



The Review of Heviews, 



SeptemiT t, laoe. 



understood. It is not the only regiment of the 

 Guards that is disaflfected. Military mutinies are 

 reported from many quarters in the pro\inces. The 

 artillen,- has long been known to be unreliable, and 

 now even the ei-er faithful Cossacks are said to be 

 niumiuring against b^ing used as the scourge of the 

 peasant. As might be eocpected under such circum- 

 stances, agrarian disorders are breaking out every- 

 where. When the soldiers refuse to shoot and the 

 Cossack to use his nagaika, the simple peasant 

 naturally concludes that the hour has come for hiro 

 to possess himself of his landlord's goods. The 

 readiness of the soldiery to shoot under all circum- 

 stances has been the bedrock of Russian autocracy. 

 If this has shifted the game is up, and we are face 

 to face with the break up of Russia and an attempt 

 to found a Muscovite Republic. 



If so— 

 What? 



It is well never to forget that old 

 Empires are tough, and that, like 

 Fuzzy-Wuzzy of the Soudan, the 

 Russian monarchy is " generally 

 shamming when he's dead." But if the dynasty 

 should p)erish, and Russia should be given over to • 

 the Revolution, certain consequences will follow 

 which cannot be regarded \vith complacency. In the 

 first case, the present office-holders, all the armed 

 and angrv officials whom such a revolution would 

 threaten with instant starvation, will not perish 

 without a struggle, and in that struggle the Jews will 

 suffer as they have ne^er suffered yet since the 

 Middle Ages. Secondly, Russia will no longer be 

 able to pay interest on her bonds, and therefore will 

 be unable to borrow any more money. The stop- 

 page of the payment of the Russian coupon may 

 mean a financial panic on every bourse in Europe. 

 Thirdly, the landlords and nobles in most of the 

 Russian provinces will be hunted out like wild 

 beasts. Xo rent will be paid, and over vast districts 

 civilisation will perish. Fourthly, the triumph of 

 the Red Republic, the Socialistic Republic at St. 

 Petersburg and Moscow, might have the same in- 

 fective consequences as the triumph of the Republic 

 in Paris had in 1848. A bankrupt Russia bent upon 

 realising the millermium by a policy of socialistic 

 confiscation, with the inevitable sequel of a series 

 of bloody ci\'il wars, would not be a comfortable 

 neighbour either for the Kaiser or the Emperor- 

 King. But at present Central Europe seems as 

 undisturbed as was California on the eve of the 

 earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. 



_. The German Emperor last month 



Triple visited his ally the Emperor-King 



Alliance. at Vienna, and the two of them 



sent a telegram as follows: — "We 

 two. united, send to our third true ally the expres- 

 sion of our unchangeable friendship." In replv to 

 which the King of Italy sent : " The assurance of 

 mv true and unalterable friendship." This was 



probably necessary, on the same principle that 

 tradesmen advertise that business is still carried on 

 at the old stand. But the circumstances which led 

 to the formation of the Triple Alliance have 

 changed so much that the Alliance is already an 

 anachronism. If the Russian volcano should burst 

 into full eruption, it «"ill need stronger bonds than 

 those of the Triple Alliance to prevent its lava 

 scorching neighbouring lands. None can say what 

 effect the triumph of the Revolution might have upor» 

 the Social Democrats of Germany, how far the pro- 

 clamation of a Republic in Poland would excite 

 Posen and Galicia, or to what extent the wholesale 

 massacre of Jews would inflame the Anti-Semites of 

 Austria, who have already been demonstrating in 

 very ugly fashion against the " Judaeo-Maygars." In 

 Italy the new Cabinet of Signer Giolitti has a nomi- 

 nal majority of 164 in the Chamber. But Italy 

 certainly could not be relied upon to render any 

 effective aid against the Russian Revolution. It is 

 never well to meet trouble half-way, but it is well, 

 while hoping for the best, to prepare for the worst, 

 and that, at present, seems to be just what those 

 most concerned are not doing. 



••niri A ^^^ resolution which the House of 



Pensions Commons carried with undivided 



Next Year." ^'ote last March in favour of 

 pensions for all His Majesty's aged 

 subjects in this country is not to remain the acade- 

 mic expression of a pious opinion. A representative 

 meeting of Labour and Liberal members was called 

 in April, Mr. Thomas Burt presiding, to coivsider 

 the best way of giving effect to this resolution ; and 

 with the unanimity which has become characteristic 

 of the movement it was decided to lose no time in 

 pressing for Old Age Pensions next year. The 

 chairman, Mr. George Barnes, and Mr. Chiozza 

 Money were deputed to wait on the Chancellor of 

 the Exchequer, and to urge on him the adoption of 

 this resolve. Last month the result of the inter\'iew 

 was reported to the deputing members, and was re- 

 garded by them as highly favourable. It was under- 

 stood that Mr. Asquith was in entire sympathy with 

 the adoption of no partial or contributor)- scheme. 

 The cost of the general scheme which he favoured 

 he estimated at something like ;^r 5,000.000 a year. 

 Much depended for its early adoption on the report 

 of the Committee on the Graduation of the Income 

 Tax. It is expected that this report will be forth- 

 coming before the end of the Session, and will 

 strongly commend as practicable and advisable the 

 derivation of large additional revenue from the sug- 

 gested readjustment of taxation. With a united 

 House of Commons at his back, with new and 

 epoch-making sources of revenue before him, Mr. 

 Asquith h.TS a great opportunity. It will not be the 

 fault of circumstances if his name does not go down 

 to posterity as the statesman who at one and the 

 same stroke inaugurated Old Asie Pensions and a 



