398 



The Review of Reviews. 



October 1, 1306. 



THE REVUE DES DEUX IHONDES. 



Continuing his study of Machiavellism in the H'vue 

 lies Deux Mnndra. Charles Benoist deals with Catherine 

 Sforzra and Caesar Borgia in the first July number. 



Catherine Sforza, who is taken first by the writer, is 

 described as a virago, in courage the most virile of 

 women, and yet she was the most feminine in grace 

 and beauty. Slie was a Raphaelite before Raphael 

 and a Machiavellist before Maehiavelli. 



THE ANGLO-TURKISH CONFLICT. 

 Rene Pinon. who writes on the Tabah incident, re- 

 capitulates the events relating to the Sinaitic Penin- 

 sula, and. studies the present question in connection 

 with the efforts of Germany to establish economic and 

 political power in the entire Empire of the Sultan. 

 England, ever concerned with the defence of India, 

 now sees a danger in Arabia, especially in the light of 

 the Mussulman policy of Germany. The writer thinks 

 that Germany ha.s too much intere.st in the East uot to 

 realise that in the Tabah incident her future in the 

 Ottoman Empire was in question, and that England, 

 as master of Egypt, and with a formidable navy, might 

 easily become master of the Turkish Empire in Asia 

 and the land routes between Constantinople and the 

 Persian Gulf. 



GOAL FKOM A NAVAL POI.VT OF VIEW. 

 Commandant Davin, in the second July number, 

 discusses the problem of coal from a naval point of 

 view. As a producer of coal, especially when the 

 quality is considered, England, he says, occupies the 

 first place. He would like to see a number of French 

 ooaling stations established at convenient points in the 

 great oceans, and thinks they should answer to the 

 following conditions ; — 



Not to be too near the sea so that the enemy may not 

 be able t.o capture the coal. 



To be sufiBciently fortified for self-defence. 



To he connected with a railway, to facilitate tlie supply 

 of the coal. 



To have means to preserve the coal adapted to the 

 climate. 



To be provided with means of embarkation which will 

 permit of several vessels taking in supplies at the same 

 time. 



To have considerable stock of coal always on hand. 



THE NOUVELLE REVUE. 



Raqueti. i,H the first July number of the Nouvelle 

 B' 'ue, writ-es of Italy and the Tiiple Alliance. 

 ITALY AND THE CAUSE OF PEACE. 



Xo one in Italy, he says, desires war with Austria. 

 Every politician regards Austria as a rampart against 

 Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism. An Italian states- 

 man has said that if Austria did not exist, it would 

 have to be invented. Whether Italy renews the Triple 

 Alhance or not is of no consequence, from the French 



Fioint of view. Since France has inaugurated a policy 

 rankly republican and anti-clerical, and has severed 

 diplomatic relations with the Vatican, Italy is no 

 longer haunted by a wild fear of the restoration of 

 temporal power by France. 



Italian policy is an essential element of peace. It 

 was to co-operate in the maintenance of peace that 

 Italy came into the Alliance; but, adds the writer, 

 Italy would have co-operated more effectually in the 

 maintenance of peace b.v pursuing a policy of friend- 

 ship rather than a policy of alliances. It is a matter 

 for rejoicing that Italy is associated with the noble 

 initiative of England, and it is to be hoped that 

 Fiance will be associated with it also. It would be 

 nice to see the three great Liberal Powers of Europe 



as united at the nest Hague Conference as 

 thev were »t the Algeciras Conference. Germany 

 will oppose the proposal of England, but that will bo 

 only one more proof that she is the cause of the 

 formidable armaments which are the ruin of Europe. 

 So long as democracy does not triumph on the other 

 side of the Rhine. Europe will be condemned to an 

 armed peace. Nothing but the reduction of military 

 expenditure will make possible a solution of the grave 

 social problems of to-day. 



THE ECONOMIC REVIEW. 



The July number contains an interesting contrast 

 between the progress of railways in Great Britain, 

 where they are protected and controlled by the State, 

 and in the United States, where they are left free. 

 The verdict of success is said to be very emphatically 

 in favour of the American experiment. A strange 

 blending of ideas not ordinarily associated appears 

 in Mr. L. G. I>igh's ethics of Sacramentalism. He 

 finds in SacramentalisTi the principle of fellowship 

 which is the antidote of the individualism with which 

 we have been cursed, and an assertion of the true 

 Hedonism or necessity of happiness. He reckons that 

 to-day. at a low estimate, nine-tenths of the Christian 

 world is Sacramentalist. Rev. L. Phillips observes 

 that the depression in agriculture wh'ch the opening 

 of new lands oversea had once spread over the face of 

 Europe, is now only found in England. He traces its 

 removal to education and co-operation in purchase 

 and in sale. These ameliorative movements have 

 owed much to clerical encouragement, and he sug- 

 gests that, as in Belgium and in Ireland, so in Eng- 

 land the clergy might helo to restore prosperity to 

 the agricultural districts. Miss Yonge tells the story 

 of the Friendly Societies, and Mr. E. Powell shows 

 what a potent factor alcoholism is in insanity and 

 brain deterioration. Mr. H W. Blunt urges the 

 adoption of a middle way between the freedom of 

 contract, which results in the spoliation _ and practical 

 bondage of tlie many, and the collectivism which has 

 yet to learn how to minimise waste and eliminate 

 bureaucracy. He would anpropriate to the commu- 

 nity its own share as founder, either in form of con- 

 trol or in the form of dividends. 



THE WOMAN AT HOME. 



In the IT'omoTt at Honu: for August. Helen Caxton 

 trace.s the career of Mr. Emil Reich, who b.v the way 

 is a Hungarian, and to his Hungarian parentage he 

 owes, among other things, his gifts as an orator, and 

 a certain warmth of temperament which pleases an 

 English audience. He says: "It is not my ideas 

 alone which people like, but my way of setting them } 

 out."' ' 



He is also a musician, and was one of the pupils 

 whom Liszt picked out for special tuition. In his boy- 

 hood his favourite books were "Robinson Crusoe" and 

 Lytton's novels, especially "Night and Morning." 

 " riie Last Days of Pompeii," and Zanoni.' 



His great desire is to found the science of real 

 psychological history. History, he sa.vs, is as much a 

 matt.er of the heart as of the intellect, and it is his 

 travels which give him a leverage over the ordinary 

 historical writer. 



Another biographical article gives us a picture of 

 the home life of Sir Henry and Lady Campbell-Ban- 

 nernian. Both Sir Henrv and his wife speak French 

 fluently and aie well versed in French literature. The 

 decoration of their cattle at Belmont was carried out 

 by French Artists, and all went well till the decora- 

 tors were asked to paint thistles on the walls of tho 

 staircase. 



