Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



437 



and that the Government has a programme 

 round which they can rally. In her own in- 

 terests paciiic Europe should view with a kindly 

 eye such Ministerial changes as the writer de- 

 mands. In any case he will continue to fight 

 against the Committee and the hybrid system of 

 government which is complicating a situation 

 already too complex. As a recognised friend of 

 France and England, he does not hesitate to say 

 that these Powers are still very far from doing 

 their utmost to support the efforts of their 

 friends. Worse, they are not even remaining 

 neutral. The writer complains that the Postal 

 Bureaux of these two Powers at Constantinople 

 return his journals and pamphlets with the word 

 " Prohibited " inscribed on them. He has no 

 such complaint to make against the Postal 

 Bureaux of any of the other Powers whom he 

 has always opposed. In reference to the atti- 

 tude of England in particular he cites the case 

 of the National Bank of Turkey, which he 

 founded under the auspices of the Foreign Office 

 with the object of bringing England and Turkey 

 into closer relations. The administrators of 

 this financial institution, he says, have been 

 selected from the most notoriously compromised 

 chiefs of the Union and Progress Committee, 

 and he suggests that England would be wise to 

 abandon at once a patronage which may be- 

 come compromising to her. As he has often 

 repeated, the Franco-Russian Alliance and the 

 Entente of England and France with the Otto- 

 man Empire ought to be practised instead of 

 being limited to vague and sterile formulas. 



THE FAITH OF COSMOPOLI- 

 TANISM. 



Mgr. R. Hugh Benson writes in the North 

 A merican Review for September on cosmopoli- 

 tan Catholicism. He thus sums up his paper : — 



I have allcmpted only to deal with facts that all 

 men accept at the present ; the fact of Cosmopolitanism 

 and of its proW.ibie survival among us as the last and 

 hiRhesI development of civilisation ; the fact that every 

 other stage of civilisation has demanded a rclicion whirli 

 embodies and is thought to sanctify its spirit; and I 

 have argued thence that the last stage of humanity's 

 progress vvill presumably also look for its spiritual 

 partner. And, finally, I have considered the fact that 

 Catholicism, accepted as it is by sages and fools alike, 

 having shown itself indei)endent both of locality and 

 time, and basing itself upon a claim, freely granted by 

 its adherents, to be not only as large as humanity, but 

 larger, is not only ready to accept the rdle of spiritnni 

 Cosmopolitanism, but has l>een ready from its very 

 nature since its inauguration two thousand years ngo. 

 What an enormous instrument, too, might not this Cos- 

 moimlitanism of faith become in the cause of universal 

 peace and in ilie extension of this secular unity of 

 humanity which the Cosmopolitan desires so strongly ! 



ITALY AND 

 THE MEDITERRANEAN. 



To the Deutsche Revue for September Signor 

 Tancredi Galimberti, a member of the Italian 

 Chamber of Deputies, has contributed an article 

 on the position of Italy in the Mediterranean 

 question. 



THE NEW SITUATION. 



The war with Turkey in Tripoli, he points out, 

 has created a new situation in the Mediterranean 

 and in it Italy is called upon to play a new rSle. 

 The war has brought out another new fact. 

 England has, so to speak, withdrawn from this 

 sea, which she has hitherto^ controlled. The 

 expiring nineteenth century witnessed a State, 

 already very strong on land, become a great 

 Power at sea. The building of the German fleet, 

 which is ever assuming larger proportions, has 

 transferred the British naval problem from the 

 Mediterranean to the North Sea. Meanwhile the 

 French Naval Minister has advised France to 

 increase her navy, so that it shall equal the com- 

 bined fleets of Austria and Italy. 



ITALY AND FRANCE. 



Italy cannot remain isolated and independent 

 in the Mediterranean, but she must remember 

 that in her position the land problem is the more 

 important. Austria and Germany are not repre- 

 sented in the Mediterranean and England is of 

 opinion that so far as her interests are concerned, 

 this sea occupies the second place. Consequently 

 Italy sees herself flanked on one side by France 

 and on the other by a new French Colonial Em- 

 pire in Africa, which from Biserta, a naval 

 harbour of the first rank, menaces her as 

 Carthage once menaced Rome. 



France, separated from her .African Empire by 

 the Mediterranean, requires a strong navy to 

 enable her to transport without hindr.ince troops 

 to and from .Africa and a defensive strong 

 enough to enable her to hold her own against 

 the combined fleets of Austria and Italy. Her 

 aim in the Mediterranean is unrestricted control, 

 for she seems to realise that no Power can be 

 strong without the command of the sea. Italy 

 more than ever is conscious of her duty to her 

 navy, which has distinguished itself in the war. 

 The occupation of Syrt will of necessity lead to 

 .m increase and the doubling in size of the 

 I'rcnch fleet will make it all the more desirable. 



ITiere is one more question. How w-ill France 

 be able to man her new fleet? With only 

 400,000 male births a year, against 1,200,000 in 

 Germany and 580,000 in Italy, the problem is a 

 serious one. y. 



