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BOOKS THAT EXCEL. 
•The Hermans In England." By Ian D. Colvln. ("National 
Review Offices.") 6s. net. 
A totally new view of En^llsl) history may be gained 
iiom {jerusal of this work, which, with chapter and verse for 
the evidence that it presents, shows the existence and results 
of a Gennan colony establisiied in England from the tirnes 
before the Norman conquest up to the days of Klizabeth. The 
headquarters of the colonv were at the Steelyard on the 
Thames, a fortified Gennafi citadel in the heart of London, 
assurinj; to tlie merchants wiio occupied it even greater trading 
rights than werj possessed by Knglisli traders, rights granted 
antl confirmed by succccssive sovereigns to the Hanseatic 
League, in return" for certain moneys lent for the conduct of 
French and other wars. As the author says, the fair front of 
tlie Tenqile of Fame usually conceals tlic fact that the brokers' 
men are in the bade kitchen, and the Hanse traders correspond 
to the brokers' men. Thus Edward III., winner of such 
glorious victories in France, pawned his crown and his second 
best crown, and even left his wife and child anil two carls as 
hostages to the Hanse, in order t:i carry on his French wars, 
and lulwards and Henrys alike enlarged the Hanse rights at 
the e.\]iense i>f luiglisir citizens in c>rder to raise money, a 
policy that the Hanse towns were only too ready to forward. 
The story, as told here, is more than interesting. We 
see Simon de Montfort and the great Warwick giving their 
lives in the attempt to break the Hanse power, ratlier than as 
they are conventionally shown. Thomas Gresham, known 
best for the golden grasshopper and the Royal Exchange, 
comes out in a new light as the man wlio finally broke the 
]>ower of the Hanse merchants in England, and the Merchant 
Ad\entiuers are pro\ed to possess ^•ery great political 
significance. Elizabeth, in her Latin reply to the Hanse 
embassy, is a great queen indeed — and (or the other side of 
tlie picture there are Englisli pro-Germans, with kings among 
them. The main bone of contention was the Enghsh dotli 
trade, which the Hanse cities strove to keep in their own hands. 
The story as a whole is new, and tonic rather than pleasant. 
Written since the outbreak of war, it is not devoid of bias, but 
this is in the manner of the telling rather than in the matter, 
the truth of which is unquestionable. We commend the book 
as a sound contribution to the literature of a current topic, 
and also a valuable text book for the student of English 
historv. 
■I classic that will alwavs find a leading place in all luture 
anhologies of war stories. The text of this chapter is this 
extract from an official despatch : 1 he troops continue m 
excellent spirits ■' ; ani it teJ; how a Tern on al Cockney 
Battalion, the Tower Bridge Rifles " drawcd the Germans 
in the opposing trenches to sins; them over and over again 
in English, untfl thev liad learnt it, the Hymn of Hate. And 
tl e Tower Bridge Rifles returned to their billets a few days later, 
shouting at the top of their voices and accompanied bv the-r 
one musician on his mouth organ :— 
'ItK of the 'cart an 'itc of the "and, 
'Ite by water and 'itc by land : 
'Oo do we 'itc to beat the band '. 
» * » * 
We 'avc one foe and one alone, England ! 
It's a gloriousK' humorous incident, and for it alone w-J 
should be grateful to Mr. Boyd Cable, but the boox itseU 
from cover to cover is the best thing of its kind that has beeu 
published since tic war began. 
" South of Panama." By Edward A.Ross. (George Allen and 
Unwin.) 10s. 6d. 
Although tlie author's survey of the Latin countries 
that lie in the last continent to come into line with civilisation 
is fairly complete, it is at the same time the survey of the 
tra\-eller— it is minute without being intimate. The main merit 
of the book is that Professor Ross tells the truth— he does not 
flatter. Hence some rather startling statistics about Latin 
A'merican morality, and some explanations for the lamentable 
lack of progress in such abnormally rich countries as Chile 
and Ecuador. 
The subject is far too immense to be treated m the limits 
of a single volume, and thus this book can be only a sketch 
of a continent, or rather of the parts of the continent that the 
author saw. It will probably serve its purpose in stimulating 
readers to look more closely into the literature on South 
America, and this as much by its well-chosen illustrations as 
by its te.xt. Especially interesting arc the views of Inca 
architecture at OllantaVtambo and elsewhere in Pe.-u and 
" Betn-een the Lines." 
Ss. net. 
By Boyd Cable. (Smith, Elder and Co ■> 
This book was placed in the hands of the present writer 
by a friend with the request often made to a reviewer, to say 
a good word for it if he conscientiously could. It is, f e:-haps, 
the worst form of introduction there is, for it presupposes 
an absence of merit, so imagine the grateful surprise when 
on reading the first few chapters the reviewer discovered that 
he held in his hand what is undoubtedly the most vivid des- 
cription, the most lively narrative of the actual fighting in 
France! that has yet been presented to the public. 
llr. Boyd Cable is a new name, and one believes it to be 
a mere nom de guerre, but in the Foreword he mentions that 
all of the book " has been written at the Front within sound 
of the German guns and for the most part within shell and 
rifle range." Every page bears the impress of the truth of 
this statement, and the reader himself feels that he too is 
within sound of the German guns and taking part in the 
terrible events, which seem so matter-of-fact for all their 
heroism and horror from the way in which they are set down 
here. The narrator permits, as it were, each incident to 
describe itself. He takes as a text to his chapters, actual 
sentences from desptaches such as : "A mine was successfully 
exploded under a section of the enemy's trench," or " The 
attack has resulted in our line being advanced from one to 
two hundred yards along a front of over one thousand yards," 
and he explains precisely in simple direct language how these 
colourless sentences are expressed in human suffering, death 
and endurance. 
There is no straining after effect ; the strange new 
phrases of the British soldier on active service arc often used 
but they are so natural, that one wonders how they could be 
avoided. The bitterness against the seeming callousness and 
lack of understanding of people at home often crops up, and 
it finds its most biting expression in the sentence chalked by 
a Tommy on a broken boiler of a ruined factory inthe middle of 
a shell-devastated town. " But it's bisness as usvial—at 
home." 
All the book is so good that to single out one chapter 
for special praise may appear to cast slight on others, never- 
theless, we venture to assert that " The Hymn of Hate " is 
■ CHRIST THE REDEEMER," 
The Andean Co-.indary between Argentina and Chile. 
along the western plateau. The view reproduced here shows the 
statue that was set up to commemorate the signing of jjeace 
between Argentina and Chile, and intended as a sign of per- 
petual peace. Folly though it may be for one generation 
to set so fixed a law for those that shall follow it — and this 
more especially when the temperaments of these two nations 
are considered — the spirit in which the status was set up has 
been maintained, and arbitration has, up to the present, 
settled all differences between the two nations concerned. 
The book as a whole gives a \ery good idea of South 
America, from the lazy hfe of Colombia,' round by the com- 
parative activity of Chile and the southern transcontinental 
railway, and up by Uruguay and Brazil. It is breezily 
written by a keen student of" humanity, and is to be com- 
mended to those interested in South America. 
The Directors of the Dunlop Rubber Company announce 
that owing to the depletion of the clerical staff 'consequent 
upon enli^tlnent, the accounts of the Company \\ill be issued 
a week or two later than last year. 
Printed by J. 0. Ha^lmuxd &■ Co., Limitkd, 32-36, Fleet Liinc, London, EX'. 
