i6 
LAND & WATER 
Books to Read 
By Lucian Olde^rshavv 
December 28 , 1916 
THE " iMgiit for Ki.ijhi .\lu\cment " was started, 
1 believe, by Sir l-Vancis Youngliusband. Its 
linely conceived business is set forth by its 
originator in For the Rijiht (T. Fislior In win, 
f,s. net), a noble little volume of essays and addresses 
by members of the movement. The object for which 
• this organisation was started were " continually to 
remind the nation of the ideals and principles for which 
we were fighting ; to demonstrate the value and im- 
portance of those ideals both for our national life and for 
mankind as a whole ; and to sustain and brighten the 
spirit of the people in this gre&t fight, iirst for the mainte- 
nance and then for the final enthronement of those ideals 
as established principles in the life of nations." At first 
the Mo\ement was chieffy concerned with showing the 
nation why it should tight, and one or two of the essays 
in the book reflect this preliminary stage. Vet the book, 
as a whole, is not to be taken as a mere set of missionary- 
sermons to the converted. It fulfils the function of 
keeping alive in us the faith with which we entered the 
war. War has a tendency, ever to be guarded against, 
to debase after a time what it has hrst promised. The 
French went to war in 1791 to preserve their own liberties; 
they fought on to 1815 trying to destroy other peoples. 
Let the "Fight for Right ' Movement " still uphold 
the banner, " For the Right," and enforce its watchword. 
* * 
It must not be supposed that within the covers of this 
book there is complete unity of opinion, but there is on 
the whole a unity of ethos and altogether a unity of 
temper, just as with the Allies lighting Germany there 
is a unity of purpose. All of the distinguished contribu- 
tors to this book — such as Lord Brvcc, the Poet Laureate, 
Sir Henry Newbolt, the late Mr. Wilfrid Ward, and Mr. 
^Maurice Hewlett — are united in an ideal of right, though 
they would probably not all subscribe in every particular, 
or in the same particulars, to Mr. Wickham Steed's 
analysis of what " Right " is. The most striking diver- 
gences of opinion in the book are to be found in those 
essays which suggest methods for enforcing the rule of 
right after the war. Thus Sir Frederick "Pollock's 
interesting endeavour to frame a constitution for • a 
League of Peace is followed by an essay on " Interstate 
Relations after the War," in which Jlr. Philip Kerr 
demonstrates, in a powerful and lucid argument, that 
all Leagues of Peace are impracticable. Yet both Sir 
Frederick and Mr. Kerr would join in repudiating, with 
Professor Gilbert Murray, all that is' implied in the 
attempt to condone the crimes of Germany by arguing 
that "if we had been clever enough we could have done 
the same." 
* It * * it 
! " To fight for the right, c'est noire mot IVordre A tous" 
These words of M. Painleve go to the root of the matter. 
The Allies are united to punish a doer of wrong. Modern 
Europe has found an armed conscience. In that lies 
the security for future law and order ih the world. 
That is the significant fact of the present. 
***** 
Do neutrals hold that we are fighting for the right ? 
r believe that for the most part they do, even when 
they do not sympathise with us for doing it. When they 
are wholeheartedly on our side we are naturally flattered, 
and those who would approach Mr. George Ha\-en 
Putnam's Memoirs of a Publisher 1865-1916 (Putnam's, 
f)S.), with an, introductory glow of friendliness, should 
turn first to the Appendix ip which are printed the 
letters Mr. Putnam has written to the papers to prove 
with patient and cogent reasoning that " tlic cause of 
England and her Allies is the cause of civiHsation." Mr. 
Putnam did not find all Englishmen so perspicacious or so 
generous towards the ca.u.se which he had at heart as a 
young man, that of the North in the American Civil 
War. We can sympathise with him therefore when 
he pokes fun at F'reeman who, in 1863, issued the first 
^•olume of a History of Federal Government to the Dis- 
ruption of the American Republic, but was pre\-entcd from 
issuing another from annoyance at the refusal of the 
American Republic to remain disrupted. The Juiglish 
experiences of this shrewd, happy and well-informed 
American will naturally have the greatest interest for 
English readers, who will enjoy his impressions of Oxford 
common-rooms, his experience of an Atlantic \oyage 
with Kitchener, his accounts of English puWishing 
houses, and the like. But the really valuable parts of a 
book that is always interesting arc those which deal with 
American politics, federation, State and municipal. In 
these sections there is much that will help and instruct 
the citizen who seeks guidance in carrying out the 
functions of citizenship. 
***** 
So far opinions about the war, now for the war itself ! 
InThc Fortnightlv History of the War (Chapman and Hall, 
los. net), Col. A. M. Murray has done yeoman service in 
giving a detailed and reasoned account of operations U]) 
to the close of the second year on such information as is 
at present available. The value of this book lies in the 
fact that it is a soldier's work, and though other soldiers 
may not agree with all the author's opinions, they 
will at least be able to follow his arguments and under- 
stand his narrative. For instance. Sir Evelyn Wood, 
who contributes a " Foreword," disagi-ees with Col. 
Murray in his objection to Compulsory Service, but 
expresses great admiration for his work. The well-chosen 
maps and plans add to the readability of a book which is 
among the best military text-books of the war. 
* * Hf if if 
In The Ways of Virtue (John Murray, f.s. net), Mr. P. C. 
Wren gi\-es from first-hand knowledge, a graphic account 
of life in the famous F'orcign Legion. Mr. Wren has 
constructive skill, a good sense of character 'and a 
\'w\(\ narrati\-c style, so that he makes the best use of his 
enthralling material. 
***** 
Mr. Stephen Paget writes Essays for Ihc Young People 
as W. B. Rands used to write essays for children. In 
Mr. Paget's latest volume with the atiractivc title, 
/ Sometimes Think (Macmillan and Co., 5s. net), there is 
indeed an essay, and a very good essay, " On the Beauty 
of \\'ords " which recalls one with a similar theme in one 
of Rands' LillifiH books. This connection with an 
author for whom I have a great regard, arising perhaps 
from association, attracts me to Mr. Paget's M-ork which, 
however, can very well stand by itself. It is good to 
leave the present world of ceaseless activity for a moment 
and enter by the way of this essentially sane li ttle volume 
into'the life of Being instead of Doing, and to peer through 
the temporal for a vision of the eternal. Pterhaps the 
most complete and best thought out of the Essays is the 
one'on Science, but there are others which ajipcal for a 
\ariety of reasons. Mr. Paget has already written a 
book for boys and girls on the war and in the last essay, 
'" The Next Few, Years," he reverts to the ever-present 
theme, and begs the youth of our country to see to it 
that when Peace comes it shall be something more than 
mere absence of war. 
***** 
This is not perhaps the best time for a book about 
books, and interesting as the scheme of the monographs 
is, I am not sure that, even at the best of times, Messrs. 
Nisbet and Co.'s series of " Studies of Modern Authors, 
written by Modern Authors," would have been altogether 
a success. The authors could hardly avoid being self- 
conscious, and the critical value of their work has, with 
one or two exceptions, considerably suffered. This con- 
sideration applies to some extent \o Miss Sheila Kaye- 
Smith's study of John Galsworthy (rs. 3d. net), but to a 
less extent than in many of the previous cases. Miss 
KayeSmith succeeds to a great degree from the very 
first, when she dwells on the smallness of her subject's 
public, in treating him in a detached and scientific manner 
like a museum specimen. The result is quite a valuable 
little guide to what Mr. Galsworthy has achieved and 
to what he is capable of achie\-ing. "Only one remark in 
