December 28, igi6 
LAND & WATER 
17 
the book seems to be a direct hint to the author. ^ At 
least I hope he will consider it as such. " This misplaced 
pity is becomin,g irritating in Galsworthy. His early 
v.'orks— Strife, The Man of Property — are innocent of it, 
but lately it has grown to be a habit with him. He cannot 
resist the temptation to weep over everyone whose clothes 
arc not quite as good as his own." 
The Empire's Future 
Now that it has been decided to summon imme- 
diately an Imperial Conference, the future of the 
Empire and the many problems connected with 
it are bound to be prominent in the public mind 
during the coming months. Here is a little volume which 
may be heartily commended to those really interested 
in these vital questions. Entitled The Empire and the 
Future (Macmillan, 2s.) it consists for the most part 
of a series of lectures delivered by eminent men before 
the University of London in the autumn of iqi5, and 
where necessary brought up to date. An introduction 
is written by Mr. Steel Maitland, Under Secretary for 
the Colonies, and a most interesting chapter is provided 
by Mr. Fisher, the present Presi/lent of the Board of 
Education, which describes succinctly Imperial Ad- 
ministration, and more especially the curi.ous system of 
Indian Administration which on the whole has worked 
so well and given such good results. 
I\Ir. Kerr's lecture on Commonwealth and Empire 
deals largely with the question, as might be expected from 
the Editor of The Round Table, of dropping once and for 
all the term Empire and installing Commonwealth in 
its place. The present reviewer is of the opinion that 
the argument is rather strained, undue prejudice being 
laid against the word " Empire." The Master of Balliol 
^ College in his chapter " People and the Duties of Empire" 
(perhaps the most useful in the book, for it deals sym- 
l)athetically with the working man's point of view) ex- 
plains this prejudice. " The term ' Eijipire,' " he writes, 
" is connected with the shoddy Empire of Napoleon HI., 
reactionary Russia, militarist Germany and our own 
Jingoes." There is truth in this, but Mr. Kerr overlooks 
that Commonwealth still connotes in many British minds 
rebellion and a certain smugness of public behaviour. 
He writes : " A Comihonwealth bases its communal life 
squarely on the principle that every citizen has an un- 
limited duty of helping every other citizen, that it exists 
to maintain or promote self-government among its 
peoples, and that the society it fosters will be healthy 
t)nly in so far as its members are governed, not by the 
calculations of intelligent sellishness. but by the law of 
love." But was it so in these islands in the seventeenth 
century? The fact of the matter is that both terms want 
washing clean, and this discussion, for which full credit 
must be given to The Round Table, is therefore most 
valuable and fruitful in that it compels everyone who is 
interested in it to formulate' a personal opinion on the 
duties and responsibilities of one Briton to another, 
irrespective of birthplace, and of Mother Country to 
Dominions and Dependencies and vice versa. 
The old slipshod way of thinking has done infinite 
harm to the Imperial idea in the past, and we accord a 
cordial welcome to every sincere effort, such for instance 
as the present volume,' to train and discipline the mind 
better in the future. Dr. G. R. Parkin, the distinguished 
Canadian writer, ends thus his chapter, which happens 
to be the last in the book, and so these words are as it 
were the conclusion of the whole matter: "Nothing 
lias such magic power to win attention from men and 
women of British blood as the simple word ' Duty.' 
And so long as'a compelling sense of national duty controls 
the purpose of our people, this Empire will endure." 
One may add never before has the word "Duty" 
laid so strong and personal a hold on the British peoples. 
Whether the word iloats from the masthead of the 
Victory or is whispered in dying accents in the be- 
leaguered Residency, we see it- now to be the only power 
which, acting through each and all. shall move the 
Empire to victory in the lield and afterwards to a 
closer union and higher purpose than has existed hitherto. 
The British ]i:nq:)ire or the CommonwCcJth of Britisli 
democracies, call it which you will, having re-established 
the principles of liberty an\l justice, has still great work 
to do. This is i^racticaliy the lesson of this volume. 
Royalty at Home 
WHEN an editor sets out to present a picture 
of a certain period, phase or section of human 
society by the publication of private letters, 
the great" ditficulty that has to be contended 
\\\i\\ is how much to include without boring the readeV, 
and how much to omit without spoiling the picture. It 
can only be a matter of opinion, and in our opinion Mrs. 
Steuart-Erskinein Twenty Years at Court (Nisbet and Co., 
I2s. 6d.), has displayed admirable discrimination. The 
K-ttcrs which make up this \olume were w ritteii by the 
Hon. iimily Stanley, afterwards Mrs. Long, mostly to her 
})arents, during the years 1842-62, Miss Stanley being 
Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria. They were the 
happiest years of the Queen's married life ; the home 
was mainly at Windsor Castle when Miss Stanley was in 
waiting, liuckingham Palace being only occasionally 
^•isited. Osborne was bought in 1845, and the house 
subsequently built. With the exception of the Queen 
and Prince Consort, it was from the first unpopular with 
every one — Royal children, Household, doctors, etc. In 
1852 Balmoral was purchased. 
Never was the home life of a Royal Court more correct, 
sober and domestic than in the days of Albert the Good. 
But oh ! it was dull. Elderly folk will learn from this 
volume to whose influence were due those deadl}' parlour- 
games and performances on the piano which cursed the 
evenings of their childhood. It needs every one of the 
letters in the early part of this book (thoug-h they deal 
almost entirely with trivialities) to make one realize the 
full weight of that dreary respectabihty. No wonder 
King lidward had no liking for Windsor Castle in after 
life ; it must always have reminded him of a State 
prison. The ray of sunshine was provided by Queen 
Victoria, M'ho interested herself in the affairs of all those 
around her and was very thoughtful and human. The 
Prince Consort was obsessed by the precise formality 
of the petty German Court. He revelled in tri\ial 
distinctions and etiquette. His was a narrow and un- 
sympathetic mind ; he never understood the English 
or tiieir idea of personal liberty and freedom, and they 
never understood him. Poor man ! However deep his 
offences in these social matters, he would be more than 
punished were he recalled to the glimpses of the moon and 
compelled to listen unperceivcd to the private opinion 
of his great-grandson on the formalities which still do 
hedge a prince. It has taken two generations to break 
down the artificialities which he constructed — artificiali- 
ties so stupendous that it was contrary to the Royal 
Command for a lady about the Court to walk alone ia 
the gardens with a gentleman-in-waiting ! 
When the future Emperor Frederick first came to 
Windsor Castle as Prince Fritz of Prussia, a boy of 15, 
speculation was rife whether he was intended for the 
Princess Royal or Princess Mary of Cambridge, Queen 
Mary's mother. In 1844 they were as busy improving 
the Castle and grounds as they were in IQ14, and as they 
probably will be in 1984. " Flu " was as great a scourge 
in those times as to-day. The Queen had chicken-pox, 
they thought it might be smallpox, and the Household 
had all to bare their arms and be vaccinated. Though 
infectious " those tiresome little brats," as Miss Stanley 
calls the Prince of Wales and his sisters, play hide and 
seek in the curtains and one never knows when one is 
safe. " When," writes Miss Stanley, " I saw the collec- 
tive wisdom of the nation arriving yesterday (.\]iril 
30th, 1859), in two hack-cabs for the Council and marked 
what it consisted of, Lords Hardwickc. Malmesbury, 
John Manners, SaHsbury, General Peel and Mr. Bathurst, 
it did seem to me a farce of the first water ! Mr. Disraeli 
was there too; he. at least is not stupid." We luid 
thought the hideous phrase, in great good looks, was 
journalese, but it occurs constantly in these letters. 
This vivid picture of Court life is so to speak framed in 
black, for it ends with the death of Prince Consort ! The 
poor Queen was besides herself with grief at the beginning, 
and she was led from the death-room calling along the 
])assage : " Oh ! Albert, Albert ! are you gone ? " It 
was a poignant scene, and is described very simply. 
Miss Stanley was not in waiting, but the Duchess of 
Athole and two ]Maids of Honour, one of whom is still 
alive, were in attendance, and it was from them that 
she wrote down the particulars at the time. 
