THE MAGAZINES.

Tian Nineteenth Century leads off with a long and very able article on "The Naval Situation" by Sir William White. Put in the briefest compass, Sir William White's argument amounts to this : that the Government are responsible for creating a sense of anxiety for which there is no adequate Warrant. that the information on which the statements of Mr. McKenna, of the Premier—and, he would doubtless add, of Sir Edward Grey—were based is misleading and exaggerated ; and that the value of the pre-' Dreadnought' fleet has been grossly depreciated. Sir William White is strongly opposed to the "eight-now" policy, not only as unnecessary, but as based on the unsound assumption that we have reached anality in warship design. He also strongly demurs to the Policy advocated by the Spectator of making a supreme effort and deciding on the simultaneous construction of such an overwhelming force as would convince the German Govern- ment that it is hopeless to attempt a competition with Great Britain. "Germany would never be convinced in that fashion; its rulers are keen and determined ; they have framed their scheme and will carry it through, making such modifica- tions from time to time as experience may show to be desirable." But while the article is in the main of a re- assuring ohmmeter, emphasising as it does not only British naval preponderance, but the drawbacks under which Germany labours as regards production and finance, it amounts to a very Serious indictment of the professional advisers of the First Lord and the Intelligence Department at the Admiralty. Sir William White makes no secret of his opinion that the Present scare is due to the information furnished by that Department,—information which will not hold water. And he attributes a good deal of the friction between Britain and Germany to "the stupid and provocative folly of secrecy adopted by our Admiralty in connexion with the 'Dread- fought' and ' Invincible ' classes in 1905," and since carried cut by Germany much more effectively. Though we cannot agree with Sir William White, we gladly acknowledge that be writes with a remarkable mastery of his subject and a modera- tion rare in naval controversy. Whatever influence his article may exert on the 'Dreadnought' question, it undoubtedly reinforces the demand for inquiry in a most powerful manner. ----Lord Erroll, under the heading "A Rude Awakening." utters a vigorous plea for the " eight-now " policy, but abstains from any complaints against Germany, "Circumstances are too strong for her, and her policy is dictated quite as much lav economic conditions as by her restless ambition and desire for national glory."—Sir Bampfylde Fuller's paper on the Indian reforms is far from reassuring. The pith of his criticisms is to be found in the gloomy reflection that even at the best the awakening of India, if it comes, will be- paid for in the lessened happiness of the poorer classes, and that "now More than ever will British officers be under an obligation to remember that they are the tribunes of the common people, and to take seriously the compliment which they con- ?enticingly receive in being addressed by petitioners as Protectors of the poor." This view, we may add, is not a Matter of mere assertion ; it is fortified by reference to tWO recent instances of humanitarian achievement in the Oeutral Provinces, "which Would have been impossible had the Government been obliged to reckon with a strong non- orncial vote in Couucil."—Sir William Bane Hamilton writes pleasantly of his forty-four years at the Colonial Office. Incidentally, he assigns to the late Mr. Stanhope, who was only five menthe there, the credit of having been the first to claim its proper position for the Colonial °Mee. It was Mr. Stanhope, he reminds us, who initiated the idea of the first Colonial Conference. Sir William Baillie Hamilton's views on the subject of open v. limited competi- tion in selecting men for the Colonial Office are well worth attentive study. He admits the general efficiency of the competition-wallahs, but adheres to the view that the best interests of the Service would have been consulted if some power of selection had been reserved to the Secretary of State, as in the case of the Foreign Office.

The National Review continues its drastic criticisms of the Unionist Party from inside in an outspoken article entitled "Useless Unionists." The author, who signs himself "Candidate," pleads for an amalgamation of the various political organisations in one central agency; the selection of candidates on their political merits and not because of their wealth ; the education of party agents ; and other reforms, including, of course, the elimination of "Free Food Loafers." "All things taken into account," observes this candid critic, "it is truly amazing that a Unionist Government is ever returned to power. But for Tariff Reform the Party prospects would not be particularly rosy at the next election." Elsewhere he remarks that, under the present regime, so long as the aspiring candidate is " sound on Home-rule, the rest matters very little." We wonder how soon these critics will boldly come out into the open and advocate the abandonment of the term " Unionist " as the party label par excellence and the substitution of the blessed words "Tariff Reform."— " The Demobilisation of the Fleet" is the title of an uncom- promising attack on the administration of Sir John Fisher, but the effect of the article is somewhat impaired by personal animosity. No good purpose, but many bad ones, is served by calling Dr. Maenamara "the Oheapjack of Noncon- formity," or denouncing the Committee of Imperial Defence as "a solemn imposture invented for party purposes." This is all the more to be regretted since many of the writer's criticisms are legitimate and trenchant. He does well, for example, to recall Mr. Barnes's protest against the new educational scheme on the ground that the conditions of entry prevent future engineers from being drawn from the class which has hitherto supplied those admirable officers to the Service; and he is fully entitled to complain of the endless shuffling and reshuffling of the various fleets, and of the decay of the solidarity of the Service, and to press for an impartial inquiry into naval administration.—Lord Newton writes a short and judicial article on "The Outlook for the Young Turks." His attitude towards the new regime is friendly, but he is not blind to its difficulties, and he lays his finger on the most formidable of all when he says that "no one can fail to observe the extent to which the Turkish Army now partici- pates in politics, or the overwhelming influence which it exerts; and no one can fail to realise not only the deteriora- tion in efficiency which must result from it, but the danger to which the Government is thereby exposed."— The late Sir Rowland Blennerhassett's article on "England and Russia" traces the progress of the better understanding between the two Powers, and incidentally furnishes an effective answer to those earnest extremists who oppose friendly relations with a Power whose system of domestic govern- ment is very different from that to which Englishmen have for centuries been accustomed :- "There can be no fear that the liberties of this country will suffer by such contact, but there is ground for hope that the mind and life of Russia will be more likely to be influenced by a friendly England than by an England sullenly critical and ceaselessly hostile. At all events this view is held by those Russian patriots who desire searching but prudent reforms, and the gradual intro- duotion of institutions which will develop individual liberty, and thereby save their country from anarchy and the material and spiritual evils which always dog the steps of revolution!'

—The National is strong in miscellaneous articles this month, but we must content ourselves with merely calling attention to Mr. Austin Dobson's pleasant paper on "Percy and Gold- smith," a propos of Miss Gammon's Life of the author of The Reliques ; to Mr. Harold Russell's illuminating paper on "The Natural History of the Cuckoo", and to " Newnhamite's " genial and delightfully written sketch of the modern girl undergraduate. The verses (after Gilbert) by one of the contemporaries quoted at the . outset are a really brilliant tour de force. It is interesting to learn that "there can be no reading set" at Newnhain, "because owing to the in- eradicable ;sense of duty which seems to have been planted in women, everybody works enough to qualify her for admission." As a set-eff, however, we have this charming

-picture of the irresponsible side of Newnhana life :—

"She joins in the cult of irresponsibility, and while she takes everything seriously, denies that she is serious on any subject whatever. The Newnhamite who reads her poems to a select society of fellow versifiers, or writes a paper entitled Religion' or The Brotherhood of Man for a philosophical club, is of all creatures the most ready to laugh at herself. She sets herself with sedulous art to learn to talk nonsense, and succeeds so well that all nonsense heard or talked afterwards seems but a faint shadow of her cenversation at college. She disoovers, too, that it is possible to indulge with impunity in reckless joys which at home iveuld bring down a judgment in the form of pneumonia or bronchitis, besides the despairing wails of parents. The rain never hurt us there, when we walked round and round the garden bareheaded in its downpour. Even the showers that caught US eleeping out on the roof on May Term nights were so delicious that it was impossible to gather up rugs and cushions and seek a dryer couch. We worked all night—some of us—in order to laze in a. hammock all day and enjoy the delicious glamour of June in the Nownliam garden, which is like June nowhere else; yet we strangely survived. At the end of term we began our pecking at midnight, and might have been seen drinking tea out of tumblers at four o'clock in the morning; and even on this no evil results followed."

The German naval case is put with great frankness in the Contemporary in "An Open Letter from the German Michel to John Bull." The lines of the argument may be time briefly summarised. Germany, with world-wide commerce, growing colonies, and an immense mercantile marine, must have either a strong Fleet or no Fleet at all. But Germany is building not to attack England, but because she is afraid England may some day, reverting to the ethics of Pitt in 1807, attack her :— a A man who is swimming for his life in deep water is held to be justified if he shake off his own brother if his desperate clutch should endanger tho swimmer's safety. Fratricide becomes a virtue in deep water when the struggle for life is reduced to its most extreme conditions. Germany, from an international point of view, is, and always has been, in deep water. We have never yet enjoyed a long enough spell of uninterrupted peace to feel' that we can afford to discard in our international dealings the ethics of the drowning man. Threatened continually with war on two fronts, with doubtful allies, and a fleet so small as to be at the mercy of our strongest neighbour, we should feel ourselves justified, on the imperious plea of self-preservation, in treating as potential enemies any neighbours whose armed forces seemed likely in the near f nture to menace our safety. And as we are unable to accept the theory that you are more angelic) than our- selves, we feel that we must hurry up our naval defences, if only to prevent you from doing to us what, if we were in your place, we should, on the principles of Frederick the Great, most certainly do to you."

The writer further points out that Germany has never dis- guised her intentions, and quotes in support of this view the preamble of the German Navy Bill of 1900. "Theme is not the slightest attempt to evade the fact that we were building against you. Tim fact that you were the objective and that your policy [of aggressive conquest in the Boer War] was the justification of our shipbuilding programme was defiantly, almost blatantly, proclaimed in the bearing of all the world." The writer considers that the British menace is aggravated by the agitation for universal military training and the Protec- tionist propaganda. He professes to deprecate "this head- long. race to ruin," but observes that Great Britain began it by building the first *Dreadnought,' Finally, he emphasises the advantage that Germany enjoys by keeping her battleships at bowl) "Hence, with an ally, Germany will always have a fair fighting chance against a two-to-ono British Navy. And with that, believe me, we shall be well content. For we do not object to your euperiority at sea. What we cannot tolerate is an ascendency so great as to place the whole of our oversee commerce, our colonies, snd our navy absolutely at your disposal."

There is certainly no lack of plain speaking in this article. But it would perhaps have carried more weight if the author- ship were avowed. To us it seems one of the strongest, if not indeed the most convincing, plea for carrying out at once the Government's full poliey of eight • Dreadnoughtse that Las yet been published.—Mr. Harold Spender discusses the financial problems which confront the Government on the basis that the Ohuncellor of the Exchequer will have to raise 414,000,000 in new taxes. He admits that old-age pensions

cannot be extended during the present year—probably not in 1910-11 either—but draws comforting inferences from the analogy of other countries as to the esietence of untapped resources. Becoming more specific, he forecasts that 23,000,000 will be raised by graduated Income-tax, 43,000,000 by high licenses. £2,000,000 by increased graduation of DeatLedutiee, 22,000,000 from land taxation, while the remaining 24,000,000 will be accounted for by a modest raid on the Sinking Fund. Starting in a scimewhat pessimistic frame, Mr. Spender becomes more ,cheerful as he goes along, and concludes by hazarding the surmise that next year the problem of the Government maybe how to spend a surplus.—Canon Barnetb analyses the Poor Law Report in an interesting paper in which he rather minimises the cleavage between the majority and the minority Reports. But be strongly emphasises one remarkable omission in the latter,—the absence of any sugges- tion for the control or organisation of voluntary charity We may also notice a brilliant article on "Milton's God and Milton's Satan," by Dr. P. T. Forsyth. Dr. Forsyth con- fesses to a certain sympathy with Lord Eldon's comment on Milton's Satan, after beaming a good deal of Paradise Lost read aloud: "A d—d fine fellow. I hope be may win." As he puts it, the romance is on the side of evil :— "The grand flaw of this sublime and immortal book, thou,' is what is also the most serious defect in a man, a society, or a nation—a false or inadequate idea of the character of God, through the absence of the cross of Christ. A false authority is as mischievous as none, because it leads to none. This God is natural power made absolute. And the consequence is the sophistication of our moral feelings and a civil war between our imagination and our conscience. We cannot be satisfied with any work of art, however we, may cestletically admire it, which thus lights up our inner fires, and plunges us into spiritual discord between what we admire and what we trust. It is hard to make us believe in God when we are caused to admire or pity the eternal enemy of God. There could be nothing really admirable in one who is for aver the foe of holy- goodness and love."

Dr. Forsyth notes that Milton's Arianisca—though explicitly revealed in his treatise only published in the ,last century-- was probably not popularly known, otherwise Paradise Lost could hardly have become the religious classic that it is.

The review of recent occurrences which occupies the opening pages of the Fortnightly is a remarkably able summary of the present situation as regards naval affairs. The writer traces the events of the last eighteen months, and points out the astute manner in which the Germans have carried out their peace strategy. He says :— "The moment of the chivalrous welcome to the Kaiser at the Guildhall was seized upon to cover the introduction of a new Navy Bill. Thou followed the letter to Lord Tweedineuth ; the unexampled form and tone of Prince Billow's reply, six columns long, in the Standard to the well-known article, 'The German Peril,' which had just appeared in the Quarterly Review; above all, the interview in the Daily 2'elegrapli. All these efforts showed a fear of. Some such explosion of feeling as has now occurred. All pointed to some now fact. All excited the snapieien they were intended to allay. These almost desperate exertions to lull British opinion and keep down our naval Estimates indicated that something must be happening on the other side. And something was happening with a vengeance. Nothing less than an attempt was being made to seize the mastery of the sea by stroke of peace-strategy as brilliant and daring as was ever known."

Mr. J. B. Firth writes an article seeking to prove that It is useless for revenue purposes to initiate a policy of high licenses. He draws a woebegone picture of the decrease in sales of beer, and the difficulty the tenants of " tied " houses have in meeting their obligations as regards payment of interest 'on loans. From these statements we should expect to find that an enormous wave of temperance was passing over the country. To show that this is unhappily not the case we have only to remember that the amount of the yearly drink bill reuiaino at about 2160,000,000. The writer is obliged to take into account the high-license system in America, but he contrasts the position of the pnblican here wifevourably with that of his fellow in the United States. The latter, we are told, is not "harassed and crippled at every turn by benches of licensing magistrates, and where the laws are oppressive he finds unlimited opportunities of evading them. The whole argument is a piece of special pleadiug for the avoidance of taxation, chiefly because the breweries have wasted money in creating the " tied"-house system. We have more sympathy with Mr. Eirtla's contention that clubs which new directly compete with public-houses should also come made any system of high licenses. —Signor Ferrero's study Of The History and Legend of Antony and Cleopatra" will appeal more to the student than the general reader. He allows ne no illusions, and we are asked to believe that Cleopatra had a

'Powerful aquiline nose," and that her face was like that of karia Theresa Sydney Brooks writes in whole- hearted appreciation of Mr. Roosevelt, and tells us that in no Department of State has the late President's beneficial Influence been so great as in that of the Civil Service. The bad old tradition of sharing the patronage with politicians whom it was convenient to placate has been broken through ; and the writer believes that a permanent result has been attained.—Mr. Herbert Trench gives us a delightful fantasia on Rome, which might be described as his thoughts during a day's sight-seeing, although the jump from the 'festal virgins and the Pope to the recognition of electricity as the new religion of mankind" is rather abrupt.

In Blackwood Sir N. Dunlop writes an article on "Unem- PloYment: its Cause and Cure." As might be expected, this is nothing more than a statement of the writer's desire for a return to Protection. Very little is said about unemployment, and although Germany is largely quoted as an argument in favour of our adoption of a tariff, no mention whatever is made of the existence of any unemployed in that country.— ?r. Arthur Weigall writes a very interesting account of a ,ienrney which he took in company with Mr. John Wells, Jete Director of the Department of Mines to the Egyptian Government, to the porphyry quarries of Imperial Rome. These lie in a valley among the "hills of smoke," four hundred miles above Cairo and twenty-seven from the Iled Sea. The road—or what is left of it—from the Nile to the place where the purple, stone is found rani for a l'undred and forty miles over the desert, and along it are the ruins of the Roman stations. At the quarries themselves can be seen the remains of the town where the labourers lived, and here are still visible the baths and the temple. Mr. Weigall asks: What must have been the energy and organisation required to carry the great blocks of atone from the" hills of smoke" across the desert, down the Nile, and over the sea P The work of transport across the waterless desert and the keeping of the quarrymen supplied With food alone must have been enormous. Not long ago it was supposed that the Romans had used up the whole Supply of this precious material, as no plaoe was known where it could be found. Now that the secret of the one Place where this splendid stone 'exists has been found out, We wonder whether the Egyptian porphyry will be used egain. Porphyry was unknown to the ancient Egyptians. It seems to have been discovered by the Romans of the Empire. Up till about the fifth century A.D. the Byzan- tine Emperors continued to import it: "There is a Greek inscription on a path leading up to one of the workings, which reads, 'Ka.tholike Ekklesia,' and which is perhaps the latest example of old-world activity in the Eastern Desert." 'Sir Henry Brackenbury brings to an end his delightful memories of his spare time. As on former occasions, we follow the writer to many far places—India, Egypt, and Gibraltar among them—and everywhere we have evidence of the author's wonderful activity of mind. Sir Henry quotes and applies to himself the words of Stonewall Jackson, who Mid that "a man who had turned, with a good military reputation, to pursuits of a. semi-military character, and had vigorously prosecuted his mental improvement, would have more chance of success in war than those who had remained ha the treadmill of the garrison."

The English, Review for April contains an article on " Capital Punishment in France," by Dr. Simons, Professor 0f Criminal Law at the University of Utrecht, which is worthy of the consideration of all interested in the question Of the death penalty. The writer acknowledges that "there is no more difficult problem than whether the dread of capital punishment exercises an at all considerable intimidating Influence upon the individual who harbours a plan of crime." "Statistics," he tells us, "give us nothing at all definite to go upon." On the whole, lie looks upon the theory of the greater intimidating power of capital punishment as unproved, and incapable of proof. Possibly. In that case we must expect the individuals in a nation to be guided by their own !nstincts in the matter. The present writer has no hesitation In expressing his belief that for the majority of mankind the death penalty is the greatest of deterrents owing to its certainty and irrevocability. The ordinary man has not imagination enough to make the horrors of perpetual confinement very real. Besides this, he is apt to cherish the belief that in a long spell of years something is very likely to happen which will set him free or mitigate his sentence. His own exemplary conduct, illness, or change in the ideas of the community, or, finally, the feeling of pity rising in the minds of the authorities after the details of a crime have been for- gotten, may all help the prisoner nominally confined for life. In a word, the principle that while there is life there is hope always strongly affects the human mind. On the other hand, men feel that there are no chances open to those who have been banged or guillotined. No doubt none of these considerations affects the mind of the man who acts under the madness of passion. It is well-nigh impossible to deter him, The men and women we seek to reach by the death penalty are those who are tempted to murder in order to obtain money or the gratifica- tion of some personal desire. They, we believe, are apt to argue :—" My present condition is so wretched that lifelong imprisonment could be no worse. Therefore, as there. is no capital punishment, I shall not even if detected be worse off than I am now."—Of Mr. Thomas Hardy we desire to speak,

if possible, with respect, for did lie not give us "Far from the Madding Crowd," "The Woodlanders," and a whole series of delightful novels P Poems such as "London Nights," however, make it very difficult for us to keep our patience. Here is a stanza from the first poem, entitled "The Two Rosalinds " :— " Now the poster stirred an ember

Still remaining from my ardours of some forty years before ' When the selfsame portal on an eve it thrilled _me to remember A like announcement bore."

Mr. Hardy doe's not, of course, write like this out of necessity and because he cannot write better, but because he has come to entertain some weird and sophistical theory as to the true poetic, style. Frankly, we do not like the results of his theory. His later poetry reminds one of a concrete block in which there is too much sand and too little Portland cement. But if "The Two Rosalinds" is a failure both in style and thought, what are we to say about "Reminiscences of a Dancing Man," a poem which begins as follows- " Who now remembers Almack's balls- . Willis's sometime named—

In those two smooth floored upper halls For faded ones so famed "-

and later contains a stanza about Cremorne- " And those wild whirling .figures born Of Julien's grand quadrilles "1'

Finally, Mr. Hardy asks :

"Who now recalls those crowded rooms Of old yelept "The Argyle' P "-

rooms where, he tells us, "We hopped in boisterous style."

No doubt be did; but is the reminiscence really important enough for commemoration P Byron in "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" also dropped into verse over the Argyle Rooms :—

" Or hail at once the patron and the pile

Of vice and folly, Greville and Argyle."

We are bound to say we prefer the earlier effort.

The article of most immediate interest in the April United Service Magazine is the account of the Servian and Mon- tenegrin Armies by Mr. H. C. Woods, late Lieutenant of the Grenadier Guards. Mr. Woods, who has recently visited both countries, calculates that the combined striking forces of Servia and Montenegro number about two hundred and sixty thousand men. Were war to take place, and if there were no outside intervention, it is possible, he says, that Austria-Hungary might be victorious in a fortnight. He considers it more probable, however, that the Dual Monarchy would enter upon a long and expensive war. Montenegro alone could, he thinks, put some fifty thousand men into the field, and her rulers calculate that in the event of hostilities their army would be doubled by the influx of volunteers from across the frontiers. The Montenegrin Government has a store of rifles sufficient to arm such auxiliaries. Mr. Woods ends his artiele by the declaration that Baron von Aehrenthal

would be wise to adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards the Slays. "David slew Goliath. The Southern Slays may yet be the origin of the downfall of the Dual Monarchy."— Another interesting article is " How to Defend this Kingdom without a Nary," a reprint of a tract written by Viscount Wimbledon in 1628, and entitled "How the coasts of your Majesties Kingedorne may bee defended against any enemie, if in case your rayon Narks should be otherwise imployerl or impeached." Lord Wimbledon's pamphlet is so full of Interesting things that we regret we cannot do more than direct our readers' attention to it. We may note, however, a quaint passage in favour of Mounted infantry it shall not be amiss to lot your Majesty know that the mounting of infantry upon nags (which I have commended already so much to your Majesty for expedition) is no new thing, but bath been used in Scotland, to our prejudice in this kingdom, some BOO years ago, when they made inroads so far as York and Durham ; Which they, nor any soldiers in the world, could (so. not) have done at so far a distance from home, and to retire so safe with so much honour, but by mounting their foot upon nags."