SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Under this heading we notice such Books of ths week us have not bulb reserved for review in other forms.] Lord Rosebery. By Samuel Henry Jeyes. (J. M. Dent and Co. 2s. 6d. net.)—This is one of the "Prime Ministers of England" series. [It is interesting to see that if we are to judge of popularity by the success of biographies, the order stands thus Beaconsfield (nine editions), Gladstone (five), Earl Russell (four), Lord Aberdeen and Lord Palmerston (three), Lord Salisbury (two), Lord Melbourne, Sir R. Peel, and Lord Derby (one) ]. It is a very interesting, able, and candid study of political history. Possibly the best, or at least the most instructive, thing in it is the account of the events which have ended in our dominant position in Egypt. It is a narrative which does not raise our estimate of the average sagacity of statesmen. The refusal of France to do her duty, or, per- haps we should rather say, to assert herself, when the condominium, was threatened; the engagement to evacuate made and repeated by the British Cabinet; the hesitation of the Sultan in accepting the offer of Lord Salisbury when he proposed to limit the term of occupa- tion to three years, were among the worst instances. We were helped by circumstances and by the jealousies of the other Powers, and we had the supreme advantage of having Lord ,Bosebery at home and Lord Cromer on the spot, who knew what they wanted, and acted admirably together. As Mr. Jeyes puts it, "the two partners in a complicated game played carefully each into the other's hand." Mr. Jeyes does not think so well of his hero's action in respect of Siam, where he took up a position which he could not maintain. To declare that the integrity of Siam was necessary for the safety of India, and then to allow France to dismember it, was not good business. Mr. -,Jeyes makes a very reasonable apology for our inaction in the 'matter of the coercion of Japan by the three Powers in 1895. -Not the least powerful motive was the precarious condition of the "Government at the time. But a Cabinet with even the majority Of 1906 behind it might well hesitate to defy Russia, France, and Germany combined. The pages given to domestic politics we will pass over, not because they are inferior in interest or value to the rest of the book, but because the ashes are too hot. Whether the reader agrees with Mr. Jeyes or not, he will always find him well informed, equitable, and admirably clear in statement.
Previous page
