THE MAGAZINES.

IN the Nineteenth Century Mr. J. Howard Whitehouse, M.P., records his personal impressions of Bulgarians and Servians in Sofia and Belgrade during the war. The notable points in this "revelation of nationality" correspond pretty closely with those observed by Mr. Nevinson in the Contemporary—the democratic nature of the struggle, the spirit of self-sacrifice, the absence of all ostentation or exaltation, in a word, the simplicity of the Bulgar spirit. Mr. Whitehouse finds the The Story of Lucca. By Janet Ross and Nellie Eriehzen. Illustrated by Nellie Erichsen. London : J. 31. Dent lc Sons, Ltd. [4. ed. net.] same unity of spirit among the Servians, on whom the strain has been especially acute in view of the possibility of Austrian intervention, and their position as "economic prisoners." He notes also their consideration and courtesy for the Turkish prisoners. In conclusion, and in view of the cordial feelings with which those two States regard Great Britain, he suggests the immediate organization of facilities for giving a number of Bulgarian and Servian students the opportunity of education in England.--Mr. E. N. Bennett, who was invited by the Ottoman authorities to assist in the censorship of the press at the front, deals in drastic fashion with the grievances of the war correspondents. These were, in his view, almost from the first unreasonable and in great measure the result of their own incompetence, ignorance, and refusal to abide by their pledges. He admits that there were honourable exceptions, but he charges many English journalists with flagrant breach of their promises and with abusing the laxity of the Turkish authorities" in order to establish in some cases a species of espionage extremely detrimental to Turkish interests and paid for, not by the Bulgarians, but by the funds of the European newspapers." He tells some extraordinary stories of the behaviour of the correspondents, which he con- trasts with the quixotic courtesy of the Turkish officials and officers, and declares that, although the foreign journalists were treated by the Bulgarian authorities "with a severity compared with which the lax control of the Turks was simply child's play, no insulting diatribes against the Bulgarian authorities were ever dispatched from Sofia." In conclusion he holds that, as a result of the experiences of the war, the days of the war correspondent, properly so called, are probably numbered. "It has become quite evident that no modern army can tolerate in its neighbourhood the presence of a crowd of journalists who are at best an abominable nuisance, and at worst a real danger." He ends by asserting that in the dark hours of Turkey's misfortunes, amid the accumulated miseries of war and pestilence, scarcely a single note of sympathy for the stricken nation could be detected in the European press. This general attitude he attributes to the influence of the press bureaux established in Europe by Turkey's more especial adversaries in the Balkans and else- where. We content ourselves with merely summarizing Mr. Bennett's charges against his colleagues, which will doubtless provoke a rejoinder.—Mr. G. F. Abbott, under the heading "Peace ?" discusses the settlement, and apprehends danger from the conflicting claims of Bulgaria and Greece to Salonica. The best way of averting a rupture would be, he thinks, to form the debatable districts, including Chalcidice, into an independent State with Salonica as its capital. We may note that Mr. Abbott credits M. Venezelos with the achievement of bringing about the Balkan Alliance.—Three articles deal with the future of Ireland. Lord Dunraven, pleading for settlement by consent, declares that the Ancient Order of Hibernians is in undisputed possession of the war chest and of all the machinery of the Nationalist Party ; and that by its hostility to Mr. W. O'Brien's group it has stamped upon the public mind of Great Britain a conviction, however erroneous, that under an Irish administration fair play would not be accorded to anyone not a member of or patronized by a secret Catholic society. As for the Bill in its present shape —" involving as it does violent opposition in Ulster, a very fragile fabric of finance, and a prolonged struggle between the Imperial and local Parliaments, it is a desperate gamble —for failure would mean the end of Home Rule for ever." Professor J. H. Morgan, on the other hand, occupies eighteen pages in praise—with some reserves—of the Bill and its draftsmanship, and solemnly rebukes the Unionists for their intellectual blindness and moral timidity in refusing to join with the Liberals in giving to the settlement the grace of a national reconciliation. Lastly, Mr. Maurice Woods deals with the industrial aspect of Home Rule, which in his view involves the abandonment of the united interests of the working classes of Great Britain and Ireland, and a return to the embittered commercial relations of the eighteenth century.—Of the miscellaneous articles we may specially notice Professor Tyrrell's vivacious and suggestive paper on Style in English Literature, Mr. Tuker's article in support of the theory that Prism was the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and Mrs. Charlton's plea for humane interven- tion on behalf of the animals of India.

Articles on the Balkan war are conspicuous by their absence from the new number of the National Review, but some of its political bearings are dealt with in the editorial "Episodes of the Month." Here the policy of the moderate official party in

Vienna is contrasted with the pressure alleged to be exerted by the war party, headed by the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and by the press campaign against Servia.—" Washington" speculates on the effects of Anglo-German rivalry or conflict on the United States. The gist of the article is to be found in one sentence : "The disintegration of the British Empire would be a defeat for America by the erection of a Power supreme on land or sea." America, the writer contends, can only remain indifferent to the destruction of the balance of power in Europe at her own eventual cost.

"If it then neglects to observe that the interests of the nations crushed are likewise its own, America will be guilty of political blindness which it will later rue. To guard against this danger the diplomatic role of the United States in Europe should be far more active than in the past. Properly understood and carried out by skilful agents it would be one which instead of being resented should entitle it to the gratitude of all lovers of peace,

since it would be apparent that without selfish designs of its own it aimed to preserve the rights of all. It is mistaking the nature of diplomacy to think that this would involve America in entangle- ments wherein it had no concern. But it is likewise mistaking its scope for national utility to accord by an attitude of indifferent passivity a free field to the forceful ambition of any single State. Great Britain, by upholding the European balance of power, has contributed toward American development. If misfortune in arms await her it would be as politically unwise as it would be ungenerous to allow her to suffer unduly. A disastrous defeat inflicted by an opponent unwilling to use moderation in his victory should invite on the part of America a friendly media- tion which in the last extremity might have to be converted into more effective measures. Hence the advisability for the United States of preserving its strength in such a way as ever to make its counsel welcome and its action unnecessary."

—Mr. E. Bruce Mitford discusses " The Future of Japan" in a spirit of appreciation not unternpered by misgiving. On the

one side he admits the dangers of a forced and unnatural reconstruction at the instance of external agencies acting through official channels.

"In a gigantic and complex operation of this kind, if the result is not to be disaster, the supreme question is that of the motive. Are the Japanese exchanging their views and ways of life for the views and ways of an alien civilization because those are wrong and these are right, or are they guided merely by considerations of expediency ? Does the reformation (if such it be) spring from sincere repentance or has it a less noble and more material origin ? Since national greatness knows no other foundation than that of national character, how will the change in the one affect the other ? These are the queries which the student of affairs cannot refrain from asking when confronted with this unique drama of national evolution. Nor can he be blamed if he contemplates the outcome with some misgiving."

On the other hand he relies on the unemotional character of those who guide Japanese foreign policy, and he is not alarmed at the prospect of the rapprochement with China, based as it is on mutual advantage, since the two nations are complementary to each other. Even if it ends in an offensive and defensive alliance it does not necessarily mean a Yellow Peril, since "aggressiveness is utterly foreign to the Chinese character and prudence is the keynote of the Japanese." Mr. Mitford regards the union or even fusion of the two races as inevitable, "but only a keen and unquenchable sense of resentment—the memory either of material wrongs inflicted, or of accumulated insult endured—can ever arm the East against the West or precipitate a war of Hemispheres."—Lord Percy appeals to all patriotic men to support Lord Roberts and the National Service League, and comments severely on "strategy from the Woolsack" and the effort to sow dissension between the League and the " scientific " soldiers. The great question is • how to instil a correct conception of national defence into the British public, and in view of the difficult position in which the Opposition are placed Lord Percy arrives at the conclusion already expressed in these columns, viz., "It is hard to see how any form of National Service can be adopted except by a combination of parties for this object."—Mr. Seba.g Montefiore upholds the policy of the Municipal Reformers on the London County Council, and vigorously repudiates the

doctrine that unification in London will spell economy, citing the case of Manchester in evidence of the growth of a move-

xnent towards decentralization.—Sir William Geary, formerly

• Attorney-General at Accra, attacks the proposal to introduce the North Nigerian land policy throughout the West African colonies in place of the Gold Coast system, which was intro-

duced by Mr. Chamberlain in 1900, and which, he contends has worked well since. He further charges the Colonial Office with disregarding the recommendations of Mr. Belfield, who was sent out as a special commissioner in January 1912, and with packing the Committee appointed in June last with a view to introducing the North Nigerian system. By the Gold Coast system prospective European concessionaires have to approach the chief and bargain with him, the agreement being ratified or not by the Concessions Court, and the payment being made in full to the chief. The Gold Coast system is based on native ownership and native land tenure, while the Nigerian system, according to Sir William Geary, is based on an absolute denial of the natives' property in land.—Mr. W. R. Lawson records the progress of the Marconi Inquiry under the head of "Post Office Diplomacy," and Mr. Moreton Frewen con- tributes a most entertaining anecdotic sketch of Senator Jones of Nevada, a romantic representative of the Far West, created by an environment which "has gone with the buffaloes and the Pawnees, never to return." Senator Jones was born in England, but left it when five months old, and at the age of twenty, when farming on Lake Ontario, helped his brothers to build a small ship which, with the aid of a single sailor, they navigated down the lakes to the open sea and round the Horn to California in 1849, where he made a "reasonable fortune."

Mr. H. W. Nevinson, who was bottled up in Sofia during the greater part of the war, writes a most interesting paper in the Contemporary on "The Causes of Victory and the Spoils." He comments somewhat bitterly on the rapid and incalculable change wrought by the success of the Allies on the Powers, the public, and the press. On the great mystery of the war— whose was the brain that planned the League and united Greek and Bulgar and Servian, be throws little light. It is commonly believed to have been King Ferdinand ; but, as Mr. Nevinson observes, he—a Bulgarian neither by race nor nation—constitutionally dreaded war and accepted it only because the alternative was revolution.

"The Bulgarians are democrats from top to bottom. . . . A cobbler's brother may be a colonel. . . . For kingship as such they care nothing at all. If the king does his business, they approve ; if not, he can go. Ferdinand was never popular, but his people recognized the value of his diplomacy and his wealth. For years past they had suspected his excessive love of peace ; and now that the instrument of war, so long and carefully preparing, was ready at last, they would have packed him off had he failed to use it."

Clearly, then, the master-mind was not here; Mr. G. F.

Abbott, as we have already seen, implies that it was M. Venezelos. Mr. Nevinson, with a lively sense of the great qualities of the Bulgarians, is fully alive to their suspiciousness, their angularity and lack of charm. But behind the silence and suspicion "one felt the spirit of a stubborn people acting in unison." They published no lists of dead or wounded, submitted to an entire stoppage of business for three months, and "neither in public nor private did I hear a single lamentation or word of complaint." As for the spoils, Mr. Nevinson dismisses M. Pashitch's " mir.ituum " demand as preposterous and impracticable. Of the solutions of the Servian impasse, he inclines to that which would unite Servia and Montenegro by a joint occupation of the Sanjak and a railway linking Nish across the Sanjak with Podgoritza and joining the existing line from Virbazar to Antivari. He is resolute as to an autonomous Albania : "If Monte- negrins, Servians, or Greeks attempt to impose their rule on Albanians, whether Catholic, Moslem, or Orthodox, God help them for vain will be the help of man." We may note in conclusion that Mr. Nevinson considers that of the Allies the Montenegrins alone have failed, partly owing to in- sufficient numbers, but also owing to swagger, idleness, lack of discipline and drill.—M. Boris Lebedeff writes on the abolition of the Russian " Mir " by the law which came into operation two and half years ago. He points out how the economic motive of assisting the peasants in rendering their agriculture more intensive and promoting the agricultural interest was gradually eliminated, and the Government decided to create a new class of Conservative and economically strong individual proprietors to check the socialistic tendencies of the "Mir." The new law does not really abolish communal ownership in Russia, but grants facilities to those members of the "Mir" who prefer personal ownership to communal land-

holding. The process involves four stages, and up to January 1st, 1911, only 8 per cent. of all the communal householders in European Russia had applied to the Land Commissioners for the necessary redistribution of land, while only 2.6 per cent. actually received their lands in one block. The law, in fine, has only contributed to the destruction of the commune whe...e communal ownership was already in decay : in Central and Northern Russia its influence is comparatively insignificant, and the antipathy of the peasants to the measure is on the increase—Mr. W. H. Dickinson, M.P., writing on "The Government of a Great City," finds a solution of the chaos of local government in London by the reorganization of the L.C.C. as a true central authority with greater powers, to be called the City Council, and absorbing the Mayor and Corporation.— Lady Frederick Cavendish pleads on behalf of Armenia's claim to redress in the general settlement of the war. The three points on which she insists as essential are an increase in the number of foreign consuls, the substitution of military fur commercial consuls, and the appointment of a Christian governor over the six Armenian vilayets.—Mr. Theodore Taylor, M.P., urges on the Government the need of stopping further opium planting : "Let us stop the production and stop the hateful compulsion upon a regenerate China struggling to be free "; and Lady Bunting, after surveying the results of the White Slave Traffic crusade, indicates the lines on which the campaign must still be carried on.—Canon Lyttelton in Meditation and Health" deals sympathetically with a school of New Mystics who practise the way of silence as a means of regeneration. A less sympathetic view of the school is taken by a writer in the Daily News and Leader of Wednesday and Thursday.—Dr. Dudley Buxton, himself a distinguished anaesthetist, writes a short but most interesting paper on "Sleep and her Twin Sister Death," in which he recalls the dramatic situations in which the discovery of anaesthesia abounds. He notes that while dread of artificially induced sleep is strong in many persons, it is overpowering among savages, but generally absent in those whose religion incul- cates fatalism. "There are many who welcome the sleep, and not a few who crave for the subliminal revelations of their dreams," for the psychology of the anaesthetic dream is peculiar. But from the point of view of the operator anaesthesia should be sleep. In conclusion, Dr. Buxton regards it as a menace of grave danger to the public that so far no Act has been passed forbidding the employment of anaesthetics and analgesics by persons who profess no medical qualifications.

In the Fortnightly Mr. Ellis Barker argues that the selection of London as the place of the Peace Conference is a sign of the very great position England now holds in Europe owing to the balance of power. We from our position are able to pre- serve the peace, to the advantage not only of ourselves, but of the world. Our direct interest in the affairs of the Balkans is comparatively slight, but upon the settlement depends the balance of power, and so indirectly we are deeply interested. Germans have made no secret that an alliance between them and Turkey was the most hopeful way of attacking us by means of Egypt. Now all this is changed. But, as Mr. Barker contends, the destruction of Germany would be a disaster to us, as an unrestrained France and Russia, if unfriendly, would threaten us as much as a dominant Germany. Our interest is everywhere in favour of a distribution of power and the maintenance of peace. The most pressing danger now appears to be the feeling of the Austrians that power is slipping away from them owing to the rise of Slav feeling in their empire stimulated by outside racial triumphs. Will Austria stake all on a desperate throw now ? Supposing she is tempted to do so, the fact of England being prepared to take sides may make her pause In fine, he maintains that we are now in a strong position for the preservation of European peace.---Mr. Roy Trevor writes of Montenegro. It is impossible not to feel warmly for a people with such a history. For five hundred years the Turks have used all the arts of war and diplomacy to subdue this little country no bigger than Wales. When the tide of Turkish conquest was stayed at the walls of Vienna, the Sultan's armies had time and opportunity to turn undivided attention to these moun- taineers. But in spite of everything they never succeeded. So determined were the Turks to get possession of the B lack Mountain that when it proved unconquerable they offered flattering terms and subsidies of money if only the suzerainty of the Turk would be accepted. The Treaty of Berlin gave the first European recognition of the independence of Monte- negro, and for the first time were its frontiers marked out. The country has been fortunate in its present ruler, who has managed its slender resources with great ability, and has instituted a pure administration of justice. We are told that sometimes Turks cross the frontier to have their differences settled by a Montenegrin judge because they know he will deal fairly, and not after the way of their own corrupt courts. But Montenegro will now have to advance in civilization, especially in the treatment of women. These at present do all the work, a custom no doubt arising from the fact that in the past the men were constantly fighting with the Turks. But the outlook is hopeful, for Mr. Trevor tells us that in many ways respect is paid to women—for instance, even in cases of vendetta a man is always safe in presence of his wife—and there is also a very high standard of morality. The arts of peace have from the nature of things had little chance of development, but it is an interesting fact that there was a fully equipped printing press in Montenegro twenty years after Caxton had established himself in London.—Mr. Sidney Low pleads for more study of Imperial history in our Universities. He says : "I venture to suggest that in all University examinations in history the rise, growth, and constitution of the British Empire should not be an optional but a compulsory subject, and that no candidate should be able to obtain distinction unless he has shown an adequate acquaintance with it, not only in its main outlines, but in some of its details." Mr. Low desires that in addition to general teaching at the Universities there should be established a central school of Imperial learning situated in London.—Sir Hubert von Herkomer has, he tells us, recently discovered the art of sketching from nature, and hastens to explain its practice. As apparently part of the apparatus of the sketcher is a motor car, from the windows of which the work is to be done, the method seems more suitable to successful Academicians than to students. There is, however, a hint that a piece of cardboard painted black may act as a substitute for the framing of the view by the window of the car. This simple device would not be as efficacious for reaching a sketching ground, or for protecting the artist from damp feet, against which he is especially warned, as the Academic closed motor car.

Blackwood starts the new year with the first three chapters of a story by Mr. Ian Hay, in which the antics of schoolboys and undergraduates are amusingly told. "The Wrongs of Ulster" forms the subject of an article which, if somewhat partisan in feeling, enforces the conclusion that the Union is Ireland's only hope, the government that divides it least. —Mr. Page's paper on "Ireland and the Empire" is interest- ing for the anthology given of quotations from disloyal speeches by Nationalist leaders. None of these makes any concealment as to the true end of the agitation—the inde- pendence of the Irish nation. Mr. Redmond expressed this crudely when in 1910 he said, "All these great concessions are valueless, or, at any rate, such value as they possess is to be found in the fact that they strengthen the arm of the Irish people and push on to the goal of National Independence." National independence, as Mr. Page points out, Ireland has never bad ; she has been torn by faction from the earliest times, long before England had any responsibility for the maintenance of order.—" Lights," by "Marcos," is a description of the work of guarding a naval harbour by means of searchlights. We are shown what the con- ditions are like during manceuvres, and from these some faint estimate can be formed of the strain, anxiety, and danger which will be the lot of those whose duty it will be to work the lights in time of war. The necessities of the case cause the lights to be distributed along the shore and liable to attack by landing parties. Emplacements being small, those working the machinery and the lights within them have to trust to themselves to repel attack. It will be a case of junior officers bearing that responsibility in isolated positions which they are ever ready to assume.—Mr. T. F. Farman writes of the progress of military flying in France, and also discusses the results attained by the Allies in the Balkans. Apparently a good deal of information was collected, in some cases by aeroplanes piloted by foreigners, presumably French. was no opposition, fortunately for those who flew, so VWC)i so that "a French professional aviator, who during the last three years has spent many hours in the air every week, declared that the want of experience of almestall the military pilots attached to, the belligerent armies in the Balkans would leave them an easy prey to a:really skilful aviator. Without being armed, I could with my machine have disposed of half a dozen of them in no time by blowing them down,' was .his concluding remark."

• In the United Service Magazine Mr. Percival Hislam criticizes the Government's Imperial naval policy, and especially their treatment of the contributions of the Dominions to the Navy as "additional to our require- ments." If this is really the case, he maintains, the Admiralty have been guilty of overbuilding, but if not, their declarations that they have maintained "the minimum consistent with full security" will have been disproved. This latter view is the one taken by Mr. Hislam, who holds that the Dominion ships should frankly be included in all computations of our naval strength, and that there should be no talk of their enabling us to increase our Pacific squadron. "Would it not have been more honest," he asks, "if the Admiralty bad told Mr. Borden that we need as many more• ships in home waters as we can possibly get, that the naval ascendancy of the Empire can be decided only between Brest and Bergen, and that one colonially contributed ship at Malta would be worth a dozen at Hong Kong? "--,-Captain Hamilton Currey discusses the improvements that have been made of late in the French navy under M. Delcasse's regime and the command of Admiral Bone de Lapeyrexe. He particularly applauds the concentra- tion of the French naval strength in the Mediterranean, and mentions "a notable speeding-up of battleship construction, and an equally notable dinibrietion in the malign activities of the s Syndicat Rouge," or dockyard trade union.,--A detailed examination of "The Balkan War of 1912" is opened by Captain H. T.' Russell, who is; however, necessarily limited in his remarks by the absence of certain knowledge as to many of the most important factors in the campaign.

Among many other interesting articles we may mention a discussion of "Peace Soldiering and the Line Officer," by Studiosns," and a historical sketch of "The Dawn of Modern Tactics," by Major G. W. Redway.