CURRENT LITERAT URE.
RUSSIA, ENGLAND, AND GERMANY.
Russia, England, and Germany. By Malcolm Ma,cColl, Canon of Ripon. (Chapman and Hall. Is.)—Canon MacColl's views as to the relations which should prevail between England and Russia are already well known, but so far his counsels have fallen upon deaf ears. Circumstances, however, have changed of late ; foreign affairs are attracting a larger share of sustained public attention in this country than has been the case for many years, and it seems to be dimly realised that the future of England as a Great Power depends on the wisdom with which for the next ten years her foreign policy is directed. While renewed interest in the most vital of all political questions is thus being shown, it fortunately happens that the people of this country have recovered in great measure the freedom to choose between a policy of friendship with, or of increasing antagonism towards, Russia. They have, it is to be hoped, been effectually disabused of their former blind prepossession in favour of an alliance with Germany, and the warnings of several able students of German foreign policy have at last obtained a hearing. It would, however, be foolish to assume that there is no longer any risk of a dangerous acquiescence in the designs of Germany, guided as she is by the ablest statesman in Europe, the Emperor who has inherited and improved upon the Bismarckian tradition and methods, and to whose sole initiative is due the growth of German naval power, destined at no distant date to dispute with Great Britain the mastery of the sea. Public opinion here, left without guidance from Ministers, is never really alive to questions of foreign policy except on the occurrence of a great crisis. For these reasons we welcome the appearance of Canon MacColl's able and temperate pamphlet. In less than fifty pages he has contrived to give us a sketch, historical and political, of the policy and intentions of Germany and Russia, and to indicate their bearing on tha position of this country in such a manner as to carry instruction, and even conviction, to those who have previously given but little attention to the subject. One aspect of the question, indeed, the Canon has not emphasised, and that is the advantageous position of this country, and the difficulty in which Germany is placed by the growing antagonism between her and Russia in Asia Minor and elsewhere. English statesmanship has a comparatively easy task. Little more is required of it than to abstain from throwing the weight of Great Britain, by Japanese alliances and the like. into the anti-Russian scale, until a clearer perception has grown up in this country and in Russia of the importance in the interests of both countries of a better understanding between them. Such a perception Canon MacColl's work is eminently calculated to produce, and we can only hope that it may be widely circulated and discussed.
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