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THE

NQLISH

REVIEW

dlted by AUSTIN HARRISON

JULY 1916

Poetry Stephen Southwold

Bernard Gilbert
Wilfrid Thorley
The White-faced Decticus Henri Fabre

War Vignettes Bridget MacLagan

Ireland at the Cross Roads Filson Young

Musical Notes Edwin Evans

THE WAR OF LIBERATION

Kitchener John Helston

The Shipping Muddle David G. Pinkney

The British Empire Frank P. Slavin

The Secret Constitution of the Shinn Fane

Major Darnley-Stuart-Stephens
The Eye of the Navy D. Hugh Sway

There Resteth to Serbia a Glory

Alice and Claude Askew
Industrial France since the War Andr^ Lebon

The Balance of Power Austin Harrison

More about Rubber Raymond Radclyffe

Books
An "English Review" Y.M.C.A. Hut

ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION : 12/6 '^V 9':'^W^f

HALF-YEARLY ,. 6/6 the world

AH rights reterved
LONDON

17-31, TAVISTOCK STREET, COVENT GARDEN

NORTH BRITISH & MERCANTILE

INSURANCE COMPANY. Funds, £23.500.000.

Chief O0ic»: 61. Thrca<}ncedHe St., LONDON. 64. Princes St., EDINBURGH

WRIGHT'S

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Is now known as the

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ith funding fn

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Soothes, Protects, Heals*

Bournemouth,
Dear Sirs, April 8th, 1916.

I am sending you an extract from my son's letter (he
is on active service, somewhere in France). I wrote asking
if I should send him vermin powder, and his reply is:
''DON'T SEND ANY VERMIN POWDER, THANKS;
I USE WRIGHT'S COAL TAR SOAP, THAT'S AS
EFFECTIVE AND MUCH MORE PLEASANT."

It seems to me a unique and spontaneous tribute to
your soap.

Yours truly» S • . • v» •

In United Kingdom, 4d. per Tablet.

In Australia, Canada, India and British Colonies,

6d. per Tablet.

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The Engflish Review Advertiser

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demand for quiet, refined, and
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yldvertisement Supplement

C{ There are so many relief funds for soldiers and sailors that we are
perhaps apt to overlook the fact that there is a great civilian
population which has been rendered destitute because of the war.
The suffering in Poland and Galicia has been intense, and the
institution of a relief fund in England has been a Godsend to
those who have fared as badly as the Belgians at the hands of
the enemy. The Great Britain to Poland Relief Fund, with which
is associated the British Moscow Relief Committee, established
under the Russian Red Cross, has already relieved distress for
the past months in Poland and Russia. "During ten months'
active operations, from April, 191 5, the Fund has fed over one
million refugees, without reckoning milk for children, and dis-
tributed 3,500 roubles' worth of clothing, besides that sent from
England. According to Moscow's official doctor, the milk dis-
tributed daily to 600 children there throughout the winter has
saved thousands of young lives. The Fund is now feeding about
5,600 daily."

This statement, which comes from Princess Lydia Bariatinsky,
who initiated the Relief Fund, and is Chairman of the Committee,
gives some idea of the magnitude of the Relief Fund, and the
three reports by Mr. John Pollock — a member of the deputation —
form the subject-matter of an illustrated booklet issued by the
organisers. The Russian nation and Government are giving all the
time that can be saved from fighting and also millions of money.
In this work the Great Britain to Poland Fund has its place
strengthened by the generosity and splendid service of the British
Committees of Petrograd and Moscow. Few things are nearer
to Russian minds and hearts than the plight of the refugees. By
the money subscribed and the work it is doing the Fund is helping
to cement the friendship of two great Allied nations.

(^ Nothing is so personal as a gift of jewellery. It is one of the
"extras" in life which need not be chosen because it is practical
or useful, but with a view to individuality and artistic charm and
grace of design. Such originality as well as real value in quality
is guaranteed by the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company, 112
Regent Street, and everyone knows that the expenditure of £^
or ;£^5oo at this famous house of jewellery will result in the utmost
value for the money and in absolute satisfaction. Gem rings
especially are amone the articles of jewellery which appeal at all
times to women, and the collection of rings available at the Gold-
smiths and Silversmiths is unique in originality of design, excel-
lence of mounting, workmanship, and wide variety of choice.
The first price is ;^5, and for that sum a ring worthy of the
traditions of the old-established house can be obtained. All the
latest models in wrist watches may be seen also at the Goldsmiths
and Silversmiths Company, and until one has seen them it is
impossible to imagine how varied in style and how beautiful in
design they can be. One, for instance, is a French model with a
hand-painted cameo face. This has a line of fine pearls In the
palladium band. An uncommon design is a gold watch with a
fancy shape dial outlined with a border of white enamel. This is
£1^ JOS., and there Is a good selection of reliable watches from
£^. There are watches for men on service from £2 105., with
luminous dials.

The English Review Advertiser

III

.■^sk yottr Stationer or
Jeweller to show yoti how
easily iSt^ quickly it is ^lled.

THIS little Lever fills it !

Just raise the little lever, immerse the nib in
ink, lower the lever again, and this latest type
of the world-famous Waterman's Ideal is filled.
Nothing could be simpler, nothing more
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Lever Pocket Self = filling

Wat^^an's

(Ideal)
FouiitM^Pen

Waterman's Ideal is the ideal gift for friends
on Active Service. It may be had in 3
types: Regular, 10/6 and upwards; Safety
and the New Lever Pocket Self-Filling Types,
15/- and upwards. Hundreds of styles.

Of Stationers and Jewellers everywhere
Fullest satisfaction guaranteed. Nibs ex-
changeable if not suitable. Call, or send to
"The Pen Corner." Full range of pens on view
for inspection and trial. Booklet free from —

L. G. SLOAN, CheTeii(Sk>r.ter, KINGSWAY, LONDON.

N.B. — Watermatt's Ideal is used by Dr. E. J. Dillon, Hilaire Belloc, and
many other eminent writers.

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Player's Gold Leaf Navy Cut
Player's Medium Navy Cut
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in 2-oz. and 4-oz. airtight

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IN PACKETS AND TINS FROM ALL TOBACCON STS AND STORES,

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P.611 Issued by the liiiiierial T"h.acco Co. (of Oreat Britain and Ireland), Ltd.

Choice

Millinery

Sale

Prices

The
Fabric
for All
Seasons

q Althoug-h a very charming collection of light summer hats has
been prepared for us this season, the weather has not yet given
us many opportunities of uncaring them. The July sales are
therefore most vi'elcome, when all the new millinery models will
be sold at greatly reduced prices. There are some lovely hats in
areophane, Georgette, silk, and tulle, in delicate colourings and
^most becoming shapes, all greatly reduced for the summer sale, at
Messrs. Marshall and Snelgrove's, Vere Street and Oxford
Street, W. Among the notable sale bargains there is a smart
little hat in Tagel straw, rather a round turn-up sailor in shape,
trimmed with picot edge ribbon, and obtainable in many shades
at 9s. 6d. A small, close-fitting hat in taffeta is another of excep-
tional sale value, only 115. 6d., in black, white, and navy, trimmed
with ribbon and a piquet of flowers. A charming river hat of
check voile underlined with straw and trimmed with fruit and
flowers is a most artistic model of the picturesque kind, equally
attractive in mauve and white, blue and white, and pink and
white — and only 235. 6d.

Another sale hat of original design — a large, round sailor shape
with straight edge at the back — is reduced to 325. 6d. It is most
effective either in silver tissue veiled with black tulle, or in gold
and black. A band and bow of tulle round the crown is the only
trimming. A model in black Lis^re straw at 495. 6d., trimmed
with two big roses and velvet ribbon, is an artistic sale bargain.

Q The important factor in underwear satisfaction is material, and
there is no better material for men's wear than "Viyella." The
perfection of cut, finish, and range of patterns in "Viyella" shirts
ensure everyone getting what is required — indeed, the same rule
applies to all ** Viyella " garments for day or night wear. The
importance of wearing garments that are really healthful is being
continually insisted upon by medical men. " Viyella " is the fabric
for all seasons, because it is made in a variety of weights from
heavy winter to thin tropical. It is, moreover, in all its weights
comfortable and soft against the skin, and it combines attractive-
ness with utility, being made in a large number of pretty, plain
shades, as well as cream and white and in a variety of artistic
stripings.

" Viyella " underwear is made of identically the same yarn as
the cloth, and therefore embodies all the virtues of unshrink-
ability, exceptional durability and softness and healthfulness.

The

^ In these days of specialised trades, professions, and departments

Individual
Note in
Furnishing

we begin to associate personality — that was once the possession of
Individuals — with firms. No doubt the individual mind is often
behind it all, and the better and truer this directing taste the
greater the firm's reputation. What may be called the "Heal"
spirit seems to permeate all the very diverse wares for which the
sign of the four poster is famous.

Within pretty wide limits one finds a choice amongst objects great
and small which have first passed the standard of taste he/e set
up. One may describe this spirit as sane, artistic, and English,
and the smallest and newest designs have the quality of good
tradition. Take, for example, such a thing as a metal hot-water
can, a bedspread, an armchair, or a service of china — all very
common and necessary details which we are accustomed to find
of stupid, banal, and commonplace designs more often than not.
At Messrs. Heal and Sons, 196 Tottenham Court Road, one knows
that selection, invention, and taste have been lavished on these
small things as well as upon the more important details of furnish-
ing and decoration, and that one's choice will not be the ex-

The English Review Advertiser

*« '■'^"n.*,

Jewellers
Silversmiths

^o'His ^Majesty
'^he King

The newest models in Watch Bracelets are to be
seen at the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company.

These Watch Bracelets, which are of highest quality,
range in price from £5 upwards, and are the best value
obtainable. A Catalogue will be sent on application.

GoLDSMaTHs & Silversmiths

TT W) yoith ■y<>^ic6 tp tnecr-porared T^e GofdpmiT/ij-'

Company L'

Only one address, no Branches.

112, Regent Street, London, W^.

Blouses

hausting search for presentable objects amongst a wilderness of
dull things, but a stimulating pursuit of the best amongst equals.

Sfkle of C ^ '^^ daintiest and most original designs in tea-frocks can always
-, - - ^ be seen at Messrs. Debenham and Freebody's, of Wigmore Street
lea-irockS (Cavendish Square), and just now these are all very much reduced
Lingerie for the sale. There is one very graceful and simple model in
and crepe de Chine^ trimmed with pinked-out frills, and let in with

hemstitching, which has a full-gathered skirt and a satin ribbon
sash. This can be had in all colourings during the July sale
at 695. 6d. There are some good quality crepes with cross-
over bodices, which tie at the back, with ninon sleeves and
plaiting round the collar, at 985. 6d., in all shades. A copy of
a French model in gold-embroidered ninon in purple, blue, and
other shades, made with a kind of tunic effect, is very hand-
some and original at 8^ guineas. Messrs. Debenham and
Freebody specialise in out sizes in tea-frocks and gowns. In
the lingerie department there are fascinating nightdresses in figured
ninons at greatly reduced prices — all underwear in crepe de
Chine is much reduced, and hand-embroidered linen garments,
trimmed with real Val, are reduced from 295. 6d. to 135. <^d. and
145. ^d. All the most exclusive models in white lingerie are less
than half price. Thick Japanese silk petticoats are 165. 9^., and
full chiffon taffetas 185. 9^. All model blouses are at special
bargain prices. Notable among these are some exquisite linens
trimmed with real lace in original designs.

The latest development in the Fountain Pen industry is the New
Lever Pocket Self-Filling Pen invented by the makers- of the
world-famous Waterman's Ideal. The distinguishing features of
this new model are the rapidity with which it can be filled and
its simplicity. The self-filling device is a small lever which fits
flush on the barrel, and in no way detracts from the beauty of
the pen or interferes with one's comfort in handling. To fill, all
one has to do is to raise the lever. This is the work of a moment.
The new model is called the New Lever Pocket Self-Filling Water-
man's Ideal, and is sold at all stationers and stores at 155. and
upwards. An illustrated leaflet describing the pen may be obtained
post free from L. G. Sloan, The Pen Corner, Kingsway,
London, W.C.

Famous

Fountain

Pen

ALLEN £t WRIGHT'S

Famous

ARMY

BRIAR

FINEST SELECTED BRIAR.

Silver Mount, Hand-cut Vulcanite.

Highest Grade Goods Made.

Order No. 34.

PRICE ^^'fi

In Morocco Case, 0/3

Illustrated Smokers' Catalogue
POST FREE.

A L L E N [26, Poultry, E.C.

& 217, Piccadilly, W.

WRIGHT 139, St. Mary Axe-7, King St., E.C.

AVater

FROM ALL CHEMISTS - V- PEk BOTTLE

Nature's own remedy for

Gastric and : :
Hepatic Troubles

Prescribed by the Leading Physicians.

THE FAMOUS BRITISH APERIENT WATER.

The English Review Advertiser

vii

PRACTICAL
WRAPPERS &
TEA FROCKS

OU R stock of House and
Boudoir Wraps, Tea
Frocks and N6gliges is
particularly well assorted. We
buy all the most exclusive Paris
Models and copy and adapt
them in our own workrooms to
suit the present demand for
dainty, refined, yet thoroughly
practical garments at really
moderate prices.

Picture Tea Frock, as
sketch, made in old
world design of crepe
chiffon over fine lace,
finished ribbons and
Mayfair flowers. In all
dainty colourings or
black.

Price gs/6

MARSHALL <§'
SNELGROVE

LIMITED

VERE ST. and OXFORD ST.

LONDON

and at
SCARBOROUGH HARROGATE
LEEDS YORK

Our Book of New Tea Frocks
and Wrappers posted free.

viii The English Review Advertiser

HELP THE HOMELESS

by contribxfj

GREAT BRITAIN 1

(with which is affitiated the Bri

The devastation of Poland is one of the greatest
tragedies of the war. People who once were well-to-do
stand in silent, anxious crowds waiting their turn while
the soup kitchens pass along. Thousands are living in
trucks, and sleeping on the stone floors of railway stations.
Women, with children in their arms, have walked hundreds
of miles to escape the horrors of German invasion, and
have arrived at their destination so dazed and tired that
the joy of seeing a friendly face, or hearing a friendly
voice, has been denied them. '* It is the saddest sight I
have ever seen," states a writer in a letter from Moscow,
and to all who feel compassion for the victims of the
war — broken men and women, and starving children — an
earnest appeal is made to send what help they can to

EVELEIGH NASH, Esq., Hon. Treasurer,
Great Britain to Poland Fund,

36 King Street, Covent Garden, London.

N.B. — No contributions pass through German or Austrian hands. The money collected is sent to the
Russo-Asialic Bank in Petrograd, and considerable profit is made on the extremely fav»)urable
rate of exchange. In normal times Russia gives us 95 roubles for ^10, but at present she gives
us over 150 roubles for ;^io. The English equivalent of a rouble is a fraction over 2/1.

Twenty Shilling's will keep twenty
people from starvation for a week.

The English Review Advertiser ix

PEOPLE OF POLAND

ing to the

O POLAND FUND

iff Ai Moscow Relief Committee).

Committees have been established in all the principal cities of the United Kingdom.

Patrons :

The ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

The EARL OF ROSEBERY.
His Excellency Sir G. W. BUCHANAN.

{British Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Petrograd.)

Chairman: The LADY BYRON.

Hon. Secretary: C. W. NICHOLSON. Esq.

Hon. President :

The LORD MAYOR OF LONDON.

Hon. Vice-Presidents :

The DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

The VISCOUNT BRYCE.

Sir HORACE PLUNKETT.

Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart.

The Ven. ARCHDEACON CUNNINGHAM.

Hon. President Edinburgh Committee :

The LORD DUNEDIN.

Hon. President Glasgow Committee :

The LORD PROVOST OF GLASGOW.

Hon. President Manchester Committee :

The LORD MAYOR OF MANCHESTER.

Patrons Liverpool Committee :

The LORD MAYOR OF LIVERPOOL.
The EARL OF DERBY.

Hon. Treasurer : EVELEIGH NASH, Esq.,

36 King: Street, Covent Garden, London.

Auditors : LEONARD G. LANE & Co., 56, Ludgate Hill, E.G.
Bankers : THE RUSSO-ASIATIG BANK, 64, Old Broad Street, E.G.

Cheques and Postal Orders should he made payable to " Great Britain to Poland Fund."

The English Review Advertiser

A correspondent writes :

" Just a line to congratulate you
on your weekly issues since the
War began. It is my intention
to keep them and bind them.
Others may prefer the elaborate
pictorial records which are
appearing in great numbers, but
those who wish for a plain, sane,
unvarnished story of the great
war week by week t,old in good,
common-sense English can't do
better than secure the WEEKLY
WESTMINSTER."

For those who wish a weekly review of the
operations of the war, together with hterary
reviews and much matter of general interest,
there is no better medium than

THE SATURDAY
WESTMINSTER

PRICE ONE PENNY.
On Sale Everyivhere.

Send a postcard for specimen copy to Thk
PuBLiRHKR, Tudor House, Tudor Street,
London, B.C.

SBND
FOR

BERMALINE

is a fine product of Bonnie Scotland.
Bermaline Best Brown Bread is every-
where eaten because it is so delicious,
and because it makes for good digestion.

Write to Bermaline Mills, Ibrox, Glasgow,
for name of nearest Bermaline Baker.

Mr. H. J. Monson's Light
& Colour Ray Treatment

30 Manchester St., Manchester Square, W.

Telephone : 5088 Mayfair

RHEUMATISM, SURGICAL,
MENTAL CASES, AND
NERVOUS BREAKDOWN
TREATED.

Officially recognised by R. A, M.C.

Special Terms to Militar-y Men.

Bell^

THR

Tobacco

** Sw^eet, when the

morn is gray.

Sweet, w^hen they've

cleared away

Lunch— and at close

of day.

Possibly sw^eetest."

A Testing Sample will be for-
warded on application to Stephen
Mitchell (5t^ Son, Branch of the
Imperial Tobacco Co. {of Great
Britain S^ Ireland), Ltd., Glasgow

King's Head is stronger
Both sold at 8d. per oz.

. THREE NUNS

Cigarettes

MEDIUM

477

4d. for 10

The Engflish Review Advertiser

The Editor Appeals

to his readers to erect an '' English
Review" Building for the troops
behind the firing line in France.

THE National Council of the
Y.M.C.A. inform us that an
urgent need has arisen for
at least another twenty buildings
immediately behind the firing line
in France, to enable them to extend
the great work which they are
doing for the comfort of our
troops.

Is there any finer gift that we
can make to the splendid fellows
in the trenches than to give a
complete building, to be known as
the " English Review " Building,
and which will be erected immedi-
ately in the rear of the fighting
line?

This building, costing ^500 to
erect and equip, will form a
permanent monument on the

historic battlefields of France lo
the gratitude of our readers for
the self-sacrifice of our splendid
fellows who are daily risking and
losing their lives for us.

The need is urgent and the
Editor appeals to every reader to
give as much as they can afford
quickly, so that our building can
be erected without delay. It will
be the place where the men, tired
and fatigued by heavy fighting,
can go immediately they leave the
trenches, for rest, refreshment,
recreation, and to write letters
home. Our building will be home
from home to these men, it will be
the only place where they can go
for social companionship, and to
forget war for a short time.

Send your gift to the Editor to-day.

He who gives quickly gives twice.

POST THIS TO-DAY.

To the Editor,
I " English Review,"
17-21, Tavistock St.,
W.C.

I have pleasure in enclosing £ towards the

' English Review " Y.M.C.A. Building for the Troops
behi, d the firing line in France.

Name- ••
Address.

The English Review Advertiser

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

Eldited by Austin Harrison
CONTENTS OF THE NINETY-SECOND NUMBER

STEPHEN SOUTHWOLD

On Receipt of a Phial
of Morphia

BERNARD GILBERT

"I Have No Ring"

WILFRID THORLEY

Two Poems

HENRI FABRE

The White-faced
Decticus

BRIDGET MACLAGAN

War Vignettes

FILSON YOUNG

Ireland at the Cross
Roads

EDWIN EVANS

Musical Notes

THE WAR OF LIBERATION

JOHN HELSTON

Kitchener

DAVID G. PINKNEY

The Shipping Muddle

FRANK P. SLAVIN

The British Empire

MAJOR DARNLE Y-
STUART-STEPHENS

The Secret Constitu-
tion of the Shinn
Fane

10.

D. HUGH SWAY

The Eye of the Navy

11.

ALICE AND CLAOdE
ASKEW

There Resteth to
Serbia a Glory

12.

ANDRE LEBON

Industrial France since
the War

13.

AUSTIN HARRISON

The Balance of Power

14.

RAYMOND RADCLYFFE

More about Rubber

15.

Books

16.

An " Enghsh Review "

Y.M.C.A. Hut

The Engflish Review Advertiser

xiu

TABLEWARES

A DELICATE chaplet of leaves in
black on white gives these sanely
planned pieces a rare grace and simplicity.

^he " Chaplet '' Sets

52 piece Breakfast Set - 40/-

54 piece Dinner Set - 60/-

70 piece Dinner Set - 90/-

4 1 piece Tea Set - - 32/6

Any piece may be bought separately
and breakages replaced at any time-

A great variety of beautiful tableware,
some of it especially suitable for the country
cottage, is on view in the new shop of

H EAL & SON

TOTTENHAM COURT VOAaW.

XIV

The English Review Advertiser

i Summer Comfort

I J you have had trouble and discomfort with the ordinary " stodgy "
flannel or chilly linen in the past, the all-round comfort embodied in

Every "Vlyella" garment

carries a guarantee f
replacement should it shrink.

Viyell

(Regd. Trade Mark).

ie Mark).

Shirts and Pyjamas

will be all the more welcome to you. Their
delightful softness, lightness and non-irritancy
render them ideal for summer wear — besides
which they are healthful and always look ex-
ceedingly well, whilst from the point of view
of serviceability they are extremely durable
and will never shrink.

ASK YOUR OUTFITTER TO SHOW YOU
PATTERNS IN LIGHT WEIGHT " VIYELLA."

Name and address of your nearest or otherwise suitable "■ Viyella"

Outjitter will be forwarded gladly upon request, tot;ether with satnples of

the tnaterial and interesting- booklet, "A Material Consideration."

WM. HOLLINS &' CO., LTD. (TRADE ONLY),
83A, VIYELLA HOUSE, NEWGATE ST., LONDON, E.G.

IVe got them at the same time-
why didn't I buy ' Viyella ' ? "

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli

^ Everyone should know about this idea.

^ It means much to everyone who works — whether
in commerce or the professions — much to his wife,
much to the children.

^ It means better health, less labour in the
kitchen, and a staying of the rot which seems to
have set in as regards the children's health, and
their teeth in particular.

fl It means constructive economy as contrasted
with sham impoverishing economy.

^ It is the '' P.R." idea, and it is perfectly sound
and scientific. You can find out all about it by
sending gd. in stamps to The Wallace P.R. Foods
Co., Ltd., 48, Tottenham Lane, Hornsey, London,
N. In return you will receive a budget of practical
information and a box of delicious samples of
"True Economy Foods." Or if you wish to make
a fuller and more satisfactory test, send 5 s. for
our Special Trial Parcel. It is an eye-opener
and may easily be the means of making a great
difference to you and your whole household in the
future.

THE

ENGLISH REVIEW

July, 191 6

On Receipt of a Phial of Morphia

By Stephen Southwold

To sip, and sleep and dream; to drink, and die.
Thou god thrice-coronalled whose votaries
Pass no long nights upon stone-fretted knees —
Pallid renunciants. 'Tis ours to fly
Beyond this cage roofed by the maddening sky
With burning birds above fresh-blossoming trees.
Challenge the sun, abash the stars, and seize
The inmost shrine where Pain's young vestals sigh.
So am I stronger than earth's Kings ; more wise
Than chanting and book-learned priests; yea, more
Aloof than Luna. Greater than death who needs
Must come when I shall beckon. Thro' this door
Veiled destiny may stare, but in my eyes
Sleep visions of the last of all the creeds.

"I Have No Ring"

By Bernard Gilbert

I WATCH and listen with a dreadful fear,
I wait and long and tremble in a breath;
Though he is gone to fight, yet is he near;
I have him always though he meet with Death :
In the lone night time when my eyes are dim
I cry with terror, yet my heart will sing;
I long, I long with sickness, yet with dread :
My fear is double — more, far more, for him
Who not yet lives than he who may be dead :
I carry that which masters everything :
And yet — to have his face and not his name —
To be so loved, so longed for, yet — my shame !
Gladness and dread alike my love to sting. . .
I bear his burden — but — I have no ring.

The Vine in Blossom

{From the French of Andr^ Thkuriet)

By Wilfrid Thorley

Along the vines the blossoms thrive,
To-night just twenty years are mine. . .

Ah ! but it's good to be alive

And feel the veins that seethe and strive
Like the crushed grape that turns to wine.

My brain's with idle thoughts a-brim;

I wander in a tipsy swoon;
I run and drink the air I skim . . .
Is it the draught that pricks my whim,

Or blossom on the vine-festoon?

But ah ! what odour freights the air
From out the clusters of the vine . . .

Ah ! had I but the heart to dare

Clasp something . . . someone . . . anywhere
Within these wanton arms of mine !

I fleet, as fearful as a fawn,

Beneath the loaded trellises ;
I lay me amid blade and awn,
And on the bramble-shaded lawn

I taste the wild red raspberries.

And to my lips that pant in drouth
It seems as though a kiss were blown

On breezes from the tender south;

As though a soft and scented mouth
Moved down to mingle with my own.

O strange delight, O stranger dearth !

O ! tendrils of the vine about,
O ! blossoms trailing in your mirth.
Is Love still roaming on the earth.

And how may lovers find him out?

3 B 2

The Secret

t
{From the French of Henri de Rj^gnier)

By Wilfrid Thorley

If thou wouldst speak unto my grief, be wary;

Seek not to know wherefore she doth so weep,
Nor why her gaze is downcast and most chary

And ever on the flow'rless way doth keep.

To ease her pain, her silence and her sorrow
Tempt not benumbed forgetfulness to show

The shapes of some lost love or pride or morrow
Whose visage bears the shade of long ago.

With speech of sun and trees and fountains woo her
Of light-filled seas and shady woods at rest

Wherefrom the sky draws up the wan moon to her,
And all fair things whereby wide eyes are blest.

Tell her how in the spring the rose blooms gladly,
And gently take her two hands and so sigh :

The only memory whereof none feel sadly

Is shape and sound of beauteous things gone by.

The White-faced Decticus'

By Henri Fabre

The White-faced Decticus {D, albifrons, Fabr) stands at
the head of the Grasshopper clan in my district, both as a
singer and as an insect of imposing presence. He has a
grey costume, a pair of powerful mandibles and a broad
ivory face. Without being plentiful, he does not let him-
self be sought in vain. In the height of summer we find
him hopping in the long grass, especially at the foot of the
sunny rocks where the turpentine-tree takes root.

At the end of July I start a Decticus-menagerie in a big
wire-gauze cage standing on a bed of sifted earth. The
population numbers a dozen; and both sexes are equally
represented.

The question of victuals perplexes me for some time.
It seems as though the regulation diet ought to be a vege-
table one, to judge by the Locust, who consumes any green
thing. I therefore offer my captives the tastiest and ten-
derest green stuff that my enclosure holds : leaves of lettuce,
chicory and corn-salad. The Dectici scarcely touch it with
a contemptuous tooth. It is not the food for them.

Perhaps something tough would suit their strong mandi-
bles better. I try various Graminaceae, including the glau-
cous panic-grass, a weed that infests the fields after the
harvest. The panic-grass is accepted by the hungry ones,
but it is not the leaves that they devour : they attack only
the ears, of which thev crunch the still tender seeds with
visible satisfaction. The food is found, at least for the
time being.

In the morning, when the rays of the sun visit the cage
placed in the window of my study, I serve out the day's
ration, a sheaf of green ears of the common grass picked
outside my door. The Dectici come running up and, verv
peaceably, without quarrelling among themselves, dig with

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

their mandibles between the bristles of the spikes to extract
and nibble the unripe seeds. Their costume makes one
think of a flock of Guinea-fowl pecking the grain scattered
by the farmer's wife. When the ears are robbed of their
tender seeds, the rest is scorned, however urgent the claims
of hunger may be.

To break the monotony of the diet as much as is possible
in these dog-days, when everything is burnt up, I gather a
thick-leaved, fleshy plant which is not too sensitive to the
summer heat. This is the common purslane, another
invader of our garden-beds. The new green stuff meets
with a good reception ; and once again the Dectici dig their
teeth not into the leaves and the juicy stalks, but only
into the swollen capsules of half-formed grains.

This taste for tender seeds surprises me : Btjktiko^,
biting, fond of biting, the lexicon tells us. A name that
expresses nothing, a mere identification-number, is able to
satisfy the nomenclator; in my opinion, if the name pos-
sesses a characteristic meaning and at the same time sounds
well, it is all the better for it. Such is the case here. The
Decticus is eminently an insect given to biting. Mind your
finger if the sturdy Grasshopper gets hold of it : he will rip
it till the blood comes. And can this powerful jaw possess
no other function than to chew soft grains? Can a mill
like this have only to grind small, unripe seeds? Some-
thing has escaped me. So well-armed with mandibular
pincers, so well-endowed with masticatory muscles that
swell out his cheeks, the Decticus must cut up some leathery
prey. *

This time I find the real diet, the fundamental, if not the
exclusive one. Some good-sized Locusts, let into the
cage, are promptly pounced upon. A few Grasshoppers
are also accepted, but not so readily. There is every reason
to think that, if I had had the luck to capture them, the
entire Locust and Grasshopper family would have met with
the same fate, provided that they were not too insignificant
in size.

Any fresh meat tasting of Locust and Grasshopper suits
my ogres. The most frequent victim is the Blue-winged
Locust. There is a deplorably large consumption of this
species in the cage. This is how things happen : as soon
as the game is introduced, an uproar ensues in the mess-

THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS.

room, especially if the Dectici have been fasting for some
time. They stamp about and, hampered by their long
shanks, dart forward clumsily ; the Locusts make desperate
bounds, rush to the top of, the cage and there hang on, out
of the reach of the Dectici, who are too stout to climb so
high. Some are seized at once, as soon as they enter. The
others, who have taken refuge up in the dome, are only
postponing for a little while the fate that awaits them. Their
turn will come; and that soon. Either because they are
tired or because they are tempted by the green stuff below,
they will come down; and the Dectici will be after them
immediately.

Speared by the hunter's forelegs, the game is first
wounded in the neck. It is always there, behind the head,
that the Locust's shell cracks first of all ; it is always there
that the Decticus probes persistently before releasing his
hold and taking his subsequent meals off whatever joint
he chooses.

It is a very judicious bite. The Locust is hard to kill.
Even when beheaded, he goes on hopping. I have seen
some who, though half-eaten, kicked out desperately and
succeede'd, with a supreme effort, in releasing themselves
and jumping away. In the brushwood, that would have
been so much lost game.

The Decticus seems to know all about it. To overcome
his prey, so prompt to escape by means of its two powerful
levers, and to render it helpless as quickly as possible, he
first munches and extirpates the cervical ganglia, the main
seat of innervation. Is this an accident, in which the assassin's
choice plays no part? No, for I see the murder performed
invariably in the same way when the prey is in possession
of its full strength. And again no, because, when the
Locust is offered in the form of a fresh corpse, or when he
is weak, dying, incapable of defence, the attack is made
anywhere, at the first spot that presents itself to the
assailant's jaws. In such cases the Decticus begins either
with a haunch, the favourite morsel, or with the belly, back
or chest. The preliminary bite in the neck is reserved for
difficult occasions. This Grasshopper, therefore, despite
his dull intellect, possesses the art of killing scientifically;
but with him it is a rude art, falling within the knacker's
rather than the anatomist's domain.

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

Two or three Blue-winged Locusts are none too much for
a Decticus' daily ration. Everything goes down, except
the wings and wing-cases, which are disdained as too tough.
In addition, there is a snack of tender millet-grains stolen
every now and again to make a change from the banquet
of game. They are tig eaters, are my boarders; they sur-
prise me with their gormandising and even more with their
easy change from an animal to a vegetable diet.

With their accommodating and anything but particular
stomachs, they could render some slight service to agricul-
ture, if there were more of them. They destroy the Locusts,
many of whom, even in our fields, are of ill-fame ; and they
nibble, amid the unripe corn, the seeds of a number of
plants which are obnoxious to the husbandman.

But the Decticus' claim to the honours of the vivarium
rests upon something much better than his feeble assistance
in preserving the fruits of the earth : in his song, his nuptials
and his habits we have a memorial of the remotest times.

How did the insect's ancestors live, in the palaeozoic age ?
They had their crude and uncouth side, banished from the
better-proportioned fauna of to-day; we catch a vague
glimpse of habits now almost out of use. It is unfortunate
for our curiosity that the fossil remains are silent on this
magnificent subject.

Luckily we have one resource left, that of consulting the
successors of the prehistoric insects. There is reason to
believe that their latter-day descendants have retained an
echo of the ancient customs and can tell us something of
the manners of olden time. Let us begin by questioning
they Decticus.

In the vivarium the sated herd are lying on their bellies
in the sun and blissfully digesting their food, giving no
other sign of life than a gentle oscillation of the antennae.
It is the hour of the after-dinner nap, the hour of enervating
heat. From time to time a male gets up, strolls solemnly
about, raises his wing-cases slightly and utters an occasional
tick-tick. Then he becomes more animated, hurries the pace
of his tune and ends by grinding out the finest piece in his
refertoire.

Is he celebrating his wedding? Is his song an epitha-
lamium? I will make no such statement, for his success
is poor if he is really making an appeal to his fair neigh-

THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS.

hours. Not one of his group of hearers gives a sign of
attention. Not a female stirs, not one moves from her com-
fortable place in the sun. Sometimes the solo becomes a
concerted piece sung by two or three in chorus. The
multiple invitation succeeds no better. True, their impas-
sive ivory faces give no indication of their real feelings. If
the suitors' ditty indeed exercises any sort of seduction, no
outward sign betrays the fact.

According to all appearances, the clicking is addressed
to heedless ears. It rises in a passionate crescendo until
it becomes a continuous rattle. It ceases when the sun
vanishes behind a cloud; it starts all over again when the
sun reappears ; but it leaves the ladies indifferent.

She who was lying with her shanks outstretched on the
blazing sand, does not change her position : her antennary
threads give not a quiver more and not a quiver less ; she
who was gnawing the remains of a Locust does not let go
the morsel, does not lose a mouthful. To look at those
heartless ones, you would really say that the singer was
making a noise for the mere pleasure of feeling himself
alive.

It is a very different matter when, towards the end of
August, I witness the commencement of the wedding. The
couple find themselves standing face to face quite casually,
without any lyrical prelude whatever. Motionless, as
though turned to stone, their foreheads almost touching,
they exchange caresses with their long antennae, fine as
hairs. The male seems somewhat preoccupied. He washes
his tarsi ; with the tips of his mandibles he tickles the soles
of his feet. From time to time he gives a stroke of the
bow : tick; no more. Yet one would think that this was
the very moment at which to make the most of his strong
points. Why not declare his flame in a fond couplet,
instead of standing there, scratching his feet? Not a bit
of it. He remains silent in front of the coveted bride,
herself impassive.

The interview, a mere exchange of greetings between
friends of different sexes, does not last long. What do they
say to each other, forehead to forehead? Not much,
apparently, for soon they separate with nothing further ; and
each goes his way where he pleases.

Next day, the same two meet again. This time, the

9 ^*

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

song, though still very brief, is in a louder key than on the
day before, while being still very far from the burst of
sound to which the Decticus will give utterance long before
the pairing. For the rest, it is a repetition of what I saw
yesterday : mutual caresses with the antennae, which limply
pat the well-rounded sides.

The male does not seem greatly enraptured. He again
nibbles his foot and seems to be reflecting. Alluring though
the enterprise may be, it is perhaps not unattended with
danger. Can there be a nuptial tragedy impending ? Can
the business be exceptionally grave? Have patience and
you shall see. For the moment, nothing more happens.

A few days later, a little light is thrown upon the subject.
The male is underneath, lying flat on the sand and towered
over by his powerful spouse, who, with the sabre of her
ovipositor exposed, standing high on her hind-legs, over-
whelms him with her embrace. No, indeed : in this posture
the poor Decticus has nothing of the victor about him !
The other, brutally, without respecting the musical-box, is
forcing open his wing-cases and nibbling his flesh just where
the belly begins.

Which of the two takes the initiative here? Have not
the parts been reversed ? She who is usually provoked is
now the provoker, employing rude caresses capable of carry-
ing off the morsel touched. She has not yielded to him ;
she has thrust herself upon him, disturbingly, imperiously.
He, lying flat on the ground, quivers and starts, seems trying
to resist. What outrageous thing is about to happen? I
shall not know to-day. The floored male releases himself
and runs away.

But this time, at last, we have it. Master Decticus is on
the ground, tumbled over on his back. Hoisted to the full
height of her shanks, the other, holding her sabre almost
perpendicular, covers her prostrate mate from a distance.
The two ventral extremities curve into a hook, seek each
other, meet ; and soon from the male's convulsive loins there
is seen to issue, in painful labour, something monstrous and
unheard-of, as though the creature were expelling its
entrails in a lump.

It is an opalescent bag, similar in size and colour to a
mistletoe-berry, a bag with four pockets marked off by faint
grooves, two larger ones above and two smaller ones below.

THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS.

In certain cases the number of cells increases ; and the whole
assumes the appearance of a packet of eggs such as Helix
asfersa, the Common Snail, lays in the ground.

The strange concern remains hanging from the lower
end of the sabre of the future mother, who solemnly retires
with the extraordinary wallet, the spermatophore, as the
physiologists call it, the source of life for the ovules, in other
words, the cruet which will now, in due course, transmit to
the proper place the necessary complement for the evolution
of the germs.

When the male has recovered from his shock, he shakes
the dust off himself and once more begins his merry click-
clack. For the present let us leave him to his joys and
follow the mother that is to be, pacing along solemnly with
her burden, which is fastened with a plug of jelly as
transparent as glass.

At intervals she draws herself up on her shanks, curls
into a ring, and seizes her opalescent load in her mandibles,
nibbling it calmly and squeezing it, but without tearing the
wrapper or shedding any of the contents. Each time, she
removes from the surface a particle which she chews and
then chews again slowly, ending by swallowing it.

This proceeding goes on for twenty minutes or so. Then
the capsule, now drained, is torn off in a single piece, all
but the jelly plug at the end. The huge, sticky mass is
not let go for a moment, but is munched, ground and
kneaded by the insect's mandibles and at last gulped down
whole.

At first I looked upon the horrible banquet as no more
than an individual aberration, an accident : the Decticus'
behaviour was so extraordinary ; no other instance of it was
known to me. But I have had to yield to the evidence of
the facts. Four times in succession I surprised my cap-
tives dragging their wallet ; and four times I saw them soon
tear it, work at it solemnly with their mandibles for hours
on end and finally gulp it down. It is therefore the rule :
when its contents have reached their destination, the fertilis-
ing capsule, possibly a powerful stimulant, an unparalleled
dainty, is chewed, enjoyed and swallowed.

When the Decticus has finished her strange feast, the
end of the apparatus still remains in its place, the end
whose most visible part consists of two crystalline nipples

II B^ 2

THE ENGLISPI REVIEW

the size of peppercorns. To rid itself of this plug, the
insect assumes a curious attitude. The ovipositor is
driven half-way into the earth, perpendicularly. That will
be the prop. The long hind-legs straighten out, raise the
creature as high as possible and form a tripod with the
sabre.

Then the insect again curves itself into a complete
circle and, with its mandibles, crumbles to atoms the end
of the apparatus, consisting of a plug of clearest jelly. All
these remnants are scrupulously swallowed. Not a scrap
must be lost. Lastly, the ovipositor is washed, wiped,
smoothed with the tips of the palpi. Everything is put in
order again; nothing remains of the cumbrous load. The
normal pose is resumed, and the insect goes back to its
pilfering of the ears of millet.

To return to the male. Limp and exhausted, as though
shattered by his exploit, he remains where he is, all
shrivelled and shrunk. He is so motionless that I believe
him dead. Not a bit of it ! The gallant fellow recovers
his spirits, picks himself up, polishes himself and goes
off. A quarter of an hour later, when he has taken a few
mouthfuls, behold him stridulating once more. The tune
is certainly lacking in spirit. It is far from being as brilliant
or prolonged as it used to be before the wedding; but, after
all, the poor old crock is doing his best.

Can he have any further amorous pretensions? It is
hardly 'likely. Affairs of that kind, calling for ruinous ex-
penditure, are not to be repeated : it would be too much for
the works of the organism. Nevertheless, next day and
every day after, when a diet of Locusts has duly renewed
his strength, the Decticus scrapes his bow as noisily as ever.
He might be the novice instead of a glutted veteran. His
persistence surprises me.

If he really sings to attract the attention of his fair neigh-
bours, what would he do with a second wife, he who has
just extracted from his paunch a monstrous wallet in which
all life's savings were accumulated ? He is thoroughly used
up. No, once more, in the big Grasshopper these things
are too costly to be done all over again. To-day's song,
despite its gladness, is certainly no epithalamium.

And, if you watch him closely, you will see that the
singer no longer responds to the teasing of the passers'

THE WHITE-FACED DECTICUS.

antennse. The ditties become fainter from day to day, ^nd
occur less frequently. In a fortnight the insect is dumb.
The dulcimer no longer sounds for lack of vigour in the
player.

At last the decrepit Decticus, who now scarcely touches
food, seeks a peaceful retreat, sinks to the ground
exhausted, stretches out his shanks in a last throe and dies.
As it happens, the widow passes that way, sees the
deceased and, breathing eternal remembrance, gnaws off
one of his thighs.

War Vignettes

By Bridget MacLagan

Bombardment

The wide, sweet heaven was filling with light. The
perfect dome of night was changing into day. A million
silver worlds dissolved from above the earth. The sun
was about to rise in stillness. No wind stirred.

A speck appeared in the great immensity. It was an
aeroplane travelling high through the mysterious twilight.
The sound of the whirring of its engine was lost in the
depthless air. Like a ghost it flew through the impalp-
able firmament. It was the only thing that moved in
heaven or earth.

The unconscious map lay spread out beneath it. The
wide plain, the long white beach, and the sea lay there
exposed to its speeding eye.

On the face of the plain were villages and cities, the
dwellings of men who had put their trust in the heavens
and had dared to people the earth.

The aeroplane turned in the sky and began circling
over a town.

The town far below was asleep. It lay pillowed on
the secure shore. Violet shadows lurked in the recesses
of its buildings. There was no movement in its streets,
no smoke from its chimneys. The ships lay still in the
deep, close harbour. Their masts rose out of the green
water like reeds thickly growing with the great funnels
and turrets of warships like strange plants among them.
The sea beyond the strong breakwater was smooth as a
silver plate. There was no sound anywhere.

The aeroplane descended, in slow spirals, upon the
town, tracing an invisible path through the pearly air. It
was as if a ghost or a messenger from Heaven were
descending upon the people of the town, who dreamed.

WAR VIGNETTES

Suddenly a scream burst from the throat of the church
tower. For an instant the sky seemed to shiver with the
shriek of that wail of terror rising from the great throat
of solid masonry. It was as if the town had awakened
in panic, and yet the town was still. Nothing stirred.
There was no sound or movement in any street. And the
sky gave back no sign.

The aeroplane continued to descend until it looked,
from the church tower, like a mosquito. Then there
dropped something from it that flashed through the air
like a spark of fire.

Silence had followed the scream.

The aeroplane, superbly poised in the spotless sky,
watched the buildings below as if waiting for some strange
thing to happen, and presently, as if exorcised by the
magic eye of that insect, a cluster of houses collapsed and
crumbled into fragments, while a roar burst from the
wounded earth.

The bombardment had commenced. The big gun had
obeyed the signal.

Still the neat surface of the wide city showed no change
save in that one spot where roofs had fallen. The day-
light brightened, painting the many surfaces of the build-
ings with pale colours. The clean, empty streets inter-
secting cut the city into firm blocks of buildings. The
pattern of the town lay spread out on the earth with its
edges marked by walls and canals.

Then the siren in the church tower screamed again. Its
wail was followed by the great detonation of a second
explosion, and a ragged hole yawned in the open square
in the middle of the town.

The aeroplane circled smoothly, watching.

Terror appeared on the face of the city. People
swarmed like ants from the houses. This way and that
they scurried, diving into cellars. Motors rushed like swift
beetles through the streets. White jets of steam rose from
the locomotives in the station-yard. The harbour throbbed.

Again there was a great noise, and a cloud of debris
was flung into the air as from a volcano and flames leapt
after it. A part of the wharf, with the shed on it, reeled
drunkenly into the sea with a splashing of water.

The white beach now was crawling with vermin. People

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

swarmed out on to the sands. Their eyes were fixed on
that evil flying thing in the sky, but at each explosion they
fell on their faces, like frantic worshippers.

The aeroplane laughed. The heavens had been
violated.

In the sand dunes it could see the tiny black figures
of men at the anti-aircraft guns. These were the defenders
of the town. They had orders to shoot to death a mos-
quito floating in boundless heaven. The little clouds that
shaped as the shrapnel burst in the sunlight were like
materialised kisses.

The face of the city began to show a curious change.
Scars appeared on it like the marks of smallpox; but, as
these thickened on its trim surface, it seemed rather as
if it were being attacked by an invisible and gigantic
beast, who was tearing and gnawing — with claws and with
teeth. Gashes appeared in its streets, long wounds with
ragged edges. Helpless, spread out to the heavens, it
seemed to grimace with mutilated features.

Nevertheless, the sun rose, touching the aeroplane with
gold, and the aeroplane laughed. It laughed at the con-
vulsed face of the town, at the beach crawling with vermin,
at the people swarming through the gates of the city along
the white roads. It laughed at the great warships, moving
out of the harbour, one by one in stately procession, the
mouths of their guns gaping helplessly in their armoured
sides. With a last flick of its glittering wings it darted
downward, defiant, dodging the kisses of shrapnel, luring
them, teasing them, playing; then, its message delivered,
its sport being over, it flew up and away through the sun-
shine, golden, disdainful.

It disappeared. Just a speck in an infinite sky, then
nothing, and a town was left in convulsions.

Rousbrugge

Ypres in ruins .^ Well, what of it? The Cloth Hall
with holes in it, the streets choked with refuse, rows of
broken walls sticking out of the ground like decayed teeth
— all that rubbish moved you, did it? Oh, I grant you
it's a sight like Pompeii and as dull. What is there of

WAR VIGNETTES

interest in a thing that's done for, a town or a human being ?
No more interest than dead flies — not in war time. Any
soldier knows what a twelve-inch shell can do. Some
hundred of them dropped on Ypres. That's all

But look at Rousbrugge, my own village — there's a
drama, there's a play without an ending. Call it the affair
of Rousbrugge and the General. He's still there, and so's
the village, that's the point. The place has not been
murdered as was Ypres, its showy sister — merely raped by
its allies.

There she is, my village, just a straggling line of houses
lying along a field in Flanders, with a v/indmill at one end.
The Yser, meandering through green fields, cuts across
the single street of cobbles. From the bridge you have a
view, sweet and pleasant, wide green stretches, graceful
trees, tall and quiet, cattle standing.

The Germans came within eight miles. There we held
them. I was glad for the old people and the children of
the place, who could stay there in their houses, smoke their
pipes, scrub their floors, and say their prayers, war or no
war, just the same, though the guns did go on pounding
over yonder, past the hedges.

They had faith, these folk, so they stayed . there all
untroubled — tilled their fields and fed their chickens,
watched us from their dusky doorways smiling as we
marched along down the road to the trenches.

Just an ordinary village, but it caught the General's
eye. Poor, stupid place, with its church, its cafes, its
brewery, its burgomaster — it was proud and self-respecting.
You'll admit that a village — even the smallest, if it gives
life to its people — draws produce from the fields around it,
makes beer and trades with cities, has a right to self-
respect. Rousbrugge had its inner life, just as every stolid
peasant has a soul. It loved itself, that is, its people.
It trusted in its burgomaster, watched him with content-
ment as he drove round in his phaeton, behind the white
horse that he'd raised as a colt from old Jan Steinsen's
mare.

Funny, how they stayed so quiet. Seemed as if they
all were deaf to the guns and to the rumours. Wonderful
to see them ploughing, pulling cabbages and turnips,
scarcely noticing the soldiers streaming through the golden

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

cornfields. Went on minding their own business just as
if nothing had happened. Liege, Louvain, Brussels,
Antwerp — nothing mattered; and the windmill waved its
arms in benediction over what was left of Belgium.

Then came the General with his Frenchmen. There
was nothing here to please him, no promise, no attraction,
but he chose it as headquarters, just because it was so mean,
too mean to be bombarded.

Unseemliness was thus the basis of this business.

I sound angry. Well, the General is a noble. He's
superb. He's all one dreams of as a Commander of an army.
Ermine and a crown would suit him, but without them
he is gorgeous. Given the Palace of the Louvre to reign
in, or the field of Waterloo to die on, well and good, but
the Rousbrugge schoolhouse for a dwelling, with the Yser
river stinking underneath its dingy windows and the
Belgian cattle dropping dung upon its doorstep? No, it
was indecent.

Rousbrugge, nevertheless, was flattered by the coming
of the General. It watched from every little window, every
crouching, crowded doorway, as his limousine manoeuvred
through the carts of hay and fodder.

Poor thing — how could the village know they would
take it for their uses, wipe it off the map and hide it under-
neath a maze of numbers, military hieroglyphics. Postal
Sector, twenty-seven, H.Q. of the 36th? This is its
address. So the price of its importance was its own
humiliation, and the village was ignored by those sinister
officials who found sustenance and comfort for the business
of destruction in its warm and humble bosom.

But the coming of the army was too stunning a per-
formance to be understood by Rousbrugge. Ail those
Colonels, Majors, Captains, all that gallant blue and
scarlet, all the noise, the grinding, shrieking, hooting
motors, and the clinking of all that money, how could
Rousbrugge keep its head? Well, it didn't

If you'd known the place as I did, if you'd known the
people of it, you would understand what happened. What
I tell you sounds like nothing.

I remember summer evenings when the homely street
was empty, dim lights shone through placid windows, per-
fumed winds came from the fields. I remember meeting

WAR VIGNETTES

Germaine by the bridge across the Yser, and how she
smiled, her round cheeks glowing, then took me home to
have a glass with her father in the cafe while the farmers
played at cards in a corner, white chairs tilted on the stone
floor that she scrubbed so briskly.

Germaine's like the best of Rousbrugge. She was
simple, kind, and willing. We who lived there found her
pleasant as the cool beer on her counter, and we took her
as she took us, loved quite honestly her body that was
strong and had a beauty. There were not so many of us
that she couldn't make us happy and go on with her scrub-
bing, singing, too, in the morning.

When the army came it found her. She was pliable
and docile.

So — the village.

The other day, when I went back there, I found the
place a seething bedlam. In the square beyond the school-
house stood a hundred waiting motors. Up the street a
train came puffing past the windmill and the church to the
market, where it stopped, disgorging food for guns and
soldiers. Smoke and dust, the smell of petrol, hurrying
figures, rushing motors, ambulances, motor lorries, wagons
full of meat or timber, motor cycles whizzing, stinking,
coffins carried by on shoulders — all this in our sleepy
village.

But more curious than the motors and the noise and
the confusion was the aspect of the houses. There was
something swollen, silly, about that double line of dwel-
lings. Half the hovels showed shop-windows crowded
with a mass of objects — razors, pipes, and tins of victuals,
caps, and boots, and whips, and towels, bottles, boxes of
all sizes, English labels staring at you. Other houses, once
close-curtained, sported now the signs of cafe, doors were
open, swinging careless into steaming-hot interiors where
one heard the clink of glasses. And the burgomaster's
villa, standing back behind a railing, bore a flag above its
doorway, where a Gendarme stood important.

What I didn't see I gathered in a half-an-hour's gossip.
My old friends were coining money. The brewery sold
its extra water at a price to make you wonder. Ancient
stables, quite too filthy, now were let for Generals' horses.
And the grave-digger was happy — sixty yellow wooden

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

crosses marked off just a week of labour in the little stag-
nant churchyard. Wounded men died in the station every
day — so they told me.

Later on I looked for Germaine. Found her up a
narrow stairway — champagne bottles on the table — and I
found she'd learned her lesson. Only officers admitted to
the room where we had loved her.

Maybe it was there I saw it, all the queerness I've been
telling. Rising from beside her body, that was now so
much more potent, charged now with the lust of strangers,
I looked through the little window down on to a stream of
motors. Like a noisy, stinking serpent it came writhing
through the village, flinging dust into the houses — dust and
germs of greed and sickness.

Then I paid my bill and left her to the General's horde
of Frenchmen.

Ireland at the Cross Roads

After Thirteen Years
By Filson Young

In the book with the above title that was published
thirteen years ago I ventured to assert that the problem of
Ireland was a psychological problem, and that any attempt
to solve it on any other basis was doomed to failure.
Everything that has happened since then has strengthened
and confirmed that opinion. Through the thin crust of
political Government the fires of discontent, disloyalty,
and vague, wrong-headed patriotic heroics have broken out
in a way to cause the maximum of danger and discredit to
England. Upon this we have the rush of politicians to
the scene; Mr. Redmond, Sir Edward Carson, hastily take
counsel with their followers. Mr. Asquith hurries over to
see, in the form of bricks and mortar, flesh and blood, what
he sees and feels much mofe clearly in the forms of votes
and influence; Mr. Lloyd George, that great incendiary
turned salvage man, is sent to turn his jets of talk on the
conflagration and produce a compromise. Being a
politician and vote-broker on a large scale, he immediately
produces an apparently satisfactory settlement — in terms
of votes and talking-seats.

In short, another juggle is attempted with the political
situation ; but the problem of Irish psychology remains. By
a psychological problem I mean that in administering the
affairs of Ireland it is necessary first of all to recognise what
is essentially Irish and to separate it from all subsidiary
complications, however acute. For if you are born and
live in Ireland you are an Irishman first, and a Nationalist or
an Orangeman, a Catholic or a Presbyterian, a Sinn Feiner
or an Imperialist, a Redmondite or a Carsonite afterwards.
Among ourselves we vehemently disagree and are sharply
divided; we accuse one another of being Scots, English,

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

Irish, rebel, loyal, elect or damned; but to the rest of the
world we are all simply Irish, so definite and characteristic
are the qualities in which we differ from other people. And
to attempt to deal from the outside with our internal
differences otherwise than on the basis of qualities which we
have in common is to make, as I think, the first mistake ; and
to keep Ireland halting at the cross roads, not of meeting,
but of divergence.

What are the qualities common to the people of Ireland ?
First, I would put the virtues : Enthusiasm, imagination,
idealism, insight, sympathy, courage, a capacity for
reverence, the spirit of hope and faith in what we believe
to be good or desirable. Then come two qualities which,
although they add salt to life and keep it interesting, are
not of uniform advantage in material affairs : The sense of
humour, and the capacity — sometimes fatal — for seeing
both sides of a question. Both these qualities are highly
developed in the Irish ; but, curiously enough, they are both
of them a little late in asserting themselves ; they are at their
strongest just after we have made (without their aid) a false
move. Thirdly, Irishmen of every kind have in common
a certain instability of judgment. Often wise and discerning
in the affairs of others, we are liable to weakness and
prejudice in judgment of our own affairs. We may be wise
for others, but are unwise for ourselves. In the objective
employment of our faculties we are strong; in their subjec-
tive employment, weak. We are greedy of the whole of
life, and therefore untenacious of any part of it. The grasp
is wide and generous, but it is often loose. Further, there
is in the Irishman no very great passion for abstract truth ;
rather, I would say, for relative, and sometimes for merely
convenient truth. And there is the inevitable complement
of the sanguine temperament — a liability to fits of black
depression and discouragement; to sudden letting go of
things and saying, "What's the use?" There are other
virtues and faults which are characteristic of different divi-
sions of the people of Ireland, but those which I have stated
are broadly common to them all. We may sum them up by
saying that in individualism lies our strength and our weak-
ness.

All these qualities can be plainly read in the things
that Irish people do, as distinguished from the things that

IRELAND AT THE CROSS ROADS

are done to or for them. But I would ask those who are
now looking depressedly at Ireland not to be discouraged by
them. I am convinced that they are not nearly as indicative of
the true state of Ireland as they seem to be ; and that this
late miserable and indeed shameful affair is something that,
so far as the shame of it is concerned, has happened to
England much more than to Ireland. For truly the Irish
difficulty has been steadily disappearing for the last ten
years. Just two years ago I made a comprehensive tour in
the West and South of Ireland, going chiefly among the
dairy farmers of those parts. The Home Rule controversy
was at its height in England, and, of course, in certain parts
of Ireland ; but here, among the discontented, among those
who really had made the Irish problem, it had sunk to a
very secondary importance in their eyes. They were settled
at last as proprietors on the land ; the acres they were farm-
ing were their own, they were much more deeply interested
in questions of co-operation, credit, dry sillage and creamery
management than in the question of Home Rule. Of course,
they did not say so in many words, or admit that any ques-
tion could be more important than the political one; but
that is where the difference between abstract and relative
truth comes in ; the fact was potent in the whole direction
and activity of their lives. They had really crossed their
Jordan as it were in the night, in their sleep, although they
did not know it : and were already exploring the meadows
of the Promised Land.

Who are the men who have done really most for
Ireland ? Not her strongest men. Perhaps the two repre-
sentatives of what is strongest to-day in Ireland (not
what is most violent) are Mr. Redmond and Sir Edward
Carson; but their strength has hitherto not been a con-
structive strength. Our strength goes to warfare within
ourselves, and keeps us ever restless, dissatisfied and
unvictorious. To go back to my first point, our strength and
our strong men are busy with our differences and not with
our unities — just as an enemy would be. If Germany,
instead of falsely and insidiously pretending to be a friend
of Ireland, had come openly as the enemy she is, do you
think there wouFd have been any differences in Dublin or
fratricide in her streets ? It would be one certain way of
producing a united front.

THE ENGLISH REVILW

But England is not, and can never be, an enemy of
Ireland ; and so can never unite her by these means. The
miserable contest of English political parties will never
settle our domestic differences, nor can a united Ireland
ever be a prize for either side in that poor game. But — and
here is the true ground for encouragement and hope — the
basis of peace and contentment has already been estab-
lished, and those who have had the sense to recognise it
have long been building upon it. Peasant proprietorship
was not enough, although it was necessary as a beginning.
A new kind of idealism, inculcated by an idealist, was also
necessary. An ideal of co-operation had to supplant the
suspicious individualism of the peasant mind. That ideal
has been inculcated, fostered, and developed with infinite
patience and pains. Mr. Gerald Balfour has never got due
recognition for having had the insight to recognise and the
courage to further the principle on which alone the Irish
problem could ultimately be settled, although he will surely
receive it in the future. He is gone from any part in Irish
affairs ; but a far greater influence than his still remains —
an influence which, if rightly used at this juncture and in the
immediate future, would materially help the Government
along the right lines of settlement. I firmly believe that
when the history of our time in Ireland comes to be written
the name of Horace Plunkett will stand higher than any
other. Often foiled in his efforts, often discouraged, his
hurrying idealism forced back and back to the very roots
and seed-like elements of things, sometimes unwise, some-
times misled, he and the band of workers who have
gradually gathered round him have really been achieving.
They have not worked at the outward hulls of government,
but at the inner springs of the Irish character. Many of them
obscure men, priests, ministers, farmers, small officials,
humble workers and helpers, they have nevertheless been
silently building, while others have been valiantly, but on
the whole destructively, fighting. On the political side men
like Lord Dunraven have also been working for a common-
sense solution which should be based not on differences, but
on things in common. Again, not the strongest men; not
politicians, not fighters, not even inspired or profoundly
devoted men, but men who have seen the truth, and with
such voice as they .had, proclaimed it in season and out of

IRELAND AT THE CROSS ROADS

season. Dealing with the matter in political terms, and
necessarily standing outside political parties and without the
use of political machinery, theirs have hitherto been voices
crying in the wilderness ; as all voices that proclaim the truth
must for a time be. Their lines, however, are lines that the
political mind can grasp and understand; lines which the
political mind will now do well to examine and follow, if it
can find the courage to admit that its own lines have hitherto
been of a kind that lead to no finality : straight lines, perhaps,
but lines which, being, produced ever so far both ways, do
not meet.

Surely, if there is any grain of truth in these observa-
tions— and they represent a view that is far from being
original or peculiar to me — -the true wisdom with regard to
Ireland is to consult the builders rather than the fighters and
to proceed on the lines which alone have hitherto produced,
or shown any promise of producing, some desirable result
in the form of material prosperity and contentment. When
the dust of the present catastrophe shall have cleared away
the work of the builders will stand; the work of the politi-
cians will be visible only in the form of ruins and debris —
to be cleared away as soon as possible, and, in the mercy
of time, forgotten.

Musical Notes

By Edwin Evans

Once more Sir Thomas Beecham occupies the foreground
of the musical scene. With all gratitude to him, it is a little
humiliating to consider that, but for the accident of his
presence, with means to give effect to his wishes, opera
would be at a standstill in London; whilst it is still active
in the capitals of all the fighting nations, except in Cettinje,
and perhaps Belgrade. Even the infinitesimal grant to
musical purposes that figures in the national Budget has
been cut down. Perhaps some day it will occur to our
leaders that the two greatest organisations for "peaceful
penetration" that the world has ever known, the Roman
Catholic Church and the modern German Empire, have
been intelligently and rightly alive to the proselytising
influence of music. It is no mere accident that both have
been, the former deliberately and the latter unconsciously,
anxious to preserve their music free from foreign elements.
Between the late Pope's pronouncement against the intrusion
of modern music into the liturgy, and Hans Sachs's con-
temptuous rejection of " Walschen Tand" there is a deep
analogy. I do not suggest that we should be equally uncom-
promising ; but, if only in self-defence, we should make our
music a national, as well as a private interest. Otherwise it
will continue to the crack of doom to be overrun from
without.

The new season has opened with two outstanding per-
formances. " Otello" was given in Italian out of deference
to Shakespeare, whose spirit loses less in an Italian transla-
tion than it would in an English adaptation to the music.
" Tristan and Isolda " was given in English, with the unex-
pected result that whole pages of the text could be heard
through the orchestra far more clearly than has ever been
possible with' the guttural German. Besides being a feat
on the part of the singers, this has an immediate bearing on
the question of national opera, which continues to be dis-

MUSICAL NOTES

cussed as part of the larger questions of the English musical
idiom, and the singing of the English language, I cannot
help thinking that the habit of listening to so much singing
in languages which are unintelligible to the majority has
much to do with our absurd tolerance of unintelligible sing-
ing of our own. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand why
audiences do not arise in their wrath and hurl the books of
words at the singers' heads, instead of submitting tamely
to the imposture. If Miss Rosina Buckman, severely handi-
capped by Wagner, can let us hear what Isolda has to say,
it is obviously a swindle that one should be compelled to
pay sixpence to discover what a ballad is about.

This is one of several problems to which the Society of
English Singers has devoted its deliberations for something
like four years. Early last month its members, for the first
time, invited the Press to hear an exposition of its aims.
These consist primarily of a programme of educational
reform, which has been submitted to our leading institutions,
backed by signatures of unassailable authority. Ultimately
the object is the creation of a school of singing that shall be
founded on the English language, just as Italian singing
derives from the Italian language. No doubt the presence
of Sir Charles Stanford in the chair, and of several other
well-known composers, was the reason why the actual setting
of the words was not discussed, as it has surely been in
private. If it is possible to imagine the Society as invested
with the powers of a mediaeval guild, I picture it as sitting
in judgment upon an unintelligible singer. There will be
counsel for the defence, whose most effective method will be
the attempt to prove to the jury that the words cannot be
sung to the composer's music. If he fails, the singer will be
fined and pilloried. If he succeeds, something much more
drastic will be done to the composer; and if a succession
of guilty composers hail from the same teaching institution,
the building will be applied to more useful purposes. In
time, the study of English vocal inflections will produce a
melodic idiom that will no longer be based upon theoretical
studies illustrated solely by non-English examples. From
that melodic idiom English opera will grow, as distinct from
opera in English which we have now. Between an English
translation fitted to a foreign melodic idiom and an original
English text set in the same fashion the difference is not

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

great, so far as the problem of diction is concerned. Real
progress will commence when the text sings itself with the
ease of an Italian libretto. There is not the slightest reason
why it should not. Meanwhile the standard of diction in
the Beecham Company, to which many members of the
Society belong, is higher than has hitherto been the rule, and
with each successive season the experience gained brings it
a little nearer to the ideal.

A new fixture in the present season is the commissioning
of modern artists to design the stage settings. That for
" Otello " is the work of M. Polunin, a Russian painter, who
has achieved a remarkable concentration of design. For
some reason or other our drama is peculiarly loth to learn
the value of artistic economy. " Othello " has been set
before now with a distracting motif to every few feet of
stage until the effect was suggestive of those mammoth
circuses with three rings and innumerable side-shows. That
is, of course, fatal to the tragic spirit, which requires a relent-
less unity of purpose. M. Polunin's studied simplicity has
a far more telling value than the lavishness so dear to our
actor-managers. The designs for " Tristan " were the work
of Mr. A. P. Allinson, whose achievement is also remark-
able, but in another direction. The mechanical side of stage-
craft has proved more recalcitrant to him, but his imagina-
tion is vivid, both for colour and composition. He adopted
a somewhat personal interpretation of the Celtic style, which
was effective in itself, but would probably have made a
better background to the "Tristan" upon which Debussy is
engaged than it did to Wagner's opera. It was unfortunate
that KurvenaFs costume was not part of the design. His
Bayreuth- Viking appearance on this Celtic scene had the
effect of reminding one that Tristan, like Shakespeare, is a
German conquest. It was more the originality of Mr. Allin-
son's work than his sense of the theatre that made his setting
effective. With the numerous operas reported to be in pre-
paration, Sir Thomas will have ample opportunities of
doing as much for some of our more daring artists as he
has done for our composers.

THE WAR OF LIBERATION
Kitchener

By John Helston

There is wild water from the north ;

The headlands darken in their foam

As with a threat of challenge stubborn earth

Booms at that far wild sea-line charging home.

The night shall stand upon the shifting sea

As yesternight stood there,

And hear the cry of waters through the air,

The iron voice of headlands start and rise —

The noise of winds for mastery

That screams to hear the thunder in those cries.

But now henceforth there shall be heard

From Brough of Bursay, Marwick Head,

And shadows of the distant coast,

Another voice bestirred —

Telling of something greatly lost

Somewhere below the tidal glooms, and dead.

Beyond the uttermost

Of aught the night may hear on any seas

From tempest-known wild water's cry, and roar

Of iron shadows looming from the shore,

It shall be heard — and when the Orcades

Sleep in a hushed Atlantic's starry folds

As smoothly as, far down below the tides.

Sleep on the windless broad sea-wolds

Where this night's shipwreck hides.

By many a sea-holm where the shock
Of ocean's battle falls, and into spray
Gives up its ghosts of strife ; by reef and rock
Ravaged by their eternal brute affray

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

With monstrous frenzies of their shore's green foe;

Where overstream and overfall and undertow

Strive, snatch away;

A wistful voice, without a sound,

Shall dwell beside Pomona, on the sea.

And speak the homeward- and the outward-bound.

And touch the helm of passing minrfs

And bid them steer as wistfully —

Saying : " He did great work, until the winds

And waters hereabout that night betrayed

Him to the drifting death ! His work went on —

He would not be gainsaid. . . .

Though where his bones are, no man knows, not one ! "

.^o

The Shipping Muddle

By David G. Pinkney

No genius is required to perceive that our mercantile
marine has played a part of unsuspected consequence in the
present war. Unless that fact is recognised, we are driven
to the conclusion that the Government has shown criminal
negligence, and has connived at the lamentable waste of
money in the Transport Department of the Admiralty, and
the quite preventable gamble in the freight markets. Had
a reasonable amount of foresight been shown, and some
kind of system devised for linking up our tonnage as an
indispensable factor in the prosecution of the war, neither
of these calamities could have occurred. Even allowing a
reasonable margin for contingencies which nobody could
have foreseen owing to the unprecedented magnitude of our
naval and military operations, the charge of culpable negli-
gence still remains in principle though we may modify it in
degree. There is but one circumstance which the most
bare-faced sycophants of the Government — and their name
is legion — might be excused for alleging in extenuation of
its blunders, namely, that in previous great wars the func-
tions of the mercantile marine were comparatively insignifi-
cant compared with those of the present time ; and that the
change from sail to steam has been effected so quickly that
we have barely had time to realise its importance. In other
words, for war purposes the sailing vessel with its limited
possibilities has been ousted by the steamship with its
infinite capacity for transport and coaling work. The
change began to be felt about sixty or seventy years ago,
but only gradually, and it was not until after the introduc-
tion of the Limited Liability Companies Act, 1862, that the
full significance of this organic change became apparent by
the tremendous impetus which was given to the building

THE ENGLISH REVH^W

of "vessels navigated by steam," as they are quaintly
described in the early volumes of Lloyd's Register of Ship-
ping. In order to give some idea of the marvellous increase
in the number of steamers that has subsequently taken place
it may be mentioned, that whilst in 1880 we owned only
6,574,513 tons of shipping flying the British flag, it
increased to the colossal figure of 21,274,068 in 19 14.*

One can therefore understand that the Government may
not have fully realised the vast amount of shipping which
it was liable to be called upon to handle in case of war.

But however much we may be inclined to distend that
spirit of fair play for which we have a well-deserved repu-
tation, nothing on earth can excuse a too rigid adherence
to antiquated formulae in dealing with this question. After
all, we had a certain amount of experience during the
Egyptian campaigns, the South African War, and other
similar though minor undertakings. All elderly shipbrokers
remember the tenders for tonnage which the Government
sent out on these occasions for naval and military require-
ments, showing that even in those early days of steam ship-
ping the Transport Department of the Admiralty must
have possessed some amount of system for dealing with
mercantile tonnage in war-time.

How, then, can we account for the chaos which reigned
in that department when we threw down the gauntlet to
Germany in August, 1914 ? There was no evidence of even
a skeleton plan for organising our shipping on a war foot-
ing. Had such been in existence at that time nothing can
condone the hugger-mugger into which the shipping
interests of the nation were plunged. Looking back on
the last twenty months, one does not know whether to
laugh or cry at the idiotic blunders which have been per-
petrated during that short period. Fortunately, the situa-
tion had no serious aspect for the first few months after war
was declared, and for two reasons. In the first place the
tonnage requirements of the Government were very limited,
and secondly, the freight markets were in a state of

* The following figures, taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica^ showing
the growth of British tonnage, still further illustrate the importance of the
conclusions drawn in this article :■ —

1588. . 12,500 tons 1830. . 2,199,959 tons 1880. . 6,574,513 tons

1770 . . 682,000 „ 1840 . . 2,768,262 „

1791 . . 1,511,401 „ i860. . 4,658,687 „ 1914 21,274,068 „

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

collapse. In July, 19 14, freights were lower than they had
been almost within living memory, and that unfortunate con-
dition of affairs was aggravated by the international finan-
cial dislocation which took place rendering it almost impos-
sible for merchants to negotiate for the transport of cargoes.
By October, 19 14, shipowners were almost at their wits' end,
and steamers were sold at one-fifth of the value that they
command to-day. So that the Government found no diffi-
culty in filling its wants, and shipowners were fain to accept
a very moderate rate on time-charter for their steamers. Up
to that moment, therefore, the war had proved of no value
to the shipping community.

Then a sudden and wonderful transformation took place
which revealed for the first time the utter incapacity of our
bureaucratic system. Instead of a speedy termination of
hostilities, as had been the fond hope in Government and
other circles, this country was compelled to realise that it
would be called upon to undertake ever-increasing respon-
sibilities, and neutral nations, fearing that they would be
dragged into the maelstrom of war, began to lay in stocks
of grain, coal and other supplies from overseas. There
arose an unprecedented demand for tonnage, which, as will
shortly be described, eventually became nothing less than
a wild gamble, unfettered and uncontrolled.

That this state of affairs could have been prevented,
wholly as regards tcfnnage owned by the allied nations, and
very considerably in respect of that belonging to neutral
countries, admits of no doubt whatever. No real attempt
was made by our Government to control the situation. The
fact that 42 per cent, of the world's tonnage flies the British
flag proves that had the most elementary methods been
employed by the Admiralty and the Board of Trade for
controlling our shipping even at that critical stage, hundreds
of millions of pounds could have been saved in freight
alone during the past eighteen months. But they were too
disdainful and self-satisfied to listen to the advice which
practical shipping men poured into their ears month after
month, and when the history of the war is written their
ineffable contempt. for the shipping man anxious to guide
them on business lines will stand out as one of its greatest
follies, for which the world in general has paid, and con-
tinues to pay, a very grievous price.

Z3 c

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

The whole trouble lies in a nutshell, and it would be
courting a similar disaster in future to disguise the truth.
Government officials, however competent they may be to
manage purely State affairs, are totally unfitted for the
management of a highly technical business, such as that of
steam-shipping. It is essentially different from the more
or less routine work of naval administration for which they
have been trained to the highest standard of efficiency. The
gratitude of the nation towards our Admiralty, taken as a
whole, for the marvellous state of preparedness of our Navy
when war broke out can hardly be put into words. It is the
Transport Department alone which deserves our censure.
It broke down completely in carrying out the duties for
which it exists ; it requires thorough and drastic reorganisa-
tion. Any large firm which attempted to do its business
without a central control of thoroughly competent men and
a staff of departmental managers and clerks capable of
carrying out technical details, would be bankrupt in six
months. And yet, incredible as it may seem, that was the
actual situation in the Transport Department in August,
1914; and, but for the recent' introduction of a limited
number of shipping experts, who are doing everything
humanly possible to stop the leakage of money and mate-
rial, we would have remained in the same plight to-day.
And not only was the department in question hopelessly
unfitted for its work, but the Board of Trade, that unwieldy
jungle of departmental profundities, also took a hand in the
game and made confusion worse confounded by issuing its
own instructions to shipowners, often rescinded almost as
soon as they were sent out. It was a standing puzzle to dis-
cover where the powers of the Admiralty began and those
of the Board of Trade finished, particularly at that period of
war which is now under consideration. There was no recog-
nisable co-relation between the two departments, and this
is a point which will no doubt be rectified when the whole
system is placed on an intelligent and practical footing, as
is so urgently needed.

The seriousness of the matter first became apparent at
the end of 19 14, or the beginning of 191 5, when the
Admiralty requisitioned many hundreds of steamers in the
most indiscriminate manner. Apparently there were no lists
of shipowners kept on file, together with the number, names

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

and positions of their vessels, so that at any given moment
as fair a proportion as possible might be immediately
requisitioned from each owner or company, at blue-book
rates. And in order to show the injustice of this procedure
it is necessary to explain, that blue-book rates, which were
settled by consent between the Government and the ship-
owners, were far below the equivalent of the rates which
were obtainable in the open markets. Roughly speaking,
a vessel on Government service could only make from one-
half to one-third the profit she would have made by trading
"on her own." Consequently, through official stupidity,
those owners who had more than their fair proportion of
steamers requisitioned suffered a heavy penalty.

The following table, quoted from the Times of
November nth, 191 5, was compiled in answer to a question
put in the House of Commons, and illustrates the hap-
hazard manner in which vessels of certain specified firms
were " commandeered " in the early part of the war, and how
the mistake was largely rectified ten months later, by which
time, however, the Admiralty had reluctantly consented to
take the advice of a body of shipowners : —

" In answer to Mr. Shirley Benn, who asked what was
the percentage of tonnage owned by certain companies
which was requisitioned by the Government up to
January ist, 19 15, and the percentage owned by each house
under requisition by the Government on October ist. Dr.
Macnamara furnishes the following particulars :

Up to up to

Jan. I, Oct, I

I9I5. I9I5.

British India S.N. Co. (Ltd.) 46*5* 4r3t

Canadian Pacific Rly. Co i6'o 20'o

T. V^ilson, Sons & Co. (Ltd.) 9-0 1375

Raeburn & Verel — 25*0

Maclay & Maclntyre 2*1 24*5

E. T. Radcliffe & Co 4-3 36-0

Foster, Hain & Read (E. Hain & Son) . 30-4 257

W. Runciman & Co. i'6 22"6

Prince Line (Ltd.) io'i5 i8'o

" Dr. Macnamara adds that the figures given for the
period from the beginning of the war up to January ist, 1915,
represent the proportion of the total time for which the ships

* 41 '3 Per cent, represents ships requisitioned by the Indian Government,
t 30-0 Per cent.

35 c 2

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

requisitioned were on Government service bears to the full
working time of the whole fleet for the period August 4th,
19 14, to January ist, 19 15. The details given for
October ist, 191 5, show the percentage of ships belonging
to the respective firms which were actually on service at that
date."

Another feature of this requisitioning muddle has also a
very direct bearing on the mad competition which arose in
the freight markets and deserves special notice. If the full
extent of that bearing could be demonstrated, I venture to
think it would open the eyes of the public to the extravagant
abuse made by naval and military officials of the powers
vested in them for calling on the Admiralty to provide ton-
nage for transport purposes. Time after time, questions
were asked in both Houses of Parliament on this subject,
and it was fully ventilated in a discussion in which many
Members of Parliament, who had made extensive inquiries
on the subject, took part. Amongst those politicians who
have devoted an immense amount of time and energy in
laying bare the shortcomings of the Transport Department,
may be mentioned : Lord Joicey, Lord Beresford, Sir
Joseph Walton, M.P., Sir H. S. Samuel, M.P., Mr. Hous-
ton, M.P., Mr. Shirley Benn, M.P., Captain Peto, M.P.,
and Mr. Goldstone, M.P., and two Committees were
appointed to deal with the matter. One of these Com-
mittees was appointed some five months ago, under the
chairmanship of Lord Curzon, who stated in the House of
Lords on May 3rd last, in answer to a question by Lord
Beresford, that the reason for the non-publication of the
report of that Committee was, "that it contains informa-
tion, figures and facts of a character so confidential that
the noble lord himself would be the first to agree that it
was undesirable in the public interest that it should be
made known to the world.'' That cannot be called a satis-
factory reply, and leaves one cold. The other Committee,
appointed last January under the chairmanship of Mr.
Herbert Samuel, "to consider how economy might be
secured in Admiralty expenditure,"^ is apparently so
scared at its discoveries that it has not had the courage to

* Lord Joicey in the House of Lords, loth Nov. 191 5, stated that in his
opinion milHons upon millions had been wasted by the Admiralty Transport
Department, and Lord Joicey is a keen judge in such matters.

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

report anything whatever ! Mr. Samuel has been publicly
challenged to publish the findings of his Committee, but he
maintains a discreet but ominous silence. Some day or
other the public will rebel at this farcical creation of deaf
and dumb Committees. Even the most powerful of sooth-
ing syrups is liable to fail in its effect when administered too
frequently. When the Government finds criticism becom-
ing too hot, it usually adopts the formula " appoint a Com-
mittee," with favourable results to itself. This practice
seems to be a variant on the advice given to the bumble-
puppy player " when in doubt, play trumps." I respect-
fully ask Mr. Samuel once more to favour us with the result
of his investigations. Did he find that the Transport
Department really did commit muddle-headed blunders
resulting in the sacrifice of colossal sums of money? Is it
really true, as alleged, that naval and military authorities
ordered more than a reasonable margin of tonnage for coal-
ing and transport purposes, and kept the vessels waiting
much longer in port than was necessary? I will detail a
few of these costly absurdities later in this article, and my
readers will then appreciate the cogency of my questions
to Mr. Samuel. Taking S,ooo tons as the average cargo
capacity of the steamers requisitioned, with an average
capability of performing four round voyages (out and
home) per annum, it follows that every vessel needlessly
requisitioned is equivalent to 40,000 tons per annum being
taken away from the commercial markets. Now, Mr.
Runciman stated in the House of Commons that we
import 160,000 tons of paper-making material every year,
and that we are now experiencing a shortage of that com-
modity. If steamers have been needlessly requisitioned,
four of them could rectify the paper shortage within a few
months by releasing them from Admiralty service, and
employing them to bring wood-pulp to this country.

In any event, it is quite certain that the wholesale
requisitioning of steamers, and particularly the unfair
method of doing it, had the the effect of driving tonnage
away from the United Kingdom, lest it should be taken
over by the Admiralty at unremunerative blue-book rates.
Consequently, merchants and charterers found great diffi-
culty in finding steamers to bring cargoes to this country,
and they had to pay higher rates of freight to get their

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

requirements filled. That was one of the two principal
geneses from which arose the greatest shipping boom in
history, which could have been wholly prevented, or signally
checked, so far as this country is concerned, had there been
a Ministry of Marine with a staff of live shipping men to
direct — not merely to advise — the barnacles in the Trans-
port Department of the Admiralty in respect of everything
connected with the commercial side of this great question.
The other cause which precipitated the mad rush for
tonnage was the sudden demand which sprang up in neutral
countries. Early in 19 15 it became evident that those who
predicted an early cessation of hostilities were mistaken,
and as the war area increased, and the certain advent in the
field of other belligerents became apparent, neutral nations
adopted the precaution of importing large quantities of
grain, coal, and other commodities. Italy led the way,
other nations followed in her wake. Tonnage even at that
time was already becoming scarce, and competition for it
became so great that freights took an upward bound, which
nothing could stop. Every day saw new records estab-
lished in all the freight markets of the world, and ship-
owners since that period have had the time of their lives,
especially those of neutral nationalities, whose profits have
been much larger, and also liable to less taxation than those
of their British competitors. It would be inexpedient and
serve no useful purpose to produce long tables of figures
showing the comparative rates of freight ruling before and
during the war. It will suffice to give a few examples of the
amazing rise which commenced early in 191 5, and has only
been checked (for reasons which will shortly be given)
during the past few weeks. For instance, in July, 19 14,
the rate of freight on grain from Argentina to the United
Kingdom was only iis. 6d. per ton, a figure, it should be
mentioned, which left a loss to the shipowner : by the end
of 19 1 4 it had risen to 40s., and eventually it reached the
colossal figure of 175s., and remained at about that level
for many months. Now every los. freight is equivalent to
Jd. on the price of a 4-lb. loaf of bread, so that the increased
cost of bread in war-time is easily accounted for, and if
anything will rouse the nation to demand the appointment
of a body of practical men to regulate our shipping in time
of war, surely the figures just given will do so. A similar

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

thing took place in America, where grain freight rates
went up from 2s. or 2s. 3d. per quarter of 480 lb. to 17s. 6d.
per quarter, or more to the U.K., and to no less than 30s.
to 32s. 6d. to Mediterranean destinations. Similar
conditions prevailed as regards cargoes taken to Scandi-
navian ports for which stupendous rates were paid, and
seeing that a large proportion of these cargoes eventually
found a resting-place in German ports most British people
will never forgive our Government for such an abuse of our
indefeasible maritime rights. Apart from the folly of it,
there is no doubt whatever that if we had closed the North
Sea entirely, or put neutral countries adjacent to Germany
on a " rationing " basis, the vessels which have been engaged
transporting supplies to our enemy during nearly two years
of war, would have been obliged to seek other markets, and
would have? been diverted to the forts of the Allies. Think
how that would have relieved our short supply of tonnage.
And it is not yet too late to put it into practice. As is shown
elsewhere the shortage of British tonnage is becoming a
national danger of the first de^ee and a tight
blockade of the North Sea is imperative, for by
putting that in force we would bring the war to
a speedy termination, and in the meantime our
neutral " friends " would become carriers of our own much-
needed food and other supplies. The bold sailor-man is on
our side, but the funky lawyer is against us. If not for our
own sakes, then for the sake of our children and our
children's children, let us demand and insist that our Navy
be put to the primary use for which it was built, to blockade
the enemy, and starve him out.

There are many other phases of the freight boom with
which it is impossible to deal within the limits of an article
of this nature. As was the case with grain rates, so
it was also with cotton, coal, timber, and almost everything
else that is transported overseas. Fortunes were made by
merchants, middlemen, and shipowners; and the pure
speculator, flushed with success, materially aggravated an
already serious situation by running up prices regardless of
the consequences so long as he lined his own pockets with
gold.

The shipowners were not to blame for the freight boom.
I make that statement with a full sense of responsibility.

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

No doubt there were a few of them who could not resist the
temptation which was presented to them, and used every
effort to appreciate the value of their vessels, but, as a whole,
I am convinced that British shipowners, through the fault
of the Government, as already described, were placed in an
utterly false position, which they themselves never sought.
No less than 57 per cent, of their tonnage has been requisi-
tioned, leaving only 43 per cent, for commercial purposes.^
Is it to be wondered at that merchants and speculators,
in their frantic efforts to o})tain that very limited available
residuum of tonnage, bombarded shipowners with offers of
freight, each more attractive than the last, and that the
shipowner was thus placed in a situation from which he
could not have extricated himself without being false to his
trust. Hundreds of millions sterling are invested in British
steamers, and it must not be forgotten that during the ten
years, from 1901 to 19 10 inclusive, the shareholders who
provided that money received mere skeleton dividends —
probably an average of not more than i per cent. — after
deducting 5 per cent, for depreciation of the property, so
that, in any case, many thousands of our countrymen, who
are not shipowners as such, are reaping the benefit of the
shipping boom. Moreover, when the amount of excess
profit taxation drawn from shipping during the war becomes
known, it will be an agreeable revelation to the public, and
represent a very material proportion of the cost of the
war itself. So I feel justified in sounding a note of protest
against those who are always ready to throw big stones at
others who have come into a share of unexpected prosperity.
Although the shipping boom could have been prevented,
the 60 per cent, or more excess profit taxation just men-
tioned is a not unimportant discount which must be borne
in mind when we consider the cost of the war, and the
increased food prices now prevailing. The nation is
"getting its own back again."

The prices of steamers also rose during the war con-
sistently with the rise in freights. A vessel, which was sold
by auction in September, 19 14, for ;£i9,ooo, was resold last
year for ;£6o,ooo, and is now worth ;£ 100,000. That is a
mild example of the hundreds of transactions that have
taken place during the war, and in many cases the profits

* Lord Curzon in the House of Lords, 3rd May, 191 6.
40

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

made by sellers have been more than extraordinary. It will
be a long time before prices recede to the pre-war level, and
there are shrewd judges who predict that the future
demands of shipyard workers will preclude any possibility
of vessels ever being turned out again on a basis of £5 to
£6 per ton as was the case for a series of years prior to
19 14, with a few notable exceptions.

It will now be convenient to give some idea of the pre-
posterous blunders committed by the Admiralty Transport
Department in the manipulation of requisitioned tonnage.
They are almost beyond belief, as the following instances
will show. The expensive passenger steamer " City of
Birmingham," absolutely unsuitable for carrying a heavy
cargo, was requisitioned at a U.K. port, and sent out in
ballast to the west coast of South America — about 10,000
miles — to load a cargo of nitrate of soda; whereas an ordi-
nary tramp steamer, built for carrying dead-weight cargoes,
might have been obtained within fifteen days steaming of the
nitrate ports, and at half the freight. Again, several steamers
of 5,000 to 6,000 tons capacity were sent from Cardiff to
the East Coast of Scotland, with cargoes of coal for Navy
requirements, especially patrol-boats, and after being
employed four months on that work, they arrived back in
Cardiff with several hundred tons — in one case 800 tons —
of their original cargo on hoard. Take one or two more
examples. A steamer called at Gibraltar for bunker coal
en route to the Gulf of Mexico, to load a cargo of grain for
the U.K. Now the price of coal at Gibraltar was 57s. 6d.
per ton, and in the Gulf it is about 14s. per ton. Will it be
believed that instead of buying only sufficient dear coal at
Gibraltar to take her to the Gulf, and replenishing her
bunkers there at 14s. per ton for the homeward run, she
bought coal for the whole round at Gibraltar ! That stroke
of imbecility cost the country £1,000 or more, and one
wonders how many more such cases there were which have
never come to light. But even that was positively skilful
compared with my next and concluding example. Every-
body who has cut his wisdom teeth knows that Archangel is a
port in the White Sea, which freezes up every winter, and
remains so until about the middle of May. Shipowners know
it, at any rate, and take particular care to get their vessels
out of the port before King Frost appears on the scene;

41 c'*

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

but occasionally — only occasionally — they are nipped. Last
winter, no fewer than eighty vessels requisitioned by the
Transport Department were caught in ice, and remained
there until the navigation reopened this year — say, about
six months. That fleet of vessels represents say about
400,000 tons of shipping; and I leave it to the imagina-
tion of the public to assess what share the putting out
of commission of all those steamers must have had on
the price of our foodstuffs to-day. Ordinary dictionary
words seem quite inadequate to criticise such witless folly.
And yet Parliament is never tired of exhorting the nation
to practise economy !

But, it will be asked, what steps did the ♦Government
take to remedy the shocking muddle created by their want
of foresight? Was no attempt made to reorganise the fer-
sonnel and to stop the rampageous extravagance of the
Admiralty Transport Department? Did the Government
stand idly by when the stampede in the freight market took
place ? To such questions only a humiliating reply can be
given. For many months nothing whatever was done, and
things were allowed to drift until, in the early days of 19 15,
the depletion of tonnage by requisition and by enemy sub-
marines became alarming. Yielding, as usual, to public
pressure our wiseacres appointed a Director of Transports,
Mr. Graeme Thompson being chosen for the position. His
appointment was universally condemned, owing to his lack
of technical experience for such an office. In fairness to
Mr. Thompson, however, it must be stated that he
eventually became a very efficient public servant, whose
power of adaptability has earned the unstinted praise of the
shipping community. But until comparatively recently the
Government, notwithstanding vehement protests, in Parlia-
ment and in the Press, against the general retention of
thoroughly incompetent officials in the Transport Depart-
ment, obstinately refused to. replace them with men from
shipping offices and exchanges who had the requisite know-
ledge and experience, and matters consequently went from
bad to worse. Small advisory committees of shipowners
were indeed appointed, but without executive power ; and,
in any case, it was impossible that their recommendations
could be carried out by men who understood nothing about
shipowning, chartering, and a thousand other details of this

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

intricate business. So that it is almost impossible to realise
"the hopeless condition of affairs that eventuated towards
the end of 19 15. And during all this time practical shipping
men continued to bombard the Government with schemes
for placing the mercantile marine under control. I take the
liberty of quoting from a very able letter written by Sir
Aubrey Brocklebank ^ which in my estimation is one of the
most valuable contributions that were submitted for reliev-
ing the shortage of tonnage. Sir Aubrey compared the
mercantile marine to a conduit pipe through which all our
supplies and those of our Allies must come, and he main-
tained that " the pipe is badly furred by the lack of vessels
that have been requisitioned by the Government, and the
effective bore is thereby reduced." He clinched his con-
vincing argument by the following sagacious application of
his metaphor, viz. : —

" When a pipe is carrying all it can, and the attempt is
made to force more through it, the result is a rise in pressure
in the pipe, which is a fair analogy to a rise in freights. The
way to reduce the pressure is either to increase the capacity
of the pipe by removing some of the furring [my italics], or
to put less through it. I am quite confident that very much
more can be done in the way of increasing the capacity by
a more intelligent use of requisitioned steamers."

The simile appears to be a perfect one, and the release
of a number of requisitioned vessels (which may be found
practicable when, if ever, Mr. Herbert Samuel's Committee
issues its report) would be the shortest and best v/ay of
reducing freights, as the commercial markets would thus
obtain immediate relief.

However, as constant dropping will wear away a stone,
the public will rejoice to hear that the Government has at
last been compelled to exercise something like a proper
grip on the operations of our mercantile marine. And it is
important to observe that this salutary change is due, not to
those who have girded at the tight-fisted shipowner, but to the
insistent pressure on the part of the advisory boards of ship-
owners themselves, and of those Members of Parliament
who have been more or less acting with them. The formula

* The Times, January 25th, 1916.

43 c* 2

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

adopted is of the simplest description, and we shall no
doubt be asked the usual question, " Why was it not done
before ?^\ the answer to which is indicated by the moral
that this article is intended to teach, namely, " Put a ship-
ping man in charge of a shipping job." There has been a
gradual "combing out" of the bureaucratic automatons in
the Transport Department and a substitution in
their places of men who thoroughly understand the many
technicalities of shipowning and chartering. Also, the
movements of vessels are now checked and "directed" in
such a way as to obtain the maximum national benefit from
the much-reduced quantity of our available tonnage. No
British vessel is now permitted to undertake a voyage of
any description without a licence, and the authorities are
using every possible endeavour to " direct " the tonnage into
those trades which will best serve the country's interest. In
addition to this, 500 British steamers have been dedicated
to the exclusive use of France, Italy and Russia,* and a
system of maximum rates of freight has been established
on cargoes of coal shipped from the United Kingdom to
French ports, representing a reduction of fully one-third of
the tremendous rates previously current.

The neutral shipowner, too, is gently but firmly con-
strained to " do his bit " for our benefit, thanks again to the
practical men who are, in effect, taking the wheel in the
Transport Department of the Admiralty. In return for the
privilege of obtaining supplies of British bunker coal
(German coal being seizable as contraband), his vessels must
now bring a certain proportion of their cargoes to this
country for our comfort and convenience, thus augmenting
the already large proportion of our imports that come in
foreign bottoms.!

The compelling effect of these wholesome reforms,
which will no doubt be extended as becomes practicable, is
brought into startling relief by the phenomenal drop

* Lord Beresford,- House of Lords, May 3rd, 1916.

+ Mr. Runciman stated in the House of Commons, May 23rd, 1916,
in reply to Mr. R. P. Houston, that in the calendar year 1915, 13,200
British steamers, with an aggregate net tonnage of 22,632,000, and
12,550 foreign steamers, with a total tonnage of 9,900,000, entered
from abroad. The foreign steamers were thus 487 per cent, of the
total number and their net tonnage 30-4 per cent, of that of all steamers
entered with cargo.

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

that has taken place in American grain freights during the
past few weeks. In February last the rate on wheat from
the Northern States ports to the U.K. was i8s. per quarter
of 480 lb., whereas to-day (June 17th) it is only 7s. per
quarter, a fall of, say, 56s. per ton, equivalent to a reduction
of £15,000 freight on a 6,000-ton cargo boat for a round
trip of fifty days, as compared with what the same vessel
earned four months ago. There has been a simultaneous
heavy drop in the price of the staple, and the combined
result is that the calculations of grain merchants have been
upset, and they are now reported to be selling their produce
at a loss of 22s. 6d. per quarter, or over £30,000 on a cargo
imported by a vessel of the capacity indicated above. The
price of the 4-lb. loaf is tumbling in consequence, and
should be very materially lower when the cargoes about to
be loaded are marketed in this country.

But although this drop in Atlantic freights is distinctly en-
couraging, and shows what a well-directed effort can accom-
plish, it would be hazardous to assume that a permanently
improved situation has been reached. We are not yet out
of the wood. The diminishing supply of tonnage for com-
mercial purposes is a matter of serious concern, and may
handicap the reforms which I have mentioned, which,
though very welcome, were unfortunately too long in
coming, and we shall see higher freights again when the
new grain crops are ready for shipment.

At the beginning of the war the total British tonnage was
roundly 21^ million. Up to January, 19 16, our losses
by perils of the seas and by enemy submarines were made
good, approximately, by construction of new steamers and
by taking over interned enemy ships. Since then the situa-
tion has changed for the worse. When actual figures become
available it will be seen that construction work in our ship-
yards has seriously declined, and the new German sub-
marine campaign, which started on March ist, 19 16, has
made great havoc amongst both Allied and neutral ship-
ping.^ Assuming that losses by submarine continue, and the
Government does not immediately tackle the question of
finishing new merchant vessels and building further ton-

* During the first ten weeks, from March ist, 1916, German sub-
marines accounted for no fewer than 446,467 tons of Allied and neutral
ships.

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

nage,* I agree with Mr. R. P. Houston, M.P., that not
merely the price of the whole nation's foodstuffs, but also
whether these foodstuffs will be available depends on the
solving of this shipping problem. He further says that
" the price of food " as a topic will yield to another and
greater, namely, " Will food be available?" and that this is
a national question that concerns every home. No less
than 57 per cent, of our shipping is under requisition by
the Government, leaving 43 per cent, to the British ship-
owners for commercial purposes, t though, as already shown,
the regulation of the latter is now under State control, and is
being used to the best advantage. A practical shipping
friend of mine, who has cfosely studied this question, is con-
vinced that at the present rate of attrition we shall only have
(outside of tonnage requisitioned by the Government) some
seven million tons of shipping available for commercial
purposes by January, 19 17, or just over one-third of our pre-
war supply. From whatever point we view the matter, the
conclusion is inevitable, that a further considerable rise
in the price of food and other necessities is imminent, unless
drastic steps are taken to counteract the present shrinkage
of tonnage by either, or all, of the following means : {a) The
release of vessels from Admiralty requisition ; {b) the com-
pletion and construction of new vessels ; {c) taking over the
42 vessels now under construction for foreign account^ ; {d) a
blockade of the North Sea, thus driving neutral tonnage into
our markets ; {e) prohibition of sales of British vessels to
foreigners § ; (/) speeding up the 11,000,000 tons (about) of
steamers now under requisition by the Government.||

There is nothing new or revolutionary about these pro-

* Now that the services of every available ship worker is a pressing
national necessity it appears fatuous to employ our men in repairing
foreign vessels, as is the case in this country to-day.

t Lord Curzon, House of Lords, May 3rd, 1916.

X Mr. Runciman, in the House of Commons, May nth, 1916. The
previous day he stated that only 26 vessels were being- built in this
country for neutrals.

§ The total number of British vessels of all kinds sold to foreigners
during the seventeen months ended December 31st, 1915, was 269, with
a total tonnage of 552,407.

II Cases of official incapacity are still cropping up. Last month a
requisitioned steamer was sent from a South Wales port to Liverpool,
and, after some time was spent on fitting her out for her intended voyage,
she was found to he too large for the job, and was sent back to South
Wales to be fitted for other employment. And the country pays for the
loss of time incurred by such muddling.

THE SHIPPING MUDDLE

posals, all of which have been advocated in the House of
Commons by Mr. Houston and other Members of Parlia-
ment, but without any real success. Public pressure, loud
and insistent, is the only thing which will have the desired
effect on our " wait and see " Government. They have
yielded to it on a good number of occasions during this war,
and will do so again if this subject is not allowed to
drop.

And now my task is finished. I have endeavoured to
trace, with a restraint often difficult to curb, but with a
strict adherence to facts, the manner in which our 21,000,000
tons of mercantile shipping have been mismanaged, and the
disastrous consequences which followed. That I have been
compelled to hit hard and often is the fault of those whose
want of foresight and stubborn resistance to expert advice
have rendered them so open to attack. Never was punish-
ment better deserved, and when the time arrives to settle
political accounts with the present Government,! hope and
believe that the shipping scandal will be remembered as one
of the chief of their many shortcomings, and that those
responsible for it will receive short shrift at the hands of a
nation of business people.

Note. — The appointment of a Minister of Marine is
an imperative necessity. It is ridiculous to expect the
President of the Board of Trade to look after our huge mer-
cantile marine in addition to his other responsibilities, which
include railway, tramway and gas companies, standards of
weights and measures, electric lighting, the non-legal
machinery of bankruptcy, labour exchanges, trade disputes,
the National Insurance Act (Part II.), and the Conciliation
Act — truly a staggering list. In an article of mine published
in the Syren and Shipping (October 27th, 191 5), I called
attention to the matter. The following quotation therefrom
may be of interest : —

" Even without our shipping to look after, he would
have enough, and more than enough, to tax his efforts, be
he ever such a glutton for work. But his lip quivers not, nor
does his hand tremble when receiving his portfolio of office.
Consider for a moment the further tremendous duties which
this political Colossus assumes in addition to being amicus
curicB of the mercantile marine and the British public in
their relations to one another. The wonder is that he does

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

not either succumb inside of a week under his heavy burden
or confess that he is unequal to it."

Can we wonder that Mr. Runciman's health has
broken down under such an unnatural strain ? He has oiir
grateful sympathy and our wishes for steady recovery. He
is the victim of a rotten system, which may have worked well
256 years ago, when Charles II. established " The Board of
Trade and Plantations," but long since became ready for
the scrap-heap. Let us, then, follow the advice of Mr.
W. M. Hughes, and organise our national resources on a
business footing, beginning with our mercantile marine.

.^8

The British Empire

By Frank P. Slavin

It is more than probable that a good many readers of the
English Review may wonder what a retired pugilist,
turned soldier in his fifty-sixth year, can have to say about
the inner feelings of the Colonies and the Empire
and the War — that is, anything worth reading. That
wonder is quite natural, for I suppose that very few people
in these islands have ever heard anything about me or about
my life, outside the boxing ring. But, as a matter of fact, I
became a professional pugilist more or less by accident, as
most professional pugilists have done. My accident, if I
may say so, was directly due to the centuries old antagonism
between Ulster and the rest of Ireland, and made me not
only a pugilist, but a politician as well, of a kind. It
happened this way.

I have always been called a Cornstalk {i.e., a New South
Walian), but, as a matter of fact, I am a South Australian
by birth, though my father moved to West Maitland, in the
Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales, very soon after
my birth, where he took up a big tract of land, and built up
a big business in cattle-raising and market produce. So you
see that I was a farmer before I became anything else. I might
have remained a farmer all my life, if the Irish question
had not spread over into Australia and affected my career.
Unfortunately my father died in September, 1868, when I
was seven years old, leaving my mother with seven children
(the eldest a girl of twelve) ; and a large ranch to run.
That was a year of exceptional drought, and she naturally
had her hands full. Our nearest neighbours were a family of
the name of Campbell, dour Ulstermen, strict Methodists,
and rigid Sabbatarians, who were naturally highly annoyed
at having to suffer the contamination of a horde of "Papish
Beasts" (as they called us) in their vicinity. So they set
out to prove the superior loyalty of Ulster, and incidentally

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

to save their own souls, by invoking curses on all our enter-
prises, and by, more actively, assisting their curses to roost
by lifting as many of our cattle as they could whenever they
found an opportunity of so doing. There were plenty of
professional cattle thieves about in those days, but though
we suffered at their hands, our heaviest losses were due to
the political and religious fervour of the Campbells.

As a material result, my brothers and I always fought the
Campbell boys whenever we met them, and a nice little
civil war raged until old Campbell caught me one day and
gave me the worst hiding (with a stockwhip) I have ever
received in my life. I was only nine years old at the time,
but he beat me into a senseless condition, and, indeed, very
nearly killed me. Of course, I had to get even, though I
had to wait thirteen years for the chance.

The big drought of 1872 ruined my mother and sent me
off gold-mining — into my real profession, that is to say.
For, although I have turned my hand to many callings in
my time, the one job I have always come back to is that of
mining engineering. Drifting into Sydney around my
twentieth year, and coming across old LarryFoley, I remem-
bered the Campbells, and at once settled down to learn all
I could about the art of self-defence. After a year's study
and practice with Foley, and a few fights, I decided that
I could attend to the Campbell family, quite as efficiently as
the Huns attended to Belgium in August and September,
19 14. So I went back to Maitland and paid the Ulstermen
a friendly visit. That was a really great battle royal ; but
when I came away I felt satisfied that I had paid off old
scores with full interest, and had also settled the Irish ques-
tion in that vicinity.

Old Campbell must be dead now, for his sons were
mostly older than me. Still, I hope that they are all as hale
and hearty, and that some of them may have joined up with
the Australian contingent, in which case I may meet them
on one of the fronts, and bury all old animosities in the
blood of a few Huns.

There is no reason why such a meeting should not come
to pass, for there are any number of men well past the
so-called military age in the ranks of the Colonial contin-
gents. We have led harder and rougher lives than you
people at home, and those of us who have pulled through

THE BRITISH EMPIRE

are as tough as tanned leather and as wiry as whipcord.
What is more, we have seen the Empire (together with a
few good slices of the rest of the earth), and we know that
it is well worth fighting for to the last drop of our blood.

Those of you who have lived out all your days here at
home, and have both abused and absorbed abuse of the
Empire and its management (particularly the last), may
think you know all there is to know about the Empire, but
you cannot. A man has got to experience the roughest of
rough times, both under the Union Jack and a few other
flags, before he can begin to understand everything that the
old flag really means. I have myself lived at various times
under thirty-two flags (twenty-three of which were varia-
tions of the Union Jack), and I have been through both
good and bad times under them all ; and I have learnt that
a man can be assured of better and fairer treatment and a
squarer chance under the old flag than he can under any
other piece of bunting. It was a gradual discovery, and I
did not perhaps think so much of it at the time. In fact, I
did not realise that I had made it until I came home this
time with my regiment and read your newspapers, and
talked with old friends and new acquaintances. It was
only then that I got to understand how right Kipling was
when he asked :

" WTiat do they know of England, who only England know ? "

Now, as it is the Nationalist element which rules in
America and in the Colonies, and as there are plenty of
Ulstermen in those same States and Colonies who have
found that Irish — even Roman Catholic Irish — rule is quite
tolerable, so there is no reason why in due course they might
not accept it comfortably at home. But I am not here
" putting up " for Home Rule. My complaint is that the
establishment of Martial Law and the military execution of
the rebels were bad blunders. They would have been all
right and justifiable if the rebels had been Englishmen or
Scotsmen ; but I am an Irishman by blood, even if I am now
a Canadian Scot, and I claim to know my people. Those
executions have only succeeded in making a new host of
martyrs, and in offering encouragement to any number of
other young Irishmen to emulate Pearse, Connolly and Co.,
in the hope of earning martyrs' crowns for themselves.

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No Irishman is ever so really happy as when he is striv-
ing for martyrdom ; and, on the other hand, no Irishman is
ever so really miserable as when he is being made a laughing-
stock of. No man, of course, yearns for ridicule, but the threat
or fear of being made to look ridiculous would be quite
sufficient to deter any Irishman from embarking on any
enterprise whatsoever. The settlement of the rebellion —
or, rather, the sweeping up of the debris — was left to the
soldiers and the lawyers, who went about their task as
though they were dealing with mutinous soldiers or felons
on trial, instead of with a lot of hare-brained fanatics, who
honestly believed that they had qualified as heroes of epic
poetry. I am quite satisfied that the wisest course would
have been to address the leaders (including Sir Roger Case-
ment) in some such style as this : "You have proved to the
entire satisfaction of everyone that you prefer Germany to
Ireland, and Hun rule to the Union Jack, so go where you
will feel happy. We, and Ireland, can easily dispense
with your presence, and the Germans might be
pleased to see you. Run along." You could then have
shipped them all over to Hunland, where they might per-
haps have learnt wisdorn, and perhaps also have found
their martyrs' crowns outside Verdun.

It may perhaps be objected that this would have given
them a fresh opportunity of returning to make new troubles
in Ireland. But the risk would surely have been remote.
Connolly (the irreconcilable) might perhaps have tried, but
he would have been a discredited force; while Pearse and
the rest would have had a rude awakening. One feels sure
that their experiences among the Huns would have enabled
them to discoverThe Union Jack and all that it means. And
just try to imagine the impression which would have been
created among Irish- Americans and Irish-Colonials. Mar-
tyrdom of the Irish brand would have undergone a really
bad slump.

But this you will say has nothing to do with the Colonial
view of the war and the Empire. I believe, however, that
it has a good deal to do with it, since the eternal Irish Ques-
tion is one of the only solid quarrels which the Dominions
have with the Old Country. So very few of you English
people appear to realise the immensity of the Irish element
in Colonial politics, and how very largely Irishmen bulk

THE BRITISH EMPIRE

in Colonial politics. In fact, I have come to suspect that
very few Englishmen indeed really possess any inkling of
knowledge about Colonial character, or about the real
Empire at all. Yet it is far from being a difficult subject.

Colonials are just Britons. The Colonial character is the
British character over again ; only more so. Of course, we
grumble and sneer at the Old Country at times, just as you
English at home sneer and grumble at your own Govern-
ment. But that is only our way; and it is our way because
we are part and parcel of you. In reality, we are fully as
proud — prouder even — of the Old Country and of the flag
than you are. We know that you have allowed us to
govern ourselves in our own way — that you have trusted
us. Hence, we are willing to fight your battles, which we
realise are really ours as well, to the last man and to the last
shilling. And hence we are proud to belong to the Empire,
and resolved that you shall never have any real trouble with
us. We are also able to see why Ireland has always given
you all kinds of trouble and will continue to do so until you
trust her as you have trusted us. You want to govern
Ireland, for her own benefit, of course. You have told her
so until she is sick and tired of hearing you say so. It is
possible, perhaps, that your rule is far more beneficial to
her than any Home Rule could be, but the mischief is that
the vast majority of Irishmen — both at home and abroad —
don't worry about that. It isn't beneficial government they
want so much as Irish government. You would feel just
the same as they do ; in fact, you do. The Germans are
quite satisfied that their own Kultur is vastly superior to
any other brand, and they honestly believe that you would
be ever so much happier if you would but allow them to
administer it among you. They really cannot understand
how you can be so dense as to refuse ; and you cannot under-
stand how or why the Irish people are so dense as to be
unable to appreciate Dublin Castle Kultur.

It isn't fair to blame them for their inability to realise
the Empire when you neither realise it yourselves nor afford
them the faintest chance of realising it. All that they know
is that they are Irishmen, who have clamoured for self-
government, for a froof that you really do trust them, for
centuries, only to meet with a steadfast and repeated refusal
to all their appeals. How in common justice can you com-

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

plain when a partner whom you do not and never have
trusted, whom you have always told that you do not trust,
proves to be occasionally troublesome and always
peevish ?

You have assembled a congeries of republics, and have
welded them — loosely perhaps — but consequently securely,
into the mightiest and freest republic the world has ever
seen. The Empire has been built up on the foundations of
freedom and trust ; and there you have the whole secret of
Colonial loyalty to England and to the Union Jack. It is
our Empire and our flag. You refused to trust your
American Colonies, and lost them. That was a bad day
for you, and, I may add, a worse day for them. The clearer-
sighted American has at last come to recognise that last-
stated fact; for there are scores, nay, hundreds of
\thousands, of Americans to-day who, though they would be
loth to admit the fact, would be happier if their flag was
the Union Jack. They would, of course, fight to the death
sooner than see it float over the Stars and Stripes. But for
all their pride in " Old Glory," in their heart of hearts they
are sorry that they ever became separated. How m^any
Americans are to-day serving in the ranks of the Canadian
contingents do you think? The total would, I fancy,
surprise you. And there are scores of thousands ready and
eager to follow if they felt that the Empire ever needed
them.

Lust for adventure, perhaps. Well, they and we native
Britons, Canadians, Australians, Americans, South Afri-
cans and New Zealanders have had our glut of adventure in
Alaska and on the Klondyke. But we have swarmed into
the recruiting depots all the same — Britons, Colonials, and
Americans alike, irrespective of age or circumstance.
There is an old comrade of mine, now in France, a grand-
father, as I am myself, but a millionaire, as I am not. He
and I packed many a trail together in the Yukon before
he made his pile and pulled out to settle down on
a ranch on Queen Charlotte Island. Yet he was one of
the first to enlist and to see war for the first time at Ypres.
The Empire called him, and he heard the call; simply
because the Empire is worth fighting and dying for.

Yes, the Old Country is a grand old mother, and we are
proud — all of us — to be numbered among her soldiers.

The Secret Constitution of the
Shinn Fane

By Major Darnley-Stuart-Stephens

On the concluding page of his " New Ireland," the late
A. M. Sullivan foreshadowed, with more than prophetic
accuracy, the revival of the I.R.B., the easy suppression of
which, some forty years past, led, both on the part of the
Government and public, to many false conclusions. Wrote,
nearly a quarter of a century ago, this Irish historian and
Nationalist journalist : " Above all, it must be borne in mind,
that like the party of Kossuth sullenly watching the
endeavours of Francis Deak to obtain a measure of Home
Rule for Hungary, there are men in America and in Ireland,
few, but not less determined, some of them more desperate
than ever, who hope in the breakdown of public effort, to
have another chance for the resorts of violence^ When
these words were penned, most people assumed that the last
had been heard of Fenianism — the prisoners had nearly all
been amnestied, the attempt to prepare the way for a revolu-
tion in Ireland by a secret society had apparently failed and
been abandoned. Those, however, who believed that the
project had been relinquished after the fiasco of the 'sixties,
reckoned without their host, although appearances were in.
favour of their view, for the conspiracy was then dis-
organised and shattered; the rank and file of the I.R.B.
remained, but there were few local leaders. The impulse
of resuscitation came from America, when arrived in
London from New York an envoy of the F.B. (the Trans-
atlantic wing of Fenianism) endowed with Ambassadorial
powers of a high order. With that want of politeness which
so unhappily characterises perfidious Albion, this distin-
guished diplomat in our midst was overlooked in the invita-
tions to the Lord Mayor's annual banquet; neither was he
presented to Her Majesty, Perhaps these discourteous

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omissions were due to the fact that during the month of fogs
the High Plenipotentiary evaded inhaHng our " London
particular " by the remarkable expedient of never quitting
for some forty days and nights an Irish public-house in
Wardour Street, Soho. And unlike Elijah, this eminent,
if officially unacknowledged, member of the corfs di-plo-
matique never, during the period of his self-internment,
eagerly scanned the pea-soup-coloured firmament for the
advent of ravens bearing him manna. His Excellency was
not a " fasting man." Quoth to me the landlord of the
caravanserai which had the. honour of housing the distin-
guished foreign guest : " Begorra, your honour, this house
will never see such times again. We had all the head men
of the organisation every night here for more than a month.
This is the sort of life it was. Every night, from seven
o'clock on, a crowd of the boys would drop in one after the
other, and all with the same inquiry, ' Is himself right yet? '
And, God forgive me, what could I do but tell a damned
lie and say that Mr. D. O'S. was terribly busy on
his dispatches for New York, and couldn't see anybody
at all, at all, even if it were the Holy St. Peter hot-foot from
Rome." I had been privileged, in 1886, to inspect Peter
Cowel's ledger for the memorable period of the Am^bassa-
dor's mission. With an emotion that moved me to tears, I
read in the worthy landlord's diary such gems as, "Mr.
O'Donovan is getting into the jim-jams; he opened the
window last night of Mr. O'SuUivan's bedroom and fired
off into Wardour Street the revolvers he brought from
Merv. Michael Davitt went out looking as black as a
crow. He says Mr. O'Donovan had better have stayed
with the Turcomans. Mem. : Two gallons of malt
for Mr. O'S.'s room last night; that makes forty-three
gallons of whisky; but he gets plenty of money from
America, so, Peter, you are all right." It might have been
matter-of-fact old Pepys again ! Eh bieni When the great
thirst of forty days had been reasonably assuaged, His Ex-
cellency proceeded on a tour of inspection of the scattered
units of the Brotherhood, accompanied by the founder of
the Land League and Edmund O'Donovan, the famous
special correspondent of the Daily News, who to the day
of his death with Hicks Pasha in the Soudan, was imbued
with an extraordinary taste for the business of Irish con-

SHINN FANE SECRET CONSTITUTION

spiracy. I must pay a tribute to the memory of O' Donovan,
who was the most earnest and sincere believer in the
righteousness of the Fenian cause I ever met. Far from
deriving any financial emolument from the conspiracy, the
large profits which he derived from his works of travel were
always placed with a free hand at the disposal of the
Brotherhood, and before leaving on his ill-omened journey
to Khartoum he bequeathed all his property in trust for the
then treasurer of the I.R.B., Pat Egan, M.P., sometime
baker's clerk, treasurer of the Dublin Invincibles, and
United States Minister to Chili when the writer was serving
in the Chilian Congressionalist Civil War. The trium-
virate were accompanied in their Odyssey by another trio,
one of an order of mankind poetically distinguished as
myrmidons, but recognised by the vulgar as police. And
wherever progressed His Excellency, and Michael Davitt,
and the unsuspecting war correspondent, so also did three
Irish detectives from Old Scotland Yard. In brief, the
whole task of the re-establishment of this secret society
throughout Ireland and England was effected about the end
of 1878; and since then, up to the big split in the ranks of
the conspiracy after the Phoenix Park assassinations, the
Fenians fondly believed that the organisation maintained
an unsuspected existence.

The real truth was that every step taken to reunite the
scattered units of the I.R.B. was daily reported to my friend
the late Sir Edward Howard Vincent, chief, by grace of Mr.
Gladstone, of the newly-constituted Criminal Investigation
Department. Once revived in Ireland, Fenianism, as time
went on, waxed strong, and communicated a new lease of
life to the organisation on the other side of the Atlantic,
where it expanded into the ill-famed Clan-na-Gael. And
in Ireland and the United Kingdom the I.R.B. soon
followed the example of the American wing — that of form-
ing Secret Circles under the cloak of legal associations. This
system of masking a treasonable society was initiated by
the capture to Fenian purposes of the Gaelic Athletic Asso-
ciation. Then came the turn of the Young Ireland Society
— a band of harmless romantic dreamers — and, finally, the
greater part of the conspiracy was, without attracting the
attention of the outer world, carried on behind the branches
of another association of impracticable visionaries — the now

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notorious Shinn Fane. Here is how the system worked.
The Circles of the I.R.B. being independent of each other,
the detection of one — should Dublin Castle deem it politic
to " detect " — could compromise none outside its own mem-
bers. Each club, or rather branch, of an openly constituted
club has its own name, and is attached to an I.R.B. Circle,
outsiders, of course, being able to distinguish the one from
the other. The club is not the Circle — only a portion
thereof. The members of the branch of the Shinn Fane are
not compelled to join the Circle of the I.R.B., but association
and the force of opinion almost invariably drive the whole
of the one into the other. Since the reawakening of the
conspiracy the constitution of the I.R.B. has undergone
some important modifications. -A system of decentralisa-
tion in the administration of the organisation has been
developed since the German influence was definitely
imported into it in 19 13. The date more than suggests that
Germany, the year before the war, was reorganising, both
in Ireland and the United States, the wings of the Irish
Revolutionary Society to her own purpose. When I learned
in May, 19 13, that German Staff officers had been touring
Ireland, Isaid to my old friend General Sir Alfred Turner,
" This means business ; the German eagle is poising for a
swoop." The constitution of the I.R.B. of to-day is strongly
suspect of Teutonic systematic thoroughness. I succeeded,
while engaged on my Shinn Fane mission last Sep-
tember, in obtaining a copy of the code of laws adopted by
the Divisional Executive of the Munster Province of the
I.R.B. Here are some interesting extracts from the code
through which the Shinn Fane or I.R.B. was ruled by certain
luckless patriots who were recently interviewed in Dublin
by a firing party: — i. No man is to be admitted into the
I.R.B. or to be recognised as a citizen or soldier of the
Republic until he has taken the oath of allegiance to the
Irish Republic, which will be declared within six months
following the outbreak of war between England and Ger-
many.^ Previous to administering the oath of allegiance
the man's name shall be proposed and seconded as a fit and

* The period expanded to the autumn of last year when I resolved to go
over to Ireland. Then the premature circulation of what I called in my
ignored report the "Fiery Cross Manifesto" postponed the declaration of the
very last of the globe's Republics. Finally the event took place on Mav ist,
1916.

SHINN FANE SECRET CONSTITUTION

proper person to become a member at an ordinary meeting
of the Circle, and if a majority of those present vote in
favour of his admission, the oath can be administered.
2. No man, however, if a member of any factional or non-
Republican association, to be enlisted until he has first
broken off his connection with such association.

7. Every member is bound to protect the secrets
and guard the safety of the I.R.B. Any member speaking
of its secrets to persons outside its ranks, or neglecting to
report a brother member so doing to his knowledge, is to be
expelled the ranks of the I.R.B.

II. Every Circle is to be divided into "companies."
*' A" company is to consist of not less than eighty men — to
be expanded to two hundred and fifty — and is to be under
the control of an officer, who shall be entitled a " B " or
captain. A Circle is to consist of not less than eleven
hundred men, and is commanded by a Centre, or Com-
mandant,"^ who will be addressed in the I.R.B. as the ''A."

14. Every Circle shall be governed by an executive of
three — the Centre, Secretary, and Treasurer.

The duties of the "A" are to receive all information
and instruction for his Circle, to conduct all correspondence
for his command, to settle all disputes between his " B's "
and his '' C's " (sergeants), t to be responsible for the safe
keeping of all v/ar material for the Circle, to expel or other-
wise punish all offenders in the Circle, to superintend the
election of a " B " for each company, to issue orders for all
general meetings of the members, and to appoint a vigilance
committee in his unit.

18. The duties of the Secretary are to receive and keep
an account of all money paid by the " B's," and hand it
over to the Treasurer.

19. The duties of the Treasurer are to receive from
the Secretary all subscriptions received within the Circle,
and place the same in the hands of Trustees duly
elected; and to receive the same from the Trustees
whenever required by the Centre for the purchase of war
material should a favourable opportunity occur for so doing.

* This looks suspiciously alike to the organisation of a German battalion.

t Very Irish this, and not at all German, where officers and non-coms,
cannot indulge in disputes, and is quite different from the old I.R.B. organisation
as I knew it when with General Buller in Kerry in 1886.

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The whereabouts of the arms of the Circle shall only be
known to the executive of the unit, the Commandant, Secre-
tary, and Treasurer.

34. No stranger presenting himself to any Centre, unless
properly accredited as a messenger from a "V," or as a
member in danger of arrest, shall be received or recognised
by such Centre.

4 1 . Every Centre shall appoint a Vigilance Committee of
not less than three or more than nine members, who shall be
known to no member or officer of the Circle but the
Commandant.

43. The members of the Vigilance Committee shall be
unknown to each other. No member shall know any other
member save the Vigilance " B," unless two members are
required to perform any duty beyond the power of one to
accomplish, in which case the Vigilance " B " shall introduce
the two members to each other.

46. Should the Centre of the Circle discover that the
identity of the Vigilance Committee, or any member thereof,
is known to any member of his Circle, he shall forthwith
disband the said Vigilance Committee and form a new one.

47. A black list of all traitors, spies, and other criminals
against the I.R.B. will be placed in the hands of each
Centre, who shall read it to all the members of his Circle ;
any members known to hold correspondence or intercourse
with any man whose name appears on the black list, to be
immediately expelled, and never readmitted into the
I.R.B.

48. // shall he the duty of every Centre to forward to
his own "F" for transmission to the President of Public
Safety all cases of treachery, etc., in his Circle with an
accurate description of the offenders, and it shall be the
duty of every Centre to preserve the black list given to him
for reference whenever needed.

49. Any Centre or other member of the Circle's
Executive losing or mislaying any dangerous document,
such as these rules, to be for ever expelled from the ranks
of the I.R.B,

GOD SAVE IRELAND !

Rules 41 to 48 of the Code in force in the Province of
Munster, it will be perceived, provide for the establishment

SHINN FANE SECRET CONSTITUTION

and organisation of an I.R.B. secret police; and especially
rule 48, with its ominous reference to that body, which in
the conspiracy is styled with grim irony the Committee of
Public Safety, may be regarded as a key to the lurid cloud
of mystery that surrounded the circumstances of certain
murders which have puzzled the authorities during the last
half-dozen years in Dublin, Galway, and in Kerry. These
deeds, as well as several others, which, being unsuccessful
attempts at assassination, have attracted less attention, have
in no small wise aided the invisible Directory in maintaining
its sway over the conspiracy, as they have shown in fearful
earnest with what willingness and ability instruments can
be found to deal with those who have incurred its vengeance,
or even suspicion. The power of this secret Directory was
simply autocratic. It wielded a marvellous influence over
the mass of dupes it controlled, an influence ludicrously out
of proportion to the ability or personal character of those
who commanded it. Down below in the rank and file of
the Shinn Fane or the I.R.B. — for be it always remembered
that both mean one and the same — and above them again
among the various grades of the organisation a profound
mystery attached itself to the Supreme Directory, and impos-
sible societies of distinguished Irishmen were believed to
meet together in the Council Chamber to discuss in all its
bearings the secret alliance between Hun and Hibernian.
The proclamation of a short-lived Irish Republican Govern-
ment disclosed the identity of the august hierarchy, whose
rule over the Shinn Fane was expressed in a maxim which
was rigidly adhered to, viz., The End Justifies the
Means. Who were they? A petty newspaper shop pro-
prietor, a brace of schoolmasters, half a dozen young
civilians whose poetic talents were tempered by fierce desire
to undertake the direction of military operations evolved
from their inner consciousness, and, lastly, John McBride,
whilom commander in the Boer War of a Falstaffian Bri-
gade of exactly ninety-one officers and men, and who, after
successfully dodging the hangman in Ireland, was
amnestied, and retired to France, where, Saturday eve, he
with hearty vigour larruped his wife, beautiful daughter
and heiress of a former Colonel of our " White Uhlans " —
the 17th Lancers. Of course, by this time another Shinn
Fane or I.R.B. Directory has been constituted, one which

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will be equally blown out with its own self-importance, for
the Dublin fiasco has by no means disposed of Irish con-
spiracy. Rather has it been driven into more subterranean
channels, until we are rudely reminded of its continued
existence by some startling event, and then we all over
here in the thriving market towns of London and Westmin-
ster will look at each other and, shaking our noddles,
mutter : " Well, now, who would have thought it? "

The Directory, the military ability of which would have
been laughed to scorn by the junta of any of the periodical
revolutions in the most tin-pot of Central American Repub-
lics, used, as connecting links with the units of the society,
a species of travelling inspectors of Circles known as
Provincial Organisers or " V." It was through discovering
the identity of one of these gentry that last September I
was enabled to satisfy myself as to the complicity of the
admirable Mr. Koenig, late lessee of the South-Western
Railway, Killarney, with the surreptitious disposal of petrol
to an enemy submarine. This by the way.

Now the question will be asked, " Is the Shinn Fane,
or its now openly-revealed actuating force the I.R.B.,
scotched for some years to come?" To which I
unhesitatingly reply, " Not a bit of it ! " As long as
this organisation exists the security of Ireland remains
in deadly peril. In my report, which for some weird
and wonderful reason was ignored by the authorities directly
concerned, I insisted that in the Shinn Fane sphere of
influence in Western Kerry the feeling was predominant in
favour of the chances of a successful German raid. I
have always maintained that in dealing with this particular
danger our special difficulty will arise from the sea-fogs
which with lightning-like celerity cloak the harbour-
indented coast of Connaught and Munster. Here is a con-
crete and not generally known instance : A few years past, at
the annual Naval Manoeuvres, the problem to be solved was
to smuggle a squadron inferior in gun power, and consider-
ably inferior in speed, into Killary Harbour (a bay some
twenty miles north of the little island upon which the writer
first saw the light) in the face of the hostility of a superior
foe against which the first-mentioned fleet was pitted. With
one accord it was said by everyone from admiral
to " snotty," that the task was humanly impossible; for that

SHINN FANE SECRET CONSTITUTION

on the arrival of fleet number one, fleet number two would
be in waiting, and would theoretically send to blazes the
raiders. And such it would have been, but for the weather.
I laid an even sovereign with a captain of No. 2 fleet
that the invaders would dodge the blockaders — and I won.
For I smelt the approach of one of my native fogs. When
number one approached the entrance to Killary Harbour
there descended an aqueous mantle so thick that it was nigh
impossible to see the stern of the ship next ahead at one
cable interval. As had been anticipated by the admiral of
the raiding squadron, No. 2 fleet was awaiting the arrival of
the "enemy." But, screened by the timely fog, number
one made good the duty it had been called to perform;
and when morning broke, number two had the mortification
to see her adversaries snugly and safely ensconced in
the bay to which they could never have attained had it not
been for the elusive West Irish sea-fog. A raid brought
off under these favouring conditions and an anti-English
conspiracy pervading the hinterland of Connaught and
Ulster — such is still one of the surprises that might be
sprung upon us in the war of surprises.

For Ireland, as I write, is, in the west and south, seeth-
ing with a rebellious movement scattered in its elements,
but awaiting the first opportunity to reunite. The Home
Rule party is regarded by the Shinn Faners as having been
gradually monopolised by ultra-Conservative influences.
When engaged on my Irish mission for the Anti-German
Union last autumn, I heard a Shinn Fane organiser tell
his audience that the aspirations of the New Ireland move-
ment are not heeded or even understood by the Redmonds
or Devlins. In the speech of this firebrand a significant
expression of policy was disclosed : " We allow John
Redmond to hold the form of authority while we are pre-
paring our own course." That this was not mere talking
"hot air" is shown by the completeness with which the
Provisional Government sprang into being. Long before
the " Irish Republic " emerged it had existed below the
surface. The rally of the youth of the country to the
standard of rebellion was foretold in 19 13 to German Staff
officers by Casement; the postage stamps and the flags of
the new republic were all there; and even Mr. William
O'Brien and Mr. Dillon were so completely out of touch

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with this subterranean business in active progress in their
midst that they accepted the information on the Shinn
Fane supplied to Mr. Redmond by Mr. Birrell, although
the late Chief vSecretary knew less about the real potentiali-
ties of the Shinn Fane than I did before I proceeded to
get the threads of the conspiracy into my hands. The
catching and shooting of a few spring poets will not, as
supposed by the English Press, ensure the collapse of the
I.R.B. disguised as Shinn Faners. Rather will the deep
spirit of Celtic revenge induced by these f usilladings act as
an effective recruiting agent for the Circles of the Brother-
hood. And that Brotherhood emphasises the influence of
Socialistic principles upon the Irish youth. For let it be
clearly understood by my readers that this latest depar-
ture in Irish conspiracy is pure Socialism, and as such
appeals to those optimistic Celts who fondly believe that
everyday economic problems would be solved by the State
— as represented by the long-plotted-for Irish Republic —
which would become a benevolent partner in everybody's
business. Surely, to arrive at such a desirable consumma-
tion, "it's worth while codding the Germans a bit," said,
with a meaning droop of his left eyelid, a light of the
Shinn Fane hierarchy to me last year in Tralee. And this
is the really dangerous spirit which the Irish authorities
will find, sooner or later, is the actuating factor of the con-
spiracy. And the ghastly irony of it is that this Socialistic
madness in the sister isle has been nourished for military
purposes by the most autocratic and anti-Socialistic
sovereignty on the face of our distracted globe. The
Grosser Generalstab in Berlin have, in the Irish adven-
ture, subordinated military policy to a political considera-
tion, and the higher command still, from that point of view,
look on a diversion in Ireland as being of the first import-
ance. The Germans cling obstinately to the designs they
have conceived, and which seem to them propitious from
the very fact that they have germinated in their own minds.
It is a fixed idea in Berlin that the Irish conspiracy will
be speedily reconstituted, so I expect to learn any day that
the Kaiser's secret agents have embarked upon a new
career of activity in the perturbed sister isle, in virtue of
the thorough-going Teutonic principle that elements of
trouble among the enemy must always be exploited.

The Eye of the Navy

By D. Hugh Sway

Now that the spectre of disaster raised by the extraordinary
tone of the first announcement issued by the Admiralty to
the Press has faded into the assurance of victory, it is to be
hoped that in the general sensation of relief which the pub-
lication of the whole truth has brought us the lessons to be
gathered from the Battle of Horn Reef will not be lost
sight of by our Government.

It is not open to doubt that the enemy cruisers creeping
northwards were informed by their aerial scouts of the
proximity of Admiral Beatty's unsupported squadron.
Through them it was also known that the main body of the
British Fleet under Admiral Jellicoe was many miles away.
The Zeppelins, with their unlimited range of vision and
their wireless installations, were the eyes of the German
ships, while Admiral Beatty was forced to rely upon the
limited slow speed of his sea scouts. Had the British Navy
been supplied with airships equal to the Zeppelins or supe-
rior to them. Admiral Jellicoe would have been able to join
the battle in time to inflict severe punishment, and possibly
to annihilate the German naval forces. But as they have
been sufficiently crippled to check their audacity for some
time to come we have now an opportunity, better late than
never, to render our Navy superior to that of our enemies in
this respect as in all others.

We use the word " superior " advisedly, for we need not
only Zeppelins, but super-Zeppelins. At present the Ger-
mans have by years of labour, encouraged by the State, by
constant practice since the war began, succeeded in evolving
a type of airship which gives them complete mastery of the
air so far. This ascendancy may not have given our
enemies any great advantage from the military point of
view. In none of the raids upon our shores have the Zep-
pelins succeeded in inflicting serious damage. Our historical
monuments are still intact, so are our munition works and
barracks. But the advantage they confer upon our foes
when it comes to naval operations is undeniable. It has
been proved by the Battle of Horn Reef, and every subse-
quent conflict upon the sea will demonstrate it more clearly.

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THE ENGLISH REVIEW

We cannot afford to leave our Navy in its present state of
semi- if not total myopia. As long as we labour under
this disability it is highly improbable that we shall attain
our main object — the destruction of German naval power.

Unfortunately, the blindness from which our Navy
suffers is merely the lamentable result of equal, and, we
fear, inveterate blindness, among those Government officials
who are responsible for the equipment and efficency of
our Fleet as far as its materiel is concerned It is absurd
to contend that it is now too late to wrest from the Germans
their pre-eminence in aerial navigation. But before we
give eyes to our Fleet we must cure the purblindness of
the bureaucrats in the Admiralty who have consistently
during the past six or seven years not only refused to admit
the utility of airships, but set themselves to obstruct in every
possible way their construction by private enterprise.

It appeared early in 19 13 as if the Admiralty officials
had at last realised the error of their obstinacy, for they
then authorised the great armament firm, Sir William
Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., to construct a dirigible air-
ship of the Zeppelin type, modified to suit the requirements
of the British Navy. It was to be built under the super-
vision of Sir Philip Watts, Rear-Admiral Sir Charles
Ottley, Sir Percy Girouard, and the officers of the Air
Department of the Admiralty, who had accepted the design
and specifications thereof.

Following upon this order, Messrs. Armstrong, Whit-
worth purchased a large tract of arable land near Selby, in
Yorkshire, ejected the existing farmers, felled trees, built
roads, sheds, plant, etc., necessary to carry out the rapid
building of airships for the Government. Subsequently, in
February, 1914, when the work was in full swing, the
Admiralty suddenly discovered that they did not need air-
ships! As a result, it was suspended, and all hands dis-
missed. A few weeks later, on March 17th, Mr. Winston
Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, made a speech
in which he referred with derision to the supposed utility
of airships. ''Any hostile aircraft," he declared, "which
might reach our shores during the coming year would be
promptly attacked by a swarm of formidable hornets."

On several other occasions Mr. Winston Churchill, who
is a valuable politician of the " blue-skies " school, has pub-
licly expressed his contempt for aerial machines constructed

THE EYE OF THE NAVY

with a view to long flight and high speed. More than any
other Cabinet Minister is he responsible for the blindness of
our Navy. During his tenure of office at the Admiralty he
invariably refused to advocate the evolution or organisation
of an adequate and homogeneous aerial fleet for the protec-
tion of our shores and our ships. He discouraged any such
project on the score of expense, and ruthlessly crushed any
interest shown by his subordinates towards new inventions
or ideas in the domain of aerial navigation.

We will confine ourselves to one such instance. In
October, 19 14, at the time when Mr. Churchill, arrayed in
a semi-naval uniform, was assuring the MunicipalAuthorities
in Antwerp that he was going to save the city from the
invaders. Lord Plymouth was giving his moral and financial
assistance to a scheme for the construction of a fast and
powerful sea-going super-plane, specially designed to carry
a load of high explosives by a well-known aeronautical
engineer whose plans had passed the tests imposed by the
French military and naval experts. . The work commenced
in Paris had been transported to St. Pagan's Castle — Lord
Plymouth's country seat — and was approaching completion
when a peremptory order to stop the building of the airships
came from the Admiralty. No reasons were given by Mr.
Churchill for this arbitrary interference with a private enter-
prise. The work which would have endowed our Fleet
with the eyes it still lacks was thereupon abandoned; nor
was the engineer permitted to continue it elsewhere under
direct supervision of the Admiralty, to whom he offered his
services. Besides the important task of aerial reconnaissance
at sea, this flying machine was destined by its inventor to
be the pioneer of an aerial offensive, whose object would
have been to drop bombs on the Kiel Canal, Essen, and
other strongholds within our enemy's frontiers — an adven-
ture for which our existing aeroplanes are not adapted.
In sharp contrast to the hostility of the British
Admiralty is the importance attached by Germany to the
invention of this engineer, for after several ineffectual
efforts made during Zeppelin raids upon Paris, a bomb was
finally dropped upon the sheds where this particular airship
was in process of materialisation before the war broke out.
out. Ignorant of the fact of its removal to England, they
determined to strangle the super-Zeppelin at its birth. That
task, however, was performed by Mr. Winston Churchill.

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There Resteth to Serbia a Glory

By Alice and Claude Askew

The battle of Kossovo, on June 15th (old style) in 1389
plunged the entire nation into mourning, for practically the
whole of Serbia's manhood perished on the fatal plain. The
Turks took possession not only of Serbia, but of Hungary,
and all the valley of the Danube ; and during the next four
centuries (1400- 1804) Serbia suffered cruelly at the hands of
her foes, but the women who sang the old battle-songs to
their children kept the national spirit alive ; the day came
round at last when the Serbs were enabled to throw off the
Turkish yoke, to regain their freedom, and then the poetical
nature of the Serb displayed itself in the yearly commemo-
ration of Kossovo. Men and women mourned for the dead
heroes with a fine sincerity — the cavaliers who had perished
nobly over five hundred years ago; they talked with an
intimate knowledge of the fight that made the green plain,
according to an old Turkish chronicler, like a tulip-bed — a
tulip-bed composed of severed heads and rolling turbans,
they praised King Lazar and the hero, Milos Obilick, with
tears in their eyes.

Most people know something about the tragedy of the
Serbian retreat, but the tragedies that took place at Corfu
are also great in number, for here the Serbian Army had to
watch their stricken comrades dying in their thousands. The
total number of deaths slightly exceeds 20,000, and these
were the men who had struggled so hard for their lives —
men who had hoped, the trials and perils of the march over,
to regain their strength at Corfu.

The British soldiers we met on the island had grim tales
to tell about the terrible condition of the Serbs when they
first began to land there. One hefty young transport driver
grew curiously eloquent as he described some of the men he
had helped to feed on their arrival.

" They crowded round us, smelling the food as it were,
their eyes wolfish with hunger, the bones showing through

THERE RESTETH TO SERBIA A GLORY

their skin — tattered skeletons. They pushed ; they almost
^fought to get at the bread, but directly some of the poor
chaps put a bit into their mouths they choked an' died. They
couldn't swallow, they were too far gone." Our friend
paused, his face hardened. " The Bulgars have got to pay
for all this later on ; they will have to face us as well as the
Serbs, an' by God they shall pay." His eyes, his voice
suddenly got very soft and pitiful. "An' the Serbs don't
know even yet what's going 6n at home. Rape and blood-
shed most like, an' their kids starving ; their little plots of
land made waste ground — ain't it awful ? What should we
be feeling, I wonder, if a whole pack of Huns an' Bulgars
had been let loose in England an' no army left to fight 'em,
'cos we were all somewhere else ? I don't know how we'd

stand the thoughts of our women ." He paused, and

did not finish his sentence, but his speech only reflected the
general attitude of mind that our troops out here have for
the Serbs. They not only admire them as brave men, but
they feel a great compassion for the exiles ; they want to
fight with them shoulder to shoulder in the future;
they are filled with a generous desire to avenge Serbia's
wrongs.

The Serbs respond whole-heartedly to the British.
Curious little friendships have struck up between Serbs and
Englishmen; they talk in a funny broken language; they
swear by each other ; they are pals in the truest sense of the
word.' The two races are both a little shy of the French,
and savagely contemptuous of the Greeks, but full of mutual
esteem, mutual trust.

We are glad ourselves to have said good-bye to Corfu
and sailed with the Serbian Army to Salonika, for here we
see fine sunburnt troops, the tall khaki-clad hardy soldiers
who have regained their strength ; we have left the sickly
and the dying behind ; we have got into a fighting atmos-
phere once more ; we have turned our backs on hospitals and
graveyards and disease.

But we cannot forget the men left behind at Corfu —
the six thousand odd soldiers who still fill the hospitals, and
are taking their time to die, for the seal of death is upon
most of these poor fellows; they lie utterly spent and
exhausted upon their beds, so emaciated by the privations
they have undergone that in many cases their arms, even

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their wasted legs, are no thicker than a woman's wrist.
They are so weak that they cannot lift a weary hand to brush
the flies away that settle on their faces, but they smile
gratefully at the doctors and nurses, who, alas ! can do so
little for them, and they die very quietly, for the same
wonderful patience distmguishes them in their death agony
as in life.

Up at one of the English hospitals at Corfu — a hospital
we were specially interested in — it was found a difficult
matter after a time to procure wood for coffins, so twigs had
to be sought and long coffins made of basket-work, other-
wise the dead would have had to be buried merely in their
winding-sheets.

The soldiers who died in their thousands on the Island
of Vido had their bodies mostly committed to the sea ; but
it is generally felt now that this was a mistake, for later
on the relatives of these dead heroes may desire to visit their
graves, but there was not even a green plot of earth to be
found for those starved victims of the march, or the cholera
and the typhus patients. They were given to the sea and
the fishes.

A few days before we left Corfu, however, a moving
ceremony took place on Vido. A nursing sister — all honour
to the gentle womanly instinct — and two or three young Red
Cross men felt that it would be a ' fitting tribute
to put up a simple little grey stone cross to the memory of
the Serbs who had died on the island.

A cross was raised, a small, most unpretentious cross and
a pope of the Greek Church undertook to dedicate the cross
and say a mass. Quite by accident, the Prince Regent heard
of the proposed simple little ceremony. Deeply touched,
Alexander announced his intention of attending the dedica-
tion service, and what was to have been a simple service
became a great function.

The Prince Regent arrived on the deserted island — for
Vido has had to be abandoned, having become such a
plague-spot — he brought all his staff with him, and English
and French Generals and officers came over, and leading
Greeks from Corfu. For a little while Vido was crowded
whilst a great circle did honour to the dead ; but by nightfall
the island was left once more to its solemn peace.

The pale moonbeams played softly round the little stone

THERE RESTETH TO SERBIA A GLORY

cross raised to the memory of the Serbian dead, and the lap-
ping waves sang a gentle requiem ; but no other sound broke
the silence that has settled over Vido, and no other sound
will ever break it. Here is, indeed, the silence of deep
sleep.

A little stone cross, and no more fitting monument could
have been raised to the men who perished on Vido than this
simple cross, for the soldiers who drew their last breath on
the island were very simple, humble men ; the only lesson
they thoroughly understood, perhaps, was how to do their
duty — how to die uncomplainingly for Serbia.

They were just peasants — poet peasants who had
become soldiers at their country's call. They had been
fighting for a great many years some of them, and they were
all very weary, and far from their wives and their children,
and their homes ; so doubtless it was not difficult to die, and
we can well believe that they saw Jesus, the Carpenter's son
— Christ, the son of God, hanging on His cross, as they
gave up their breath, and that the peasant of Galilee led
these brave, simple souls into His Father's mansions : —

There resteth to Serbia a glory,

A glory that shall not grow old;

There remaineth to Serbia a story,

A tale to be chanted and told !

They are gone to their graves grim and gory,

The beautiful, brave, and bold ;

But out of the darkness and desolation

Of the mourning heart of a widow'd nation,

Their memory waketh an exultation !

History continues to repeat itself. These Serbian lines,
so ably translated by Owen Meredith, apply just as well to
the men who have perished during the present war as to the
cavaliers of Kossovo; for there, indeed, rests a glory to
Serbia at the present moment, she is glorified through her
dead. Not a life laid down — either on the battlefield, during
the retreat or on the isle of refuge — can be considered a
wasted life, for the men who have been spared from the red
reaping and the generations yet unborn will not lightly
forget these soldiers. Like the heroes of Kossovo they will
be honoured and mourned eternally by their nation; their
names, like stars, will circle Serbia's forehead when she once
more rises from the dust.

For she will rise; the soldiers waiting restlessly at
Salonika, the resurrected Serbian army, have no doubt at all

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on that point, for they believe in God ; they believe in
justice; and they also have, notwithstanding our failure to
support them last year, a most intense belief in England.
But we, for our own part, must take it as a most solemn
duty and trust, not to expose all that is left of the Serbian
army to an over-rigorous campaign, nor to strike till by mere
force of arms we are certain of victory in the Balkans. It
would never do to sacrifice this little handful of Serbs,
whose one idea now is to hurl themselves at the Bulgars and
force a path home, to win at any cost, for it must not be
forgotten that nearly all Serbia's manhood is stationed at
Salonika. Her army represents the nation's life, and this
army must be guarded — preserved. The Allies dare not,
for very honour's sake, allow any undue risks to be taken
by the Serbs when the advance is made ; they owe it to the
Serbian dead to do their duty by the Serbian living.

" There resteth to Serbia a glory." Ah ! but a glory not
fully understood even by her friends; for over and over
again, since the Hun and Bulgar conquest, she has been
spoken of as a dead nation by those who should know better,
for nations like Serbia do not die. No conqueror can stamp
out a divine spark, the sacred fire of freedom; no ruthless
oppressor can rob Serbia of her martyred sons, for they
have joined the ranks of the immortals, and the womb of
Serbia will bear fruit in the future, and the children sucking
at her breasts will listen to what their mother is singing :

Yea, so long as a babe shall be born,
Or there resteth a man in the land —
So long as a blade of corn
Shall be reaped by a human hand —
So long as the grass shall grow
On the mip^hty plain of Kossovo —
So long, so long, even so,
Shall the glory of those remain
Who this day in battle were slain.

Industrial France since the War

By Andre Lebon

(Ex-Minister of Commerce.)

Cardinal Richelieu, the greatest of our statesmen, and
one who knew us well, said of us that " our enemies, unable
to take adequate measures against our constant changes of
policy, could not find tim^e either to profit by our faults."

These words of Louis XIII.'s celebrated Minister
came into my mind while thinking over a few aspects of
the present industrial position in France. Foreigners,
struck principally by the gay good-humour and the im-
pulsive genius of the French race, are too apt to reproach
us with lightness and frivolity. The accusation is exag-
gerated, if not unjust, for when needed we display qualities
the exact opposite of these superficial faults. Yet what-
ever may be thought on this subject, no one can deny to
the French race an extraordinary facility in adapting itself
at once to the most unforeseen circumstances, no matter
how critical or how grievous these may be. The happen-
ings in the industrial world during the last twenty months
stand for proof.

One may say that in August, 19 14, nearly everyone
shared in the fundamental error of the military and
economic authorities — viz., that the war, by throwing into
the field tremendous masses of men armed with the most
terrible weapons of destruction and at a staggering money-
cost, must necessarily be short and crushing.

From this mistaken idea came that other error which
prevailed in our army organisation before the war — viz.,
that all workshops must be instantly closed and every man
hurried to the frontiers so as to stem the invasion; with
the inevitable result that, six months after the declaration
of war, we found ourselves not merely impoverished
through the occupation of our manufacturing departments
of the north and east, but also because all our other com-

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mercial and agricultural industries were suddenly brought
to a standstill by the mobilisation of their best hands,
engineers, overseers, and others, who had been called to
the colours. A few exceptions had been made for a limited
number of factories working solely for the army, but one
single example will show how restricted these exceptions
were. The heads of departments, whose business it was
to judge, estimated the number of shells required at ten
times less than the daily need proved to be, with the result
that the production of one particular type of shell was ten
times less than the artillery called for.

Thus in September, 19 14, all industrial civil life was
shut down, and the industrial life of the army was most
inadequately provided for. We may take it that out of
every hundred pre-war workmen, twenty-four were mobi-
lised, but the disorganisation thus caused in the workshops
obliged half at least of these to close. Forty-two workmen
found themselves thrown out, and only thirty-four con-
tinued in employment. The disaster was great, and the
social misery which must necessarily follow was to be
dreaded from many points of view.

Nevertheless, fifteen months later, in January, 19 15,
official statistics proved that enforced idleness had com-
pletely disappeared. More than this : if to the number of
those at work you add the 24 per cent, with the army, you
find the total number of these and those to have increased
by I per cent, in comparison with the normal number. And
this in spite of salaries, on the whole, higher than in pre-
war days, the reason being that, to supply the demand, it
was necessary to increase the hours of work and to raise
the minimum wage. Again, the Army would only consent
to release the most indispensable specialists in each trade ;
a large number of women were therefore taken on to re-
place the ordinary workmen. Nearly 110,000 women were
employed at one and the same time in the factories working
for the artillery and the engineers, and many others, with
the object of entering civil industries, were being taught
trades from w^hich hitherto they had been excluded. Cer-
tain factories even transformed their entire plant so as to
make it easier of manipulation by feminine fingers. The
hat factories, for instance, substituted aluminium shapes
for the much heavier shapes in zinc.

INDUSTRIAL FRANCE SINCE THE WAR

Results such as these have only been obtained by an
immense and costly effort : on the part of the workmen who
have adapted themselves to new conditions; on the part
of the women who have undertaken manual labour; and
on the part of those captains of industry who have either
brought their old machinery up to date for dealing with
new needs, or who have constructed immense new factories
in order to provide the country with those goods which up
to now she has lacked.

France thus presents the following paradox : At the
very moment that the German occupation deprives her of
two-thirds of her raw and semi-raw materials, and she is
obliged in consequence to beg for coal and iron and steel
from England and the United States — a condition of things
which has contributed not a little to prolong in England
the erroneous idea that we are not an industrial people —
she forges new tools so as to become, and actually does
become, a greater manufacturing and industrial country
than ever before.

And do not make any mistake : this transformation, or,
more correctly stated, this addition of new centres of
industry to pre-existing ones, is no temporary expedient,
but is inspired by the desire to prepare a permanent future.
The Frenchman is not wasteful by nature — not, at least, in
his private life. One might even reproach him with being
too close-fisted in business questions, and not looking far
enough ahead. But in the present circumstances his tradi-
tional instinct has been a sure guide. He realises that since
necessity forces him to an immense effort of reorganisation,
it is just as well to arrange to profit by this when the war
is over, so that France on the cessation of hostilities should
find herself — putting aside the ruined edifices in the north
and east, which must be rebuilt — in the possession of more
modern machinery and of an organisation better fitted for
Army needs than ever before.

Here is an instance, very much to the point, which has
just come under my personal observation. The manager
of a certain factory which had fallen into the hands of the
Germans found himself alone in Paris without the support
of a single one of his directors, all of whom were retained
as hostages by the enemy, but in a Paris bank stood ^^4,000
belonging to the company. There was no one to give him

D^ 2

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

orders, no one to whom he could ask advice except one of
the company's largest shareholders who was living near
him. This did not trouble him. Strong in the approval
of the single shareholder, he decided to use the £4,000 in
the construction of a shell factory. But with an eye on the
future he fitted up this factory with machinery of a superior
type to that strictly necessary for the immediate object in
view, in order to utilise later these machines for the pro-
duction of goods which France needed before the war, and
which are the normal complement of the ordinary work
which this company produces.

An intelligent, determined, and far-seeing man, this
manager; nor is he the only one of his kind.

You may be sure that if France has set herself to
produce daily almost twice the number of shells that Lloyd
George can turn out from his munition factories — shells of
which a large part are destined for our Allies — she has no
intention of letting her energies slack later on during the
campaigns of peace.

These efforts, we must not forget, have been the work
of private individuals, as much, or perhaps more so, than
of public bodies. Not only have the State arsenals been
reorganised for increased production, but private work-
shops have been reorganised more radically still.

Here is the procedure followed : — With the exception
of Paris, where the Government has, in general, dealt
directly with the hundreds of big manufacturers who live
there, the rest of France has been divided up into fifteen
districts. At the head of each district is a representative
man chosen from the most important manufacturers round
about. With him alone the Government draws up its con-
tracts, and he undertakes to find, even if necessary to create,
every requisite appliance for the complex manufacture of
shells. All sub-contracts he carries through by himself.

As regards the other things we lack, such as heavy artil-
lery, tools and materials for trench-making, gun-carriages,
chemicals employed in explosives, etc., the course followed
has been different. Under the management of first-rate
civil engineers, manufactories have arisen perfect in every
detail, and many of the greatest importance in output. In
some cases these have received direct financial support from
the State. In others they have worked on ordinary busi-

INDUSTRIAL FRANCE SINCE THE WAR

ness contracts to deliver goods. In all cases, of course, the
work is done under the strict control of State inspectors,
who are required to verify every detail and every stage in
the quality of the output.

It is not easy to imagine the various difficulties which
had to be overcome in order to accomplish this national
work. To the difficulties of obtaining the enormous quanti-
ties of iron, coal, and steel needed, of which the invasion
had deprived us, must be added those relating to labour
and transport.

Although the workers, with a splendid devotion to the
interests of their country, have given the go-by to all their
trade union rules, nevertheless the insufficiency of their
numbers has necessitated the taking on of foreigners and
colonials.

Serious complications have also occurred in the rail-
way world. Held up at first, from the point of view of
civilian requirements, on account of the mobilisation and
the concentration of troops, upset later on by the daily
increasing numbers of the commissariat, equipment, and
munition trains which had to be dispatched every day,
embarrassed by the loss of one-seventh of the rolling stock
which fell into the enemy's hands during the first weeks of
the war, the railway service had to meet not only all these
demands — an increase of 50 per cent, above the normal
traffic, and of 67 per cent, on certain lines — but also
demands of an entirely new nature because of the new
directions which the trains had to take.

But it is thanks to this marvellous initiative, to these
stupendous financial sacrifices, that France "at the back
of the Front " has assumed just as much as the boys in the
trenches her share in the responsibilities of the defence.

It would not be in the interests of the public to give the
actual results obtained by this industrial revolution. Suffice
it to say that in place of one single shell made for the
Soixante Quinze on August ist, 19 14, we turn out to-day
357, while the increase for the heavy guns is from i to

54*5.

Thus during the last twenty months a new industrial
France has come into being alongside of the old one. She
will constitute one of the most important factors in the
coming economic relations between the Allies.

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Iniquitous as it would be — I hope I have already shown
you this? — not to make over to the manufactories of the
invaded departments all the war indemnities to which they
have a right, as well as to allow them sufficient time to
recover their equilibrium, it would be more foolish still,
commercially, socially, and politically, to seek to break the
wings or stop the upward spring of this new France born
of the miraculous vitality of our ancient race.

Commercially, it would be idiotic — just at the moment
when, according to Mr. Hughes, Prime Minister of Aus-
tralia, the whole world will be appreciably poorer — not to
utilise the capital, machinery, and labour improvised during
the war to re-establish as quickly as may be the former
standard of comfort.

Socially, one could not, without risk, force back into
worse labour conditions, at a lower scale of pay, those nien
and women who have since the war acquired a taste for work
and pay of a higher class.

And, to conclude, it would be politically an unpardon-
able fault to destroy the industrial centres which have risen
all over France, and to dope again into slumber those cities
which are just awakening to modern life. And this would
be still worse, so far as our foreign policy is concerned,
were there grounds for thinking that any one of our Allies,
no matter how admired and loved to-day, could desire, at
the back of his mind, to snatch a war-profit to our dis-
advantage or to push his business plans to the detriment
of ours.

Which is not, of course, to say that we are independent
of outside help for the development of our legitimate
undertakings. But one must " scrap " the silly notion that
England and France are complements one to the other;
that the first personifies big industries, the second mere
luxuries, although it is true that certain articles or certain
series of articles do thus complement each other.

But it is to a very different order of ideas that a closer
alliance of their material interests is to be discerned,
although before the financial settlement of the present war
can be duly drawn up it is too soon to speak of this.

The Balance of Power

By Austin Harrison

In the twenty-third month of the war, which is rather a
physical movement of Peoples than a war in the old pro-
fessional or Princely sense, the Democracy of Britain is
still trying to understand what it is fighting for, what, to
be exact, are the ends proclaimed in magnificent language
by Mr. Asquith, short of which we will " never sheathe the
sword." To answer merely Victory is not enough — all
nations who go to war fight for victory, which is the plati-
tude of war — because, apart from the difficulty of defining
victory, of agreeing among ourselves, that is, what consti-
tutes a sufficiency of defeat, we have to-day to face the
nature of war in modern conditions ; which, as it has upset
all preconceived notions of warfare, so may not improbably
upset all preconceived notions of the results of war, both
positive and consequential.

The positive results of war are, of course, conquest or
absolute victory. History books are filled with the theme.
To the average man, history is little else than a record of
battles, and the names we know best in this world are those
of the men who won them. Caesar, Hannibal, Napoleon,
Nelson, Wellington, etc., these men are the creators of
power ; it is the legacy of their works which has taught us
the doctrine of the Balance of Power, which is the cause
of the European war.

But war seldom has positive results, and even the posi-
tive results have no permanency. What lives of Caesar is
his lucid history. Napoleon has left a code and a system
of roads. Even the creators of power leave but the epitaph
— of themselves. The Balance remains a balance, like
all things human on this globe.

Most wars, in short, end in purely temporary results, as
the history of the last fifty years shows only too signifi-

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cantly. France was not smashed by Bismarck in 1870;
she was only temporarily incapacitated; to-day she lives,
more glorious than ever and more powerful. The Russo-
Japanese war ended in negative victory. The Bulgars,
forced a couple of years ago to their knees by conquering
Serbia and Greece, to-day swarm over an absolutely con-
quered Serbia, while Turkey, similarly thrashed out of
Europe, has inflicted two of the greatest defeats upon
British arms in our annals.

There is no need to continue. War, which is ]the expres-
sion or ultimate reason of diplomacy, settles theri, as we see
few things, and settles those but temporarily. And this
is naturally the case. War is the energy of man. As there
is nothing final, nothing stable, nothing permanent, so there
is, and can be, no stability or permanency of human energy.
There is consequently no such thing as equality. With-
out the idea of permanency, equality obviously can have
no reality. And as energy is the equation or significance
of Man, so force is his expression; and as Power is thus
the significance of Peoples in accordance with the principles
of man collectively and nationally asserted, so war is, in
the last instance, the expression of nationality, from which
conception or ratification of the ethics of force we have
the doctrine of the Balance of Power and the present Euro-
pean system.

The Balance of Power in recent years seemed to denote
progress. Men pointed to the diminution of points —
national points— of danger. No doubt the word balance
conveyed a reassuring idea : it had a judicial sound. And
for some years the group system maintained the peace of
Europe until the notion grew in England, that the group
system had solved the question of war chiefly on the hypo-
thetical ground that war by groups was too terrible a thing
to contemplate. But on the Continent this delusion was
never shared.

If, then, the ideas of men frequently carry them off the
earth, the energy of men most certainly does not soar in
the clouds. Our visionaries forgot that the groups were
armed, and kept on arming, to the teeth, and that, if there
were less individual nations to fear, the group system aimed
at and rested solely on Power, the one balancing against
the other. That was the position in Europe up to August,

THE BALANCE OF POWER

19 14. War came inevitably as the result of the European
system, the two extremities having reached the point of
collision. The Balance of Power could not endure any
longer under its own fierce competitive tension. It broke
down, as history has shown that peace does break down in
periodical cycles as of inflated human energy which seeks
a solution in violence.

Not everyone will admit this, of course. In time of
war it is difficult to think dispassionately, and, in truth, we
can honestly assert that we neither made the war nor
desired it. But there is no need to inquire into the origins
of the present conflagration. It is the struggle for Power,
as the result of the system of Balance of Power, and that
being incontestably so, it is clear that Power alone can
decide it. The question we do not seem to grasp is the
logic of this all-paramount situation. What constitutes
victory? What is the minimum of defeat we can accept?
And also, seeing that it is the direct concern of every man
and woman in these Islands, what conditions could we
accept in the event of a negative issue, and what use would
they be to us ? What, in short, is the irreducible minimum
we are fighting for?

Granted a positive victory, the solution is clear enough
— at any rate, for a certain number of years. The time has
come, however, when we should throw off all delusions,
and definitely make up our minds what it is we Allies mean
by victory or a sufficiency of defeat. Now here plain
speech is essential. Let us examine the definition of
victory. It is perfectly simple.

To win the war, we have to defeat the German Armies
on the field. We have to drive them out of the occupied
lands that we have pledged ourselves to restore and exact
retribution for; we have to crush the fighting energy of
Central Europe, unless in the process of defeating the
common enemy we can detach the hostile groups severally
or collectively from their centre, which we rather vaguely
designate as Prussia. So much is axiomatic. With those
who imagine, after nearly two years of experience, that
Germany can be starved out or smashed by any of the latent
forces of war other than by violence, I do not propose to
argue. Men who think like that either cannot, or will not,
understand realities; they are not on earth. The axiom

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of war then stands. Violence must be crushed by superior
violence, or not at all. And this truth leads us to the con-
clusion we have all got to face : that to win the war we
have to defeat the Germans, and so defeat them that they
are compelled to accept the terms that we may see fit and
well to impose upon them for the security of ourselves and
of Europe.

That is our goal. We are pledged to win. The war
must therefore continue until we have secured victory or
the total defeat of the Germanic Armies.

I do not suppose any man seriously ekpects that we
intend to, or can, physically crush Germany. To do that,
we would have to annihilate the German Armies and
sterilise the German women. It is not humanly possible
or desirable. By victory, then, we do not mean the extinc-
tion of the German race. Our purpose is not to blot out
the Huns from the map of Europe. It is to secure military
victory — victory, that is, which leaves the Allied and con-
quering Balance of Power superior in force to the defeated
group or balance, in order to redress the evil done and
secure some relative standardisation of peace.

So long as the frincifle of Balance of Power is ufheld.
But that will not end war, or bring about the era of Peace
we speak of, or even make for it. On the contrary. As
force breeds force, so the Balance of Power stands for
force. Change it about, and you have but a transvaluation
of values. The reason, the equation of war, will remain,
plus all the incentive of revenge which defeat necessarily
generates in the vanquished, and so all the uncertainty
which leads men to arm and prepare with all the attendant
expenditure. When we speak of winning, it is this that
we have to bear in mind. If the conditions of war are
Power, then obviously it is the conditions that we have to
remove, if the idea of Peace as an institution is to be other
than a chimera. And if the war is to end merely in a
shifting of the Balance of Power, then we shall discover
only too soon that all our fine words and protestations have
been in vain, and that war will continue to be man's final
and national expression.

Unless humanity itself changes as the result of this war,
and Kings and Emperors, soldiers and politicians, arma-
ment manufacturers and professors, youth and age agree

THE BALANCE OF POWER

CO agree to face the future in a contrite spirit of Pacifism.
But that to me seems Hut a dream. All the evidence of
history is against any such revolution of human thought and
morals ; moreover, it is diametrically opposed to all known
laws — and they are laws — of human energy, which can never
agree to agree because there is no finality, no permanency,
no equality, no stability, so far as we know, in life or in
the things of this cosmos. And even if it were so, and
European humanity suddenly saw equally, judged equally,
and thought equally as the result of the horrors of the
present war, such morality will have no reason in any system
based on the Balance of Power, which connotes force —
whether, by nation or group — as the controlling argument.
Moreover, leave but a fragment of Power in the hands of
any one Party, and there will arise opposition, rivalry,
ambition, envy, energy^ which will needs be suppressed in
turn by energy, and so lead back again to the old conditions
and balances. For this energy is life itself. Are we to
imagine that the instincts and foundation springs of man
will change as the result of cataclysm, however terrible?
I cannot think so. I cannot believe that any man capable
of clear thought does think so.

For the nonce all this is "future music." The imme-
diate and only question for us is the war, with its corollary
peace, as affected by the existing system of Balance of
Power. I fear there are still important sections in this
country who fail utterly to realise the significance of, and
issues dependent on, the present upheaval.

Briefly stated, the Germans went to war to upset the
Balance of Power in their favour. That was their avowed
aim. In Germany the idea is known as Pan-Germanism.
It is thus the aim and object of the Allies to frustrate the
German intention by asserting and imposing their own
physical superiqrity. Now follow the logical conclusion.
It is this. The Balance of Power remains — ^we hope in
our favour. That means that w^ar remains with us, and
armaments remain to meet war — in other words, the condi-
tion of war is reasserted.

For we have seen that Germany cannot be crushed,
rendered innocuous, that is, for all time ; so that unless we
can bring about by force the disruption and dis-
integration of the German and Austrian Empires — and this

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object can only be achieved (i) by the dismembership of
the House of Austria, (2) by the forcible partition of what
is to-day the German Empire — the maximum we can win
to under the system of Balance of Power is, curtly stated,
the assertion of the Allied supremacy of Power, thereby
dislocating the Balance up to 19 14 in favour of other Con-
tinental Balances ; which end, however satisfactory imme-
diately and morally, will in reality neither establish the
security of such supremacy, seeing that no conditions are
permanent and energy is naturally progressive and un-
reliable, nor in the least solve the great problem of how
to put an end to war, for which object we appear to imagine
we are fighting.

There are possibilities, of course. A European
Federation is one. The establishment of a European
Court of Justice is another, but this latter would seem
merely a lawyer's expedient utterly incompatible with the
teachings of history and the natural energies of Man. The
idea of Federation will obviously depend on the nature
of the end of the war or the degree of victory obtained.
But I am not concerned with any Utopian conceptions of
settling our poor humanity. I am looking at the war in
the light of our working system, the Balance of Power,
and I contend it is high time that this Democracy faced
the gigantic problem before us as it is, and not as we
fondly imagine it to be.

That problem is this : Under the present system of
European Power, the war can only end with the assertion
of supremacy of what we term the Balance of Power on
the one side or the other, and this even if the war ends in
stagnation or all-round exhaustion, which, again, is un-
likely.

Fighting for Power or the dislocation of the old
Balance, the German-Austrian group either obtains it or
loses it. But as we cannot obliterate the Huns, so neither
can they exterminate us. The system, therefore, will
remain. If the Germans are utterly defeated, the Balance
of Power will be adjusted in our favour, and to maintain
that Balance we shall have not only to maintain the force
necessary to safeguard it, but very particularly the associa-
tion of the group which secured the ascendancy. If, again,
the war ends in partial victory, in terms, or by exhaustion,

THE BALANCE OF POWER

the Balance of Power, or militarist Europe, naturally
remains as before, and no solution of the problem (if it is
a problem and not a natural law) of war is possible or
desirable. If, finally, we fail, then the Balance of Power
will revert to the enemy, who, we may be sure, will not
shrink from asserting his supremacy more and more to the
disadvantage of the group which opposed him, in which
case the vaunted Furor Teutonicus would become not
merely a symbol but a reality, heralding the revolution of
the European system of nationalities and interests on the
lines of the Pan-Germanic hegemony of the German pro-
fessors.

Quite obviously, the Germans are fighting for military or
strategic terms and have in no wise abandoned either their
philosophy of Force or the belief in its efficacy. And
looking at things as they are, and the results of the war as
they appear on the map — which is the soldier's way — ^we
must be past all hope blind if we consider that, under
a system of Power, war can change any values but the values
of force, and that this war will therefore bring about the
Utopia of English Radicalism, or any likelihood of substi-
tuting the argument of infantry for the Protocol valuations
of highly-paid lawyers. Only the obliteration of the Teu-
tonic Peoples can depose the helmet for the wig. Only our
complete military victory. Those therefore who to-day are
inclined to study the " psychology of peace " had better first
learn the basic principles of war : which primarily and ulti-
mately demand military supremacy to beat the enemy, and
military supremacy to hold him down.

Do we realise this ? I wonder when Mr. Asquith spoke
about " never sheathing the sword " whether he had any
idea of the nature of the violence his rhetorical blade had
to shatter before the word "never" acquired even a
politician's significance. And do we understand what
failure must signify to Europe, to us, to the whole future
of Anglo-Saxon civilisation? Only too few of us, I fear.
We have talked of war to end war, of the last war, of the
millennium of Peace; yet we do not seem to grasp the
essential truth of the war, which is that only superior force
can beat down force, and that all conditions short of posi-
tive victory must therefore leave the Balance of Power in
Europe not only unsettled, as before the war, but morally

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and potentially with the Balance in Germany's favour, all
the greater actually owing to her central strategic posi-
tion and the fact that her direction is single, and not, as
with the opposing group, divided. It was for this that
Germany threw down the gage. She went to war to show
the world that the Balance of Power was a misnomer, that
militarily there was no balance.

We have called this the war of Liberation, the war of
the little Peoples, and here again it is essential that we face
the alternative. The danger, as the map of Europe now
stands, is that precisely the idea of Nationality tends to
grow weaker the more Force or the Balance of Power
claims its justification. If the Germans were to win, this
would obviously be the case; but even in the event of
" terms" or diplomatists' settlement, the little nations would
seem doomed to suffer. Thus the German idea is to make
Poland the buffer State in the East, and part of Belgium the
buffer State in the West ; nor, unless the Germans are over-
thrown and beaten into humility, is it easy to see how the
creation of any one controlling group of Power can benefit
the small Peoples who, as the war has shown again and
again, are necessarily the victims of force majeure. We are
compelled to apply this principle to Greece; there is the
Foreign Office Treaty of Blockade instead of the sailors'
Blockade; there is the Swedish question over the Aland
Islands ; there is the American principle of neutral Liberty,
the affirmation of which our so-called Democratic Govern-
ment have sedulously withheld from the Public knowledge;
there is Serbia.

Short then of an absolute Allied victory, the principle
of Nationality appears destined to weaken rather than
acquire affirmation, and any Peace which left the Germans
whole and in possession of strategic boundaries must
attenuate Nationality in the interests of military
expediency. And this is what the German Chan-
cellor meant in his last utterance on Peace. The
Germans, he declared, must acquire the strategic
results of their achievements. This, of course, is
the principle we are fighting. It is this Liberation we are
struggling for. It is, therefore, this end that those among
us who profess Liberal principles should stand for to the
last man and farthing, instead, as the tendency among them

THE BALANCE OF POWER

would seem to be, of thinking rather how to end the war in
conditions which, whether they admit it or not, must leave
all their aspirations and principles not only unsolved but
frustrated.

That is why the Germans are to-day ready for peace, for
the purpose of consolidating their gains. As things actually
stand, the programme of Pan-Germanism has been realised,
the main feature of which was the direct highway from Ham-
burg to Constantinople, and thence to the east. To Germany,
this is the crucial demand, not Belgium, not the Western
delimitation of frontier; and it is here that, failing positive
victories on our part, the door of Peace may be regarded as
open or shut. It will depend solely on violence or military
results. And what this Democracy has to realise and decide
is what sufficiency of defeat (of the enemy) it will accept as
the precondition to Peace negotiations, failing which all
idea of altering the militarism of Europe under a system
of Power is to be dismissed off-hand as mere verbal
futility.

It is my opinion that the issue will be decided as the
results of the terrific fighting this summer. The Allies have
opened the campaign in favourable auspices. On sea we
have demonstrated our superior power in the testimony
afforded by the refusal of the German Naval Forces to
meet our Main Fleet in battle. More than that is not
needed. When Admiral Jellicoe arrived, the Germans
withdrew — in the face of superior forces, according to mili-
tary teaching. There were no surprises. The net result of
the Naval Fight may be summed up as entirely satisfactory
to us: the "Young" Fleet of Germany realises that it
cannot face ours; it is and it remains an inferior arm, and
it is an excellent thing that the world should know it.

On land, the "surprise" has been the success of the
Russians, who have proved that there is no necessary stagna-
tion in positional warfare, even as the Germans proved it
last summer at their expense. But the key of the war is
in France. It is on the Western front that this war will be
decided, and it is there we shall probably see in the next
few months the greatest battles that have taken place yet
in the history of man. We stand to-day at the crisis of the
war, before decisions which will decide the principles of
Europe in this century. All sides are at their maximum

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strengths. The results of this summer's fighting must, it
would seem, be determinative.

Clearly, the Germans have not changed, and to-day
hope to be able to assert themselves; to prove to Europe
that the Central Powers hold the Balance of Power, and
that Force is to dictate to Europe. Only our superior Force
will give us the power of dictation. Only our positive vic-
tories will compel the Germans to see life other than
strategically, for the condition of military defeat alone will
provide that sufficiency upon which we can conclude Peace
on any terms satisfactory to the little Peoples, and so win
to any durable conception of Nationality higher than that
of Power under the present European system.

The truth, then, we have to realise is that if we fail to
correct her estimate of that Balance she will have proved
her contention, and that in the event of what is called an
" inconclusive peace " our failure will not only leave the
question of war and armaments and secret diplomacy and
national hatred unsolved, but it will be morally, physically,
and nationally immeasurably greater, in degree of quality
and unity and potential application of power, than hers.

More about Rubber

By Raymond Radclyffe

I WROTE what was almost an enthusiastic article about
rubber shares in the April issue of the English Review. I
then pointed out that investors should choose the best
shares, and refuse to be deluded into buying supposed bar-
gains. I was careful to say that no one should purchase
shares unless they could see a clear lo per cent. In April
raw rubber was round 3s. 6d. per pound, and the market
looked moderately strong. To-day the price is under 2s. 6d.
and does not seem inclined to remain there. Thus, in three
months we have seen a drop of over 25 per cent, in the raw
material. Yet, the quotations in the share market are in
many cases actually higher, and in no important share is
the price much lower. This is remarkable, because a com-
pany with an output of a million pounds would apparently
shed profits at the rate of £50,000 a year by the lowering
of market value in the commodity it supplied. It would
seem to suggest that share values were too low last April if
they have . been able to sustain themselves in spite of a
25 per cent, drop in the commodity. But I think the real
reason why shares have remained steady is that investors
are not in the least disturbed at the sight of rubber at 2s. 6d.,
because the bulk of the plantations are year by year increas-
ing their yields; and as the yields increase without any
addition being made to the issued capitals, so can the divi-
dends be held.

I was careful to point out in my previous article that all
the best companies were handled by cautious men of busi-
ness, who were not out to sell shares, but who had their own
money in the companies they administered. These men
have gradually increased the acreage of their plantations,
and paid for the planting out of profits or out
of reserves obtained in some cases by the issue
of shares at enormous premiums. For example,
Anglo-Malay, one of the Harrisons and Crosfield

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group, began life in 1905 with 1,700 acres and a capital
of £150,000. To-day, 4,430 acres have been planted, but
the capital remains unchanged. This is a fair example of a
well-managed company, whose dividends have fluctuated
between 18 and 100 per cent., and have in all totalled
514 per cent, in the ten years of its existence. The sum of
£173,000 has been spent out of profits, or equal to £39 per
acre. There are still about 750 acres of rubber to come
under the knife. This company, supposing it does not go
on increasing its acreage out of profits, could always pay
round 10 per cent, to an investor who purchased the 2s.
shares at 12s., even when rubber drops to 2s. per lb. I do
not mention this company with any idea that people should
take fire and rush in to buy the shares. I think that there
are more attractive purchases in the rubber market. I give
it as an example of the type of enterprise that has been care-
fully financed, moderately well-managed, but fully valued
by the share dealers. It is also a reasonable example of
the vicissitudes of the rubber plantation industry, for in
19 10 the dividend was 100 per cent, and the price had risen
from 4s. id. to 39s. From these high figures the dividend
dropped year by year till it touched 32 per cent, in 19 14,
when the price was as low as 6s. 6d.

It is quite possible that we may again see rubber quoted
at 2s. per lb., and there are many reasons why shareholders
in sound companies should welcome the fall. Mexico may
become once again a rubber-producing country, but it can
hardly hope to harvest large and payable crops of either
Castilloa or Guayule at 2s. per lb. Brazil will one day
recover her financial equilibrium, and then the aviadoring
houses at Para and Manaos will be able to finance them-
selves and adventure their goods on the Amazon in
exchange for rubber, but with a low price such enterprise
hardly pays. Probably the Amazon crop is kept down quite
as much by lack of capital in Para and Manaos as by the
low price, for the trade is almost entirely one of barter. The
seringueiros must live, and to live they must tap ; but no
new areas will be opened up under present conditions, and
Eastern planters have now got working costs so low that
they can view the Brazilian competition with a calm mind.
The African wild rubber market is practically killed by low
prices, as this rubber always arrives in a very dirty condition,

MORE ABOUT RUBBER

and consequently fetches a low price, which is governed by
the rate for plantation. Jelutong is in demand in the United
States, but the Chinese who collect this species are not
people who work for nothing, and we may consider that it
does not pay to collect if plantation is round 2s. Therefore,
it is infinitely better for the plantation industry as a whole
that rubber should be low in price than that it should be
boomed to 4s. per lb. and over. Also, it must not be for-
gotten that the Eastern plantations are year by year increas-
ing their production, and that it is of the utmost importance
to them that new uses should be found for rubber, in order
that the larger and ever-growing tonnage should be readily
absorbed. There are numberless uses to which rubber can
be put outside the engineering, automobile and shoe indus-
tries, which at present absorb the whole output. But to
open new markets for rubber price must be low.

Practically all well-managed plantations can to-day pro-
duce their rubber at is. per lb., including all charges for
depreciation, London expenses, and selling charges. Many
of the older companies have been able through various
causes to even boast that their " all in " charges are down
to gd. Some enthusiasts claim that the time will come when
every first-class plantation will be able to sell its rubber at
IS. per lb., and still make a handsome profit. I am sceptical
on this point, for up to the present increased acreage, though
giving larger crops, has not resulted in any material reduc-
tion in costs. Moderately-sized estates, compactly arranged,
would appear to give the lowest costs. Huge areas necessi-
tate the employment of a large European staff — always an
expensive item. But every year adds to our knowledge of
how to run a rubber property, and every year sees fractions
of a penny knocked off costs. If it had not been for the war,
which must have added 2d. per lb. to the costs on all proper-
ties, and much more on some, we should have seen the
average " all in " cost on all old estates reduced to gd.
Freights have been raised, Europeans have joined the
colours, and thus supervision has been less efficient and
more expensive. Native labour has been more expensive,
owing to the rise in prices, and general charges have
increased all round. Therefore, it is only fair to assume
that when peace comes costs will fall at least 3d. per lb.

Whether the demand for rubber will keep pace with the

THE ENGLISH REVIEW

production of the East no one can say, but we may hope with
reason that it will. Motor transport is mainly run on solid
tyres, which are sold on a guaranteed mileage. The better
the tyre, the longer it lasts, and the more economical it is in
the long-run. Therefore, makers who wish to get a good
name for their tyres use plenty of rubber, and use the best.
They can thus compete by guaranteeing a longer mileage.
German tyres undoubtedly held a great name for quality,
and German makers were bold in guaranteeing mileage.
They are now out of the market and British tyre-makers
have a splendid chance. They are using it for all they are
worth, and when the war ends the Continental and other
German firms will have to fight hard to regain the business
they have lost. The competition which must ensue will, of
course, mean more rubber and should aid in stiffening the
market.

Therefore, on the whole, I see no reason why share-
holders in Eastern Plantations should view the future with
any fear. They will no doubt have to face fluctuations.
Every business has its good years and its bad. But the
general outlook is reasonably good.

Those who are in rubber will probably remain in. The
question arises, Will it pay to buy shares at the present
moment.^ I reply, " Yes,'' if due care is taken not to pay
too much. Many formulas have been invented in the rubber
market whereby the tyro could, by the exercise of a little
arithmetic, find out which share was cheap and which dear.
But all formulas leave out the personal element of manage-
ment ; they disregard typhoons, white ants and other pests ;
they scorn the unexpected. They are at best merely rough-
and-ready rules. A House firm of brokers recently
suggested that for every £i invested in a rubber company
there ought to be an output of 2 lb. of rubber. If, for
instance, say the brokers, a rubber company has a capital
of ^100,000, and, the price of the shares is £2 (or a capitali-
sation of ;£2oo,ooo), then that company should produce
400,000 lb. of rubber. If we take the cost price to be is.
and the sale price 2s., we get a profit of is. per lb., which
is equal to 10 per cent, on each £1 invested, when the yield
is up to the required 2 lb. of rubber for each sovereign. On
the whole, this rule is fair enough, and no one who buys on
it can come to much harm.

The English Review Advertiser

Telephones :— London Wall 865.
1048.

Managing Director :
A. STEWART HOLLEBONE.

The LONDON & PROVINCIAL INDUSTRIAL SECURITIES, Lll-

stoc »»1,??SS'2?,*'S!."/2?8?"'"'"'' *, Broad-Street Place, London, E.C.

Telegraphic Address :
"Chalsaw, Ave, London."
June 16, 1916.

From the Daihj Telegraph, June 15, 1916: —
RUBBER SHARES.

Waverley developed renewed strength, active deal-
ings being notified up to 38. 5^d.

1 have business in these Sh .res and can ofTer
up to 1,000 (op part) 5/- fully paid Shares at
3s. 6d. free of commission.

JOHORE FUBBER LANDS.

These shares continue an active market at 27s. 3d.
— 278. 9d., ex dividend. The very satisfactory out-
put for May, viz., 71,4961b., against 27.5881b. for May.
1915, indicates that the officral estimate of 800,0001b.
rubber for the current year (against 414,0001b. for
last year), will be realised.

I estimate on the basis of the above output that
the profit (including the Segamat interest) for the
current year will be approximately 15| PER CENT,
and 28 PER CENT. FOR 1917.

I advise my many clients, who bought on my
advice from 12s. upwards, to retain their interest
for at least 35s.
From the Financier and Bullionist, June 9, 1916 : —

JOHORE RUBBER LANDS.—" Given a steady
market in the commodity, they should gradually
appreciate in value up to fully 40s."

WAVERLEY PLANTATION 5/- Fully Paid Shares.

Since I recommended these Shares at Is. 9d., they
have risen to 3s. 6d. buyers.

I again draw the attention of my clients to the
merits of these Shares, as I am, for the following
reasons, fully convinced there is considerable scope
for Capital appreciation to at least par value (5s.) :
Although the Company has only just reached th^
producing stage, 60 per cent, of the cost of main-
tenance, re-olearing, &c., was, for the year ended
December 31, 1915, charged to revenue account.
The official estimates of production are : —

Coffee. Hevea Rubber.

1916 2,150cwt. 30,0001b.

1917 3,643 „ 60,0001b.

1918 5,464 „ 100,0001b.

15,0001b. of rubber have been obtained for the first
five months of the current year, indicating that the
production for the vear will exceed the official estimate.
ESTIMATES OF PROFITS.

Taking a production of 30,0001b. of rubber and
2,186ewt. of coffee, the profits for 1916 should be as
follows : —

30.0001b. of rubber at 2/6 £3,750

2,150cwt. coffee, all sold forward at 59/- 6,342

Estimated Estate expenditure based on
last Report and allowing 40 jjer cent,
to Capital Account

£10.092

6,500
£3,592

Equal to a total net profit of

Or over 3^ per cent, on Capital.
On the basis of the official estimat<^s of production,
the profits for 1917 and 1918 should be as follows :■ —
1917.

60.0001b. of rubber, at 2/6 £7,500

3,643cwt. coffee, at 60/- 10,929

(The present price of coffee is over 80/- per cwt.)

£18,429

,500

Estimated expenditure, allowing 25 per
cent, to Capital Account

Equal to a profit of £9,929

Or nearly io per cent, on Capital.
1918

100.0001b. of rubber at 2/6 £12,500

5,464cwt. coffee at 60/- 16,392

(Present price of coffee over 80/-)

Expenditure, say

12,000

£16,892
Or nearly 17 per cent, on Capital.
DIVIDEND PROSPECTS.

On the basis of the above figures it will be seen
that a dividend of at least 2^ per cent, should be
earned for the current year, with substantial and
increasing dividends for subsequent years.

It will be noticed that these estimates are based on
a verv moderate price for both coffee and rubber.

A purchase at 3s. 6d. for the 5s. FULLY PAID
SHARE should, therefore, show a return for the
next three years as follows : —
A dividend for 1916 of 2^ per cent, would equal
at present price approximately 4 per cent.
A dividend for 1917 of 6 per cent, would equal
at present price approximately 9 per cent.
A dividend for 1 91 8 of 1 2 per cent, would equal
at present price approximately 18 per cent.
NOTE. — The above particulars are not, except
where stated, official, but are compiled from in-
quiries, and are believed to be substantially accurate.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting on the
23rd May last, a Shareholder said in regard to
the accounts : —

" Tou mentioned in your speech that you have
charged a certain part of your expenses to revenue
— that certain part is 60 per cent, of the whole,
and, to my ihind, that fact is exceedingly satis-
factory. When we come to look at your report we
find that out of 76,000 of your Hevea trees only
10.000 were in tapping at the end of the year.
That is less than one-seventh, and the fact that
you should be able to charge 60 per cent, of your
total expenditure to revenue against a oompara-
tivel.v small proportion of your trees that are in
bearing, certainly I think is pleasing."

SEGAMAT (JOHORE) RUBBER ESTATES.

I am recommending these shares to my investi.ngr
clients as being, at their present price, one of the
most attractive shares in the rubber market. A
profit of 35 per cent, should be shown on the share
capital for the current year. These shares should
gradually appreciate on merits to 50s.

Full particulars on application.

I have special business in these shares, and can
offer up to 200 "shares (or part) at 34s. 6d.. free of
commission.

Transactions are completed, either direct with clients
or through their own bankers, payment being made
or received at the Bank against delivery of Stock.

All offers to buy or sell Stocks or Shares are
made subject to business being still open on receipt

of instructions.

STATISTICAL DEPARTIWENT.

In response to the request of many of our clients
we have been for some time organising an efficient
Statistical Department covering all classes of securi-
ties (and more especially Rubber Companies) dealt
in on the London Market, in order to be in a posi-
tion to deal efficiently and speedily with inquiries
by correspondence.

This is now complete, and the assistance of expert
advisers has been secured to deal with all classes of
securities. The manifest advantages of the depart-
ment are placed free of any charge at the service
of our clients and correspondents, who should clearly
indicate, when seeking advice, whether they are
holders (and if so, price paid) or propose buying
the securities about which they inquire.
From the Financial Times, Sept. 10, 1915 : —
Mr. R. A. STEWART HOLLEBONE.

The difficulties which members of the Stock Ex-
change have to contend with under the new regula-
tions are exemplified by the fact that Mr. R. A.
Stewart Hollebone has opened business premises at
4, Broa<l-street Place, E.O., for dealing in stocks and
shares independently of the " House." Mr. Stewart
Hollebone's long association with the Stock Exchange
naturally fits him for a business of this class.
From the Financial News, August 18, 1915 : —
Mr. R. A. STEWART HOLLEBONE.

We congratulate Mr. R. A. Stewart Hollebone on
the bold step he has taken of opening a stock and
share dealing business at 4, Broad-street Place, E.C.
Mr. Hollebone's connection with the Stock Exchange
for upwards of a quarter of a century should pro-
vide sufficient guarantee for the conduct of an
enterprise which does not depend upon the vagaries
of the " House."
From the New Witness, Sept. 2, 1915 :—

The investing public will be interested to hear
that Mr. R. A. Stewart Hollebone has opened a
department for Stock and Share dealing findepf^^-
dent of the " House ") at 4, Broad-street PVace, E C.
Mr. Hollebone has had a lengthy association with
the City, and his connection with the Stock Ex-
change for nearlv twenty-five years fits him essen-
tially for the r6le of financial adviser.

^To face end of Fvhher Article.

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THE ENGLISH REVIEW

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