Catalogues. BOOKS-ALL OUT OF PRINT and RARE BOOKS on any subject SUPPLIED. The most expert Bookfinder extant. Please state wants and ask for CATALOGUE. I make a special feature of exchanging any Saleable Books for others selected from my various lists. Special list of 2,000 Books I particularly want post free.-EDW. BAKER's Great Bookshop, John Bright Street, Birmingham. Arthur Symons, Romantic Movement in English Poetry; William Blake, 1st Edits.. 68. each; Hirsch. Genius and Degeneration, 48. 6d. ; Symonds, Greek and Modern Ethics, 2 vols., 31. 108 AIRCRAFT BOMBS AND INTERNATIONAL LAW. Ry J. Ellis Baiker. THE MUSIC OF INDIA: a Classic Art. (1) A WORD FOR COLONIAL CANE SUGAR. By Sir Henry Blake, G.C.M.G., BELGIUM IN WAR: a Record of Personal Experiences. By William A. Brend, M. B. B.Sc. HOW BELGIUM SAVED ENGLAND. THE LEADING CRITICAL WEEKLY. THE SATURDAY REVIEW Since its foundation, in 1855, the SATURDAY REVIEW has been noted for the vigour of its comments on POLITICS and AFFAIRS OF THE DAY, and for the brilliance and independence of its criticism of LITERATURE, MUSIC, ART and the DRAMA. Its reviews of the latest books are contributed by critics who are authorities on their subjects, and are always varied and up to date. Signed articles of general interest by writers of the first rank also form a feature of each issue. THE INDIAMAN OFFICES, 16-17, Devonshire Square, E.C. In order to appreciate the significance of the great For the information of our readers, we give below a The Inner History of the Balkan War, by Lieut.-Col. Reginald Rankin The Last Shot, by Frederick Palmer (Fiction) The Iron Year, by Walter Bloem, translated from the German by War, by W. Douglas Newton (Fiction) The Foundations of Strategy, by Capt. H. M. Johnstone Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Report of the International Commission into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars ORDERS FOR THE ABOVE BACK NUMBERS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE MANAGER, THE ATHENÆUM, 11, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane, E.C May 30, 1914 9 d. Dec. 27, Sept. 20, 1913 6 d. * Only a few copies of this issue now in stock. Daily Telegraph.-"Lady Harman is a gracious and very charming personage who wins our heart. And there are other characters outlined with no little effect......The novel is full of good things." JAMES STEPHENS. The Demi-Gods. By JAMES STEPHENS, Author of 'The Crock of Gold,' &c. Crown 8vo, 58. net. ** Sets forth how three angels come to earth, and are for a period of several months the close companions of a pair of Irish tramps, a certain Patsy MacCann and his daughter Mary. * MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO.'S LIST Gay & Hancock's List NOW READY, price 7s. 6d. net, THE CONCLUDING VOLUME OF GEORGE THE THIRD AND CHARLES FOX By the Right Hon. SIR GEORGE OTTO TREVELYAN, "In all probability the outstanding historical work of the season is the second volume of Sir George Trevelyan's 'George the Third and Charles Fox."" The Nation. "The volume is none the less a modern classic because we can read into it a moral pertinent to the hour." Sunday Times. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON'S FABLES. Just Published. Crown 8vo, 38. 6d. net (postage 3d.). Byways in Bookland Confessions and Digressions By WALTER A. MURSELL. EARLY PRESS NOTICES. Northern Whig.-"Our pleasant anticipations were fully justified by the true pleasure to be found in the pages, and that from cover to cover. The Comradeship of Books,' in which he speaks of the talking book, and instances Charles Lamb as one of the best writers of talking books, is most interesting......but, indeed, the book is most enjoyable from beginning to end." Daily News. This is just the book for an uncle to give a bookworm youth of sixteen or so -and the Publishers, having known some youths of this age, consider this criticism as most eulogistic. Dundee Courier.-"A most interesting volume. ..His thoughts and criticisms are worthy of close attention." Scotsman." A refreshing originality of theme if not always of outlook......When Mr. Mursell does, on rare occasions, forsake the byways for the highroads of literature, he acquits himself well." Paisley Gazette.-"Have you ever looked upon books as living things? I have-frequently. Well, my new acquaintance is a living book. Its title is Byways in Bookland.'” Three Volumes of Poetry GOLDEN FRAGMENTS Yusuf Khan, the Rebel Com- WAR POEMS By MARIE VAN VORST. mandant. By S. C. HILL, Indian Educational and Maps. 8vo, 108. 6d. net. Service (Retired). With Illustrations [In a few days. The biography of an Indian soldier of the eighteenth cen tury who, after serving the English, rose in rebellion and was hanged in 1764. Disturbed Dublin: the Story of the Great Strike of 1913-14. With a Description of the Industries of the Irish Capital. By ARNOLD WRIGHT. 8vo, 38. 6d. net. In continuation of Lord Brassey's 'Work and Wages' and 'Foreign Work and English Wages.' By SYDNEY J. CHAPMAN, M.A. M.Com., Professor of Political Economy and Dean of the Faculty of Commerce in the University of Manchester. Part III. SOCIAL BETTERMENT. 8vo, 98. net. Work and Wages. A Schoolmaster's Apology. By the Rev. CYRIL A. ALINGTON, Head Master of "Deals with many sides of education in a way which is as witty as it is stout-hearted."-The Times. The Pan-Angles: a Consideration of the Federation of the Seven English-Speaking Nations. (British Isles, United States, Canada, Newfoundland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand.) By SINCLAIR KENNEDY. 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. LONGMANS, GREEN & CO., 39, Paternoster Row, London, E.C. Pretty brochure, 8 pages, Union Jack tie, 6d. net(postage 1d.). The War makes this work particularly interesting and valuable. SOME OLD FLEMISH TOWNS Dixmude, Nieuport, Tournai, Lille, Bruges Louvain, Ghent, Alost, &c. Written and illustrated by GEORGE WHARTON EDWARDS. Size 10 in. by 6 in., 336 pages, with 5 Coloured and 30 HalfTone Full-Page Plates, cloth gilt, with artistic designs, gilt top, boxed, 18s. net (postage 6d.). Standard.-"His sketches of quaint architecture, the imposing churches and belfries, the hôtels de ville, &c., are admirable." A UNIQUE REWARD BOOK PUSHING TO THE Or, Success under Difficulties. FOURTH EDITION. This work has been translated into most European languages, and is used as a Textbook in the Government Schools of Italy, Japan, and Spain. London: GAY & HANCOCK, LTD., Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. THE first of the volumes before us is singularly apposite to the main interest, the overpowering interest, of the present time. Napoleon at Work' is the outcome of an effort made by a learned French soldier to reconstruct from documents, and by the aid of a strong historical imagination, the processes by which the greatest of all strategists prepared a general plan of campaign and carried out its most critical operations. Col. Vachée, moreover, is not content to stop short at historical reconstruction. He is anxious also to relate the past to the present, to discover in Napoleon's methods the elements of permanent value, and draw from such a campaign as that of Jena in 1806 lessons applicable to the enormous warfare of to-day. What makes his book of peculiar value is the fact that, upon the battlefields of Eastern France and Belgium, the main strategy of the Allies-the strategy of the blow struck by superior numbers concentrated against some vulnerable spot of importance is really a direct inheritance from the Emperor himself, as our columns have already indicated. Napoleon did not disdain to practise the turning movement, elaborated by the modern German theorists into "envelopment" by a line of uniform depth and weight in contact through all its length; none knew better than he that successful war is a series of improvisations," and demands the employment of every resource. But the frontal blow delivered by forces converging on the field of battle was his own manœuvre par excellence, and one as peculiarly suited to the armies of contemporary France as to those which followed his eagles. For a nation never reveals its character more fully than in its conduct of war. In the French doctrine of to-day, with its adaptability, its reliance upon mobility and verve, we have reflected the very soul of our comradesin-arms; in that of Germany, with its rigidity, its curious formalism, and its basis on certain psychological assumptions, we can divine alike the qualities and the defects of our adversaries, their love of rule and order, their simplicity and strength. While the two doctrines put their claims to the proof, there is a great fascination in pages which reveal the practice of one of them by its greatest master, and we are indulging in no commonplace of laudatory criticism when we say that Col. Vachée has added to the vast library of Napoleonic literature a book indispensable to the military student, and of the highest interest to the general reader to-day. Cleverness [wrote Napoleon] is not wanted in war. What is wanted is accuracy, character, and simplicity." One certainly comes from Col. Vachée's volume with an impression that the Emperor owed no less to his capacity for ceaseless toil, his patient mastery of detail, and determined policy of centralization than to his actual genius. It is his ability to hold in his own hands, not only the master, but also the minor, threads of his schemes which strikes us most of all. Berthier and the rest of his higher subordinates-what mere scribes they were, and with how dim a knowledge of the import of the orders they copied and circulated! In the formation of them their advice was never asked or their criticism suffered. To the modern General Staff, the body of experts collaborating in the production of a plan of campaign, the Staff of Napoleon bore strangely little resemblance. The general course of events was moulded by one brain and will alone; nor did this supreme and autocratic policy cease at the broader lines of strategy. It dominated major and minor tactics as well. "Not only [writes Col. Vachée], as is advisable, did he himself draw up the main lines which must be closely connected with strategical combinations, but in orders dictated either to the Chief of the Staff or the General Commissary of Stores of the army, he fixed the details of them. He depended upon no one for the choice of the sites for the big depots, arsenals, hospitals, storehouses, and military bakehouses. He was his own director of marches, and encroached, even often, on the department of inferior authorities by issuing orders dealing with the smallest details." | ordinates alike. Napoleon was well served by his marshals on the whole, but from the splendid material supplied by them he was never able to fashion for himself a true right hand. In the heyday of his success he probably found pleasure in his isolation; later, when fortune turned against him, and his physical activity began to be impaired, he must have realized bitterly the limitations imposed by it. "This manner of commanding," wisely comments Col. Vachée, "cannot be given as a model.” The general framework of the book is the campaign of Jena, and it includes chapters which reproduce in the most satisfying detail the military methods of the Emperor and his manner of life in the field. Perhaps to the general reader none will prove more interesting than those which describe his personal relations with his officers and men, and his system of rewards and punishments. Emphatically Napoleon was not a man of friendships. He could unbend to moments of intimacy and camaraderie, but his spirit as well as his practical intelligence dwelt apart, and his personal dealings with and views of his higher subordinates were seldom without a certain chill of suspicion and reserve. His silence, he explained, signified approval; if he spoke, it was only to blame. With the inferior ranks he was a different being. a different being. An amazing memory for people, a profound knowledge of the detail of military life, a strong sense of the dramatic in word and deed, made him the idol of his rank and file. His discipline was characteristically peculiar-a chain of iron on the field of action, a silken bond at other times. The soldier, as Col. Vachée points out, was particularly unfortunate who paid the full penalty for looting or similar misdemeanour, and in general the Emperor showed a great leniency towards offences other than those impairing military efficiency. Some interesting passages sketch the democratic system of discipline by which offenders on minor charges received summary and violent correction at the hands of their fellows. In a significant conclusion Col. Vachée sums up on the question of an autocratic supreme command and a system resulting from the true co-operation of a highly trained General Staff: "Between these two methods [he writes] it is permissible for each of us to make his choice. As far as I am concerned, whilst being a zealous partisan of a division of work, of the development of initiative, of a wide diffusion in the army of intellectual life, and whilst considering that it is indis pensable to modify, in that way, everything that was tyrannical and absolute in the Napoleonic method, I firmly believe that nothing can replace the personal work of a leader, that incessant intellectual work is the safeguard of the authority and prestige of a commander-in-chief and of the originality In the vast extent of modern warfare and force of his conceptions. By the very fact that he exists, and that his action is such a system would be unthinkablefelt, he increases everybody's force of co-operation is a condition of success; impulsion and sacred fire' tenfold, and, but one is tempted to think that, even by his firmness and rapidity, he gives a where feasible, it is a dangerous policy, characteristic turn to the execution of his and demoralizing to leader and sub-orders. A command thus exercised, if addressed to an army exalted by ideas of duty, patriotism, and sacrifice, will obtain from it that intense effort which is an almost certain pledge of victory." The work has been well translated by Mr. G. Frederic Lees, with an Introduction that is an ample apology for any small slips and roughnesses. A second edition should correct the rather numerous misprints. The campaign of 1812 gives hardly any idea of Napoleon's supreme qualities as politician, organizer, strategist, or leader He had his flashes of greatness still-witness his magnificent conduct of the remnants of the Grand Army across of men. the Berezina; and his detailed scheme of the war showed little loss of power in dealing with the smallest trifles of transport, &c. But to be a great soldier you must meet your enemy face to face; to be a successful soldier you must defeat and disintegrate him. In 1812 Napoleon's enemy refused to be brought to a death-grapple, and the qualities of leader and army alike ended in a series of blows in the air. Moreover, the Napoleon of 1812 was far declined from the Napoleon of 1806. Accordingly Mr. Edward Foord has a far less inspiriting theme for his volume than had Col. Vachée. At the same time he has compiled an accurate and fairly readable account of the series of operations, accompanied by some good maps and plans. Col. Burton covered the same subject in an excellent monograph which we reviewed in these columns on August 22nd, but Mr. Foord's has a more popular and less technical object, so that there is ample room for both. The book is handsomely got-up and illustrated. 66 Perhaps no district in England is more The aim of the series, if we may judge Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire. 66 66 are written more largely in this district upon the face of the country-side than in other parts of England. It was, perhaps, over-ambitious to compress the Old Palace and the Minster (so called, we may remind him, as early as the fourteenth century) into a single chapter, and to attempt a description of the whole city in three; but not many important points are missed, and the sketches of Lincoln by Mr. Griggs are supremely successful. Mr. Rawnsley is mistaken in speaking of "the three St. Hughs" of Lincoln, for Bishop Hugh de Welles was never canonized, and as he is said to have belonged to the Gloucestershire family of Trotman, we are curious to know the reasons for assigning him a Lincolnshire origin. It is more surprising to find Mr. Rawnsley conjecturing that there were town walls at Grantham on the evidence of the suffix gate to some of the streets; for in the case of other towns, as Louth, Lincoln, and Boston, he is well aware that "gate" is a Norse word for road. 66 He notices nearly all the monastic foundations, for which Lincolnshire was once famous, but which now (alas!) have almost entirely vanished; and his account of the Gilbertines-the only Order of strictly English origin-whose founder was a Lincolnshire man, is interesting and complete. But his list of the Templar preceptories omits that of Maltby, west of Louth; and in saying that Crowland and Thornton were the only "mitred" abbeys in the county, he is forgetting Bardney, though he elsewhere fully describes the recent excavations of its extensive buildings. It is really astonishing how much varied information our author has contrived to pack within the limits of a handy volume. Old legends, churchwardens' accounts, epitaphs, the extinct woollen industry, agricultural statistics, duck "decoys, the mysteries of fen-skating-all receive their due meed of attention. But he is most at home in dealing with the literary associations of the county, of which he has missed very few; although the glories of Brant Broughton Church have made him forget that that monument of misdirected learning, the Divine Legation of Moses,' was written, or at least planned, in the adjoining rectory. While belonging to a younger generation, he had the honour of a personal acquaintance with Tennyson, and the chapter on Somersby is full of the intimate knowledge and appreciation which were shown in his previous publications on the Lincolnshire poet. The second-proof-correction of the volume leaves something to be desired, especially in the matter of dates; and one or two sentences of the manuscript appear to have been dropped in the account of Bytham Castle on p. 45. There are few important secular buildings of any note or antiquity which he has not described, with the admirable help of Mr. Griggs; and his accounts of Tattershall Castle, the "Old Hall" at Gainsborough, and "John of Gaunt's Stables" at Lincoln are full of interesting detail. He is also well versed in the county's history and antiquities; and he records many of those traces of the Roman sway which, though seldom existing in brick and stone outside Lincoln, It seems almost superfluous to praise the work of Mr. Griggs, who has illustrated many other volumes of the series. Alike in his execution and choice of subjects he is felicitous as ever, and some of his sketches of ancient buildings seem almost to enhance the beauty of the originals. |