influence undoubtedly nullified in the matter by President Roosevelt. The interview is therefore an important incident, inasmuch as it makes abortive the amalgamation and isolation policy attempted by England, and utterly defeats the plans of Delcassé and Landsdowne.

"The world is growing sick of continuous bloodshed by land and sea, of the report of new horrors, wrought by bomb-throwers and assassins. Bloody war and bloody anarchy prove an oppressive burden to mankind, and it is evident that the German Emperor would be glad to deliver his soul in the matter, if ever the Czar wished him to express his opinions freely. It is an admitted fact that onlookers see most of the game; under such circumstances any utterance of the Emperor would be likely to promote the best interests of Russia or the Czar, a presumption that is warranted by the character borne by William II. These facts can not be refuted by any insinuation of the English or French press and the suspicious statements even of some Russian newspapers."

On the other hand the Zeit (Vienna) reports an interview with Mr. Déroulède, the chauvinistic poet and agitator, who yet speaks the opinion of a good many Frenchmen when he says:

The German Emperor could not possibly give any good advice to Russia, the friend of France; but France can not afford to see her ally come under the direct influence of Germany."

Yet according to the Frankfurter Zeitung, the Czar actually begged William II. for his advice. To quote:

The Czar was anxious to have the advice of the Emperor on the political situation in Russia. From information which reaches us on good authority we are enabled to state that the Emperor repeated the advice which was given by him in a letter addressed to the Czar some time ago. William II. in this letter declared that the best suggestion he could give to Russia on the subject of peace negotiations was that the Czar should make all possible concessions compatible with the prestige and vital interests of the country. It is, moreover, an erroneous opinion that the Emperor sustained the Czar in his opposition to the promulgation of a constitution."

The Italian press echo this view, and the Secolo (Milan) declares that William "played the rôle of preceptor to this poor Muscovite Louis XVI.," while the Tribuna (Rome) thinks that the Emperor wished generously to give his moral support to the tottering throne of the Romanoffs and "to prove to the world that the Russian state was still solid and the Russian Government master of the situation." The same paper observes that the interview gave Germany an opportunity “of arriving at precise information concerning the intentions of Russia" in the matter of peace and reform; and the République Française denies that France should take umbrage at an action of the Emperor's which was intended to further peace. The Petit Parisien adds that the Emperor so timed the conference that he might make some suggestions with regard to the peace negotiations.

Eugène Lautier, in the Paris Figaro, says that doubtless the Scandinavian question was the object of the interview at Björkoe. The Emperor is aiming at " the indented coasts of Norway for his fleets. . . . The question is not whether Norwegians shall have a Bernardotte, a Danish prince, or even a Hohenzollern for a king. But it is absolutely necessary that that matter be decided by Germany."

The Westminster Gazette thinks that the matter need not disturb the composure of England and remarks: “The English public can afford to keep its composure at the latest of the alleged intrigues of Germany, but if Sweden and Norway are prompted to settle their quarrel as quickly as may be, no harm will be done." The Daily Mail (London) recalls Germany's early friendship for Russia, for Germany "by the Kaiser's famous signal in 1901 to the Czar, 'The Admiral of the Atlantic salutes the Admiral of the Pacific,' offered Russia a free hand and her support in Manchuria. On the eve of war with Japan, the German press was filled with assurances to Russia that so pitifully weak and poor a people as Japanese would never fight." But the London Times says

that the contemporary Russian press is "under no illusion as to the present worth of the Emperor's friendship toward Russia.” The St. Petersburg correspondent of the London Standard is of opinion that the importance and significance of the conference has been exaggerated and concludes that it was little more than a timely coup de théâtre. To quote :

"Various classes of Russians appear to be agreed that the Czar was ill-advised in consenting to the meeting, but nobody entertains the supposition that he had the least intention of furthering the Kaiser's designs against France, or of indicating his own views regarding actual or possible changes of international partnerships or groups. At the same time, the opinion is gaining ground in diplomatic circles that the importance of the conference consisted mainly in the fact that it was held at the present juncture of political affairs."

The European press treats the question of initiative as of the gravest import. Did William or Nicholas suggest the interview? The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Paris Temps is sure that the Kaiser took the first step, and so think the London Statist and Daily Mail and the Paris Intransigeant. The other view, however, is taken by the Vossische Zeitung (Berlin), which lays the responsibility for the meeting on the Czar, and emphasizes the Kaiser's friendly interest in Russia.—Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

A FRENCH ARRAIGNMENT OF THE GERMAN

FRE

ARMY.

'RENCH critics of the German army have been content, since 1870, to assert its weakness by pen rather than by sword. The latest Frenchman to prove, on paper, that the glory of the Kaiser's army has departed, is Mr. E. Reybel, who writes in the Paris Revue. The vast host of 1,700,000 German soldiers of all arms, equipped with modern weapons and trained in modern tactics, is not what it seems, declares Mr. Reybel, and he suggests that the Kaiser is not without blame in the matter. He says:

A series of accidents, becoming more and more frequent since 1870, seems to indicate that this magnificent military edifice is crumbling on all sides, that its cracks and fissures are widening day by day. In Germany itself the word decadence has been pronounced. Clear-sighted men have uttered words of alarm. In numerous brochures in periodicals are denounced the corruptions from which this army is suffering, sacred as it is to the eyes of all good German patriots. The anxiety on this point which comes to light all over the empire appears to be amply justified by the facts revealed in the works of such writers as Bilse, Beyerlein, and their imitators."

The writer goes on to say that the modern German novel of military life gives only too faithful a picture of the military decadence of the German Empire. In the earlier days of the Prussian army the officers were distinguished by their grave demeanor, their spirit of frugality, their taste for work and study. Speaking of the present generation, Mr. Reybel says:

"Nowadays the young German officers bear little resemblance to their predecessors. The spirit of parsimony has given way to that of dissipation. Legions of them spend their days in making money by methods more or less honest. They do not hesitate to resort to the meanest devices for this end; they are head over ears in debt, and stop at nothing to evade their creditors. The officers in general have given up all serious studies and devote themselves to the coarsest pleasures. Drunkenness is the least of their sins. The latest revelations prove that they have no respect for the most elementary laws of morals. . . . Very many of the young officers are destitute of self-control or dignity; in the garrison towns they are frequently met with in a condition of noisy intoxication. Adultery is quite á la mode with them, and they spare no efforts to deceive an intimate friend and break up his home. Frightful jealousies and backbitings destroy the spirit of camaraderie, the fine and cordial fraternal feeling so indispensable in a company of

He goes on to say that military pride has degenerated into puerile vanity; that officers treat privates and civilians with cruel, sometimes murderous, brutality; and that discipline in the ranks is relaxed. The petty officers are not obeyed by the privates, and yet the most abject toadyism is exhibited by commissioned officers in dealing with their superiors. To quote further:

'What are the causes of this critical condition of the German army? . . . Certain critics lay it all to the charge of the Emperor William II. It certainly was first manifested after his accession in 1888, when the effects of his personal administration first made themselves felt; or, rather, it was then first noticed, after being latent for many previous years. No one can deny that William II. pays most constant attention to military matters. ... From a technical point of view he maintains the German army at the top notch of perfection.".

After giving particulars as to the Emperor's recent reforms and improvements in the equipment and discipline of the army, the writer adds:

'But, besides these measures, William II. has taken others, the excellence of which is at least doubtful, and the results of which have sometimes proved actually mischievous. The Emperor is a fantastic and romantic creature. He is too nervous and too restless; very often entirely inconsequent in his proceedings. He has, indeed, the faults of his qualities. Activity with him becomes excitement, and his energy is positively brutal. Readiness in action and persistency degenerate into arbitrary obstinacy. . . These faults are most glaringly evident in William II. as head of the army. This is especially the case with his arbitrary egotism and his vanity. He will have none of his generals recognized as his superior. He will suffer no one to criticize his actions. His excitement, his brutality, his fantastic and capricious spirit, that nervous and exaggerated impetuosity which drives him on to adopt every new idea that has on it the stamp of improvement-all are shown in his administration of the army. The results are seen in a series of. occurrences which certainly contribute nothing either to the solidity or the value of that army."

The writer summarizes the Emperor's faults which so fatally react on the young officers and privates of the army by saying that William II. has the passion for show and advertisement; that he is hopelessly self-opinioned; that his handling of the army is despotic; that he keeps as chief military commanders those who are most subservient to himself; that he "has installed in the German army the spirit of favoritism and servility-two fatal elements which are destined in the long run, unless a radical change is brought about, to sap and destroy the magnificent edifice so labo

A

T the beginning of the war, Japan was represented as a pupil of Western nations; at the end of the war, she appears as a teacher. England, with its magnificent navy, is being told that an army like the Mikado's must cooperate with it. Italy, with a large and well-drilled army, hears that it must have a navy of equal strength. Thus the defeat of Russia, which was expected by some to result in a reduction of European armaments, may actually cause an increase all around. The Paris Gaulois remarks that the complacent British islanders are waking up to the fact that Russia's strong guard on the eastern frontier of Prussia was an aid which they now miss. But a greater lesson still, and one that will come home pretty forcibly to the hearts and pockets of the British is thus stated by their French critic:

"The Russo-Japanese War . . . has made it evident that it is not sufficient for the security of an insular power to possess domination on the ocean. It is necessary for such a power to command, as Japan has done, an army, homogeneous, well organized, and well officered. And it is not without humiliation that England recognizes the fact that, previous to her disasters, Russia could do what England with all her powerful navy has failed to accomplish, namely, prevent Germany from having a preponderating influence in the affairs of Europe.

"The control of the seas is an excellent thing, whose importance it is impossible to exaggerate. A Power which is truly strong,' however, is not one which possesses either a formidable fleet without an army, or an army without a formidable fleet."

Testimonies arise from all sides that England is by no means so strong on land as she is by sea. The question of an invasion of England has called attention to this fact. In 1846 the Duke of Wellington said, speaking of the south coast of England:"

"Except immediately under the fire of Dover Castle, there is

not a spot on the coast on which infantry might not be thrown on shore, and from which such a body of infantry so thrown on shore would not find, within distance of five miles, a road into the interior of the country through the cliffs practicable for the march of a body of troops; that in that space of coast (that is, between North Foreland and Selsey Bill) there are no less than seven small harbors, each without defense, of which an enemy, having landed his infantry on the coast, might take possession and therein land his cavalry and artillery of all caliber and establish himself and his communication with France."

If such an invasion took place, where are the land forces to withstand it? In The Nineteenth Century and After (London) Robert Machray speaks of the poor condition of the British army, and quotes Lord Roberts in his advocacy of rifle-practise. He says:

6

“One indeed is sometimes tempted to ask if there is any British army at all, and yet Great Britain has just emerged from a long and costly war, which not only taxed hur resources beyond belief, but should have taught her that to be a great sea Power is not enough. Our condition, from the fighting value standpoint, is not better than it was before the war in South Africa. Witness Lord Roberts, whose testimony is free from all suspicion. In a letter addressed to the press two or three weeks ago he said that, while the British colonies had gained something from the war, England alone seems to have learned but little . . . and to be content to allow the nation to sink back into its old state of unpreparedness and inefficiency, unmindful of the unnecessary sacrifice of life and money which such unpreparedness and inefficiency may again entail, and to even a greater extent than was the case in South AfriIn the same letter the Field-Marshal pleads strongly-conscription being set aside as impracticable-for the manhood of the nation to turn its attention seriously to becoming proficient in the use of the rifle, so that it shall become a vast, unenrolled army of first-class marksmen."

ca.'

"A German Resident," as he signs himself, writing in The National Review (London), says that soldiers in the English army are badly drilled and clothed, and English officers hold their uniform to be disgraceful; that it is no wonder the rank and file “perform indifferently on the battle-ground," for they are men of a poor class, badly educated, with a low standard of duty." He continues by thus addressing his English readers:

"The present war is illustrating afresh the dismal failure of your army in South Africa. Would Japanese soldiers and generals have failed at Magersfontein, or Colenso, or Spion Kop? Would Russian soldiers have failed? Your surrenders were the topic of every mess on the Continent, tho you pretended that they were a result of the new and strange conditions of war. But now we see the Japanese and Russians fighting under exactly these conditions, and yet they never surrender. What will your army do if it ever encounters antagonists such as these? You talk of duty; and to read the pompous utterances of your press, one would suppose that you had noble ideals. Yet, in your anxiety to preserve your game, you will not let your pitiful little army learn how to maneuver; you send your soldiers into the field to be slaughtered, with bad guns and wretched hospital equipment, and then when defeat results and thousands of lives are lost, you blame their leaders, not yourselves. You are always deriding the unpreparedness of Russia, but you forget that the Russian artillery would crush your obsolete guns in the first engagement. The South African War showed that your men would retreat or put up the white flag if the loss rose above 6 or 7 per cent; whence you are neither loved nor respected, nor, I may add, even feared. And that, if I may speak the truth, is why many Germans are indignant at your pretensions. A feeling is growing up in Germany that Germans are worthier of empire than you, and that your work in the world is done."

The importance of an army as well as a navy in supporting the claims of a first-class power is illustrated by Mr. Machray, already quoted, in the case of Germany-which is fast growing to be amphibious, as Rome for the first time became in her conflict with Carthage, once the greatest sea power of her time. This writer says:

so extremely formidable, and this is a fact which can not be too often impressed on the public. The series of defeats and disasters which has overwhelmed the Russian army in Manchuria leaves the German army without a peer in Europe, and gives to Germany a freer hand throughout the world than she has had for many a year. At this moment the Kaiser dominates the Continent-a heady position for any man to hold, and especially for such a man as the restless and ambitious William the Second. His magnificent army and almost as magnificent navy are ready to his hand-the temptation to use them must be great!"

Italy, on the other hand, with her large and well-organized army, is beginning to feel that the defense of her coasts is incomplete without an increased navy. Aloise Bragadin, in Italia Moderna (Rome), says:

"It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that our coasts and maritime cities can be defended neither to-day nor in the near future merely by land forces and batteries, however sufficient in number; and that the only troops and the only guns that can secure us from attack by sea are floating troops and guns-armed vessels-mobile as those of the enemy. These are defenders that can be at Genoa one day, at Livorno, Naples, or Palermo the day following always formidable, even to a first-class power-even as a threat."- Translations made for THE LITerary Digest.

NORWAY'S QUANDARY.

NORWAY'S unsettled condition, undetermined whether to be

a republic or a monarchy, unrecognized by the nations of the earth, and not free from fear of foreign aggression, gives interest to an article in the Politiken (Copenhagen) by Fridtjof Nansen, the Norwegian explorer and political leader. He says with regard to the sharp answer sent by the Swedish Riksdag to Norway's declaration of independence, that while Norway will always entertain any just and reasonable demand of Sweden she will not consider anything that ignores her independence and distinct existence as a nation. Should Sweden persist in her treatment of Norway it may even happen that Norway will ask for the recognition of Europe without waiting for the consent of Sweden. quote:

Το

"The unsettled political condition in which Norway at present lies must be looked upon as a misfortune, not only by this country, but also by the foreign Powers. But if for this reason it is thought in Sweden that a new Storthing will reverse the decree of independecne passed by its predecessor, never was a greater mistake made. Every day the Norwegian population become more fixed in the step they have taken. All talk about divided councils and hard feeling against the government in Norway originates in Sweden. All the rumors that Norway would never wish to make a confederation with any nation of kindred blood, but would only seize forlorn Finland, or some possessions of the East Sea, are mere echoes of talk in the Swedish Riksdag, or of articles published by the jingo press.”

He next considers the question of the form of government Norway is to adopt, and comes to the conclusion that it will necessarily be determined by circumstances. In his own words:

"The majority in Norway are fixed in their decision for a monarchy. In theory a republic would meet with the joyful acceptance of many; but when it comes to an issue the Norwegians are sure to demand a monarchy."

He adds, however, that it stands to reason that the Norwegians are not going to run round Europe hunting and begging for a king, so that if it should prove hard to fill the throne, it is possible that the form of government they finally adopt will be republican. He concludes as follows:

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