Staff will fall below that standard. As to the self-effacement of the Cabinet, why should not such complaisance be counted on if it is believed by the Cabinet to be in the public interest? Are statesmen of Cabinet rank less patriotic than their less exalted fellow countrymen? It was not lack of patriotism or lack of desire to win the war which military critics imputed to ministers in the late war, but inability to take timely and correct decisions. As a matter of fact, the formation of the War Cabinet involved self-effacement by the Cabinet as a whole in the days of Mr. Lloyd George's Premiership. It really means putting the War Cabinet in commission in the person of the Prime Minister. That the enhancement of the Prime Minister's power at the expense of his colleagues might be a danger is perfectly true, but that danger could be guarded against by providing in practice that any disagreement between the Prime Minister and the SubCommittee of Chiefs of Staff should be referred to the Cabinet through the Committee of Imperial Defence. The Prime Minister would then be powerful only in those questions of war policy where his own views are fully endorsed by his technical advisers, which is as it should be. If the system of war direction here advocated had been in force during Mr. Lloyd George's premiership, can it be doubted that a working combination of three Chiefs of Staff, had they been accustomed to close co-operation in peace-time, would have restrained the more undesirable of his activities in disseminating our forces ?

Whatever system of supreme control of war policy may be adopted, the hinge on which it must turn in the future is the SubCommittee of the three Chiefs of Staff. On their ability to get together in peace and to keep together in war depends the education of their masters, "the statesmen," and the consequent preservation of the British Empire from the perils of amateur strategy.

L. H. R. POPE-HENNESSY

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOOKS

CZECHOSLOVAKIA : The Land of an Unconquerable Ideal. By JESSIE MOTHERSOLE. With 60 Illustrations by the Author, in Colour and Black-and-White. John Lane, 18s. net.

THE author's illustrations are an attractive feature of this account of Czechoslovakian life. The text is a good, straightforward description of the country from the point of view of a visitor for a few months. The historical references and the general observations are competent without being unusually illuminating, and the book may be recommended rather to the traveller with little previous knowledge of Czechoslovakia than to the student.

BRITISH SLAVERY AND ITS ABOLITION (1823-1838). By WILLIAM LAW MATHIESON, Hon. LL.D (Aberdeen). Longmans. 16s. net.

A curious gap in history is filled by this comprehensive work on the subject of slavery and its abolition in the British West Indies. Although much has been written about the American negro, only one or two writers have even mentioned the West Indian negro, and the present volume is therefore welcome. The author gives a comprehensive study in detail of the conditions which obtained in the West Indian plantations and traces the history of the agitation at first for the amelioration of the slave's condition, and later for the abolition of slavery. He gives full credit to the work achieved largely by the Quakers in arousing British public opinion, and he recalls the fact that the earlier abolition of the slave trade-always associated with the name of William Wilberforce owed much to the work of a small society founded in 1787, and consisting only of twelve persons, nine of whom were Quakers. They had won what this review then called "the greatest battle ever fought by human beings," and in the later and still more complicated struggle against the institution of slavery itself, Quakers and those closely associated with them, again led the way. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Joseph Sturge and James Cropper (of Birmingham) were leading figures in the agitation, and for long the Society of Friends was the only religious body definitely identified with the abolitionist movement. It was to receive a notable recruit in the Baptist Minister, the Reverend William Knibb, whose chapel in Jamaica had been destroyed by "the brave and intrepid men of the St. Ann's Regiment," under the auspices of a discreditable association called the Colonial Church Union, whose real object appears to have been the prevention of Christian teaching being given to the slaves, who had recently revolted-it was supposed because of the subversive doctrines of Baptist and Wesleyan missionaries. The latter part of the book deals with the stormy scenes in

Parliament over the different Abolition Bills, in which the fiery eloquence of Brougham was a powerful aid to the Abolitionists, whilst a young member, one William Ewart Gladstone, made practically his maiden speech in an effort to refute some of the wilder allegations against the planters made by the Abolitionists. It is a remarkable story, told by Mr. Mathieson without bias or exaggeration.

LEAVES FROM A VICEROY'S NOTEBOOK AND OTHER PAPERS. By the MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON, K.G. Macmillan. 28s. net. What a notable essayist, journalist, travel-writer the late Lord Curzon might have been if he had not been a statesman. Here, even in scattered papers selected by his literary executors, we find all manner of good things information, humour and style. Some of these essays are memories of viceregal days in India, and most of these are so humorous and so human that they would have reconciled to him all critics of his "official manner" if they could have been published then. There are tales of an irrepressible valet who became "a hero to his master," and whom Lord Curzon heard through the shutters of the viceregal saloon discussing familiarly with a famous Maharajah the prospects of sport. There is a chapter on "hymns" and their inappropriate uses; another on horses and their ways with eminent riders. There are other chapters which are models of informative travel description, and there is an historical note on some correspondence of Sir Hudson Lowe, which Lord Curzon discovered in St. Helena.

FRANCE. BY SISLEY HUDDLESTON. (Volume VII: "The Modern World A Survey of Historical Forces.") Benn. 215. net. Following Dean Inge's " England," Mr. Sisley Huddleston contributes to Messrs. Benn's remarkable " Modern World" Series a penetrating study of France as it is to-day, together with a survey of the historical origins of modern France. He is a shrewd and sympathetic observer of the French people and has lived for many years amongst them. He is not blind to their faults, which are, as he says, mainly political; but he does full justice to their many virtues, and he is particularly interesting when dealing with modern expressions of French literary and artistic genius, "Les Jeunes" and others.

PERO TAFUR: TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES (1435-1439). Translated and Edited, with an Introduction, by MALCOLM LETTS. Illustrated. (The Broadway Travellers.) Routledge. 12s. 6d. net.

Pero Tafur, a Spanish nobleman, visited during these years of travel nearly every personage of note in Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. He satisfied the Emperor of Constantinople of his blood-relationship to him; he acted as ambassador for the King of Cyprus to the Sultan of Egypt; he was entertained by the Pope, the Grand Turk, the

Emperor of Trebizond and the Duke of Burgundy (Philip the Good) amongst others. He was with difficulty dissuaded from making an expedition to India to visit the court of Prester John. He was present in Rhodes at the death of the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers, and gives us in this volume the best contemporary account of the method of election of a new Grand Master. He describes Venice at the height of her power, and Rome at almost the lowest ebb of hers, when wild beasts had their lairs in the centre of the city. Above all, like so many nobles of the Middle Ages, he was interested in trade, and describes very fully the great markets of the period. As translated by Mr. Letts, it is a fascinating account of fifteenth century life observed by a man of unusual shrewdness and of an equable temper, never dismayed by the countless dangers and accidents which befel every traveller in those days.

HENRY CHAPLIN: A MEMOIR. Prepared by his daughter, the MARCHIONESS OF LONDONDERRY. With Illustrations. Macmillan. 218. net.

The" Squire " is here commemorated by his daughter, Lady Londonderry, and the book is an attractive record of a lovable personality. As is fitting, much of it is devoted to his sporting and agricultural interests, including, of course, “ Hermit's Derby," which, in spite of legend, was, we are told, not actually run in a snowstorm. Apart from racing, hunting and deer-stalking, there is a full account of his part in public affairs, but Lord Chaplin's gracious charm is best seen in the chapters devoted to "Family Life." Here are shown his rare genius for friendship, his generosity, and his upright character. Lord Chaplin was a fine example of all that was best in the dying race of Tory squires, and it is fitting that he should have a worthy memorial in this book. The illustrations are excellent-portraits, "F.C.G." cartoons and sporting pictures.

THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN: SIR JAMES MACKENZIE. A Biography by R. MACNAIR WILSON. With a Photogravure. John Murray. 12s. net.

Sir James Mackenzie became a heart specialist as the result of the death of a girl patient in child-birth from heart failure. This tragic happening brought home to him his lack of knowledge by which to prognosticate possibilities, a lack which he had long been trying to make good by a study of all the symptoms of his cases in general practice for many years. The limits of human capacity prevented him from "specializing in every disease" as he would have liked to do, and this particular tragedy turned the scale in favour of heart trouble. Mackenzie was very far from being the gilded youth whose wealthy parents set him up in Harley Street before he had had any experience as a "G.P." On the contrary, he had been brought up in the most frugal of Scots homes and schools, where an allowance of three-halfpence for lunch was considered by William Archer, a schoolfellow, as a

millionaire's amount. For many years he had carried on a poor general practice, and it was only because of his real idealism and enthusiasm that he moved to London, where his books brought him fame but too little understanding amongst his professional fellows. Justice will probably be done to his great work for medicine by the younger generation, whom Dr. Macnair Wilson represents, and the finer shades of his character are more apparent in this book than they appear always to have been to his acquaintances.

FANNY BURNEY AND THE BURNEYS.

JOHNSON. Illustrated.
Illustrated. Stanley Paul.

Edited by R. BRIMLEY 16s. net.

Mr. Brimley Johnson has here collected and edited some additions to Fanny Burney's well-known diary, extracts from her unpublished "Journals in France," and from family letters. This remarkable woman is always interesting, either as novelist or diarist, and this collection was well worth making. The accounts of her life in France during the First Empire, her relations with the Lafayettes and other famous French people, are of considerable value as social history, and her comments on men and things are always vivid.

GEORGE THE FOURTH.

Benn. 12s. 6d. net.

BY SHANE LESLIE.

Illustrated.

The man whom Thackeray dismissed as having " some skill in cutting out Coats and an undeniable taste for Cookery" is here presented in very different colours. Mr. Leslie has set out to champion the Regent, and he wields the whitewash brush with a strong hand. In these pages George becomes once again the First Gentleman in Europe of contemporary flattery, after a prolonged period of neglect or scorn at the hands of the historians. He is even drawn as an honest lover, particularly in regard to Mrs. Fitzherbert. However much historians may differ as to George the Fourth's position as a king or as a man, it is, we think, undeniable that Mr. Leslie has succeeded in making him an interesting character. It has always been difficult to reconcile the view of him taken by the Thackeray school with the fact of the affection in which he was held by such a man as Charles James Fox. The wit of the generous young prince, the reckless rebellion against the stuffy stolidity of his father's circle of which we read in these pages, make such a friendship more credible. As regent and as king, too, he becomes in Mr. Leslie's hands more of a personage, more of a force to be reckoned with than other historians have made him. wit at the expense of his ministers when expressing to the French Ambassador his joy at the success of the Bourbon cause may not have been in the correct mode for a constitutional monarch, but it lifts him out of the ruck of the dull tradition set up by his immediate predecessors. This challenging book would have been easier to read if the publishers could have provided a larger type, and more space for chapter headings, but its contents are eminently readable.

His