No More Learning

BOOKS ON LONDON (London, South of the Thames ; set aside sentiment and allowed us to see Lingard's History of England was at
Stories)
in him for the first time the full measure of
once recognized by Englishmen of varying
THEOLOGY AND RELIGION (Religious Liberty under the egoism of genius, not less does Mgr. faiths, as a sincere and impartial narrative.
Charles II. and James II. ; The Truth of Religion ; Ward reveal all the pliability of Bishop
One turns gladly from the strong but
Concerning the Genesis of the Versions of the New Poynter and all the acerbity of the sturdy unsympathetic personality of Milner to
and turbulent Milner, whom previous the more amiable Bishop Poynter, the
This WEEK'S BOOKS (The Normandy Coast; The
House of Harper; War and its Alleged Benefits;
writers have taken too much at his own contemporary Vicar Apostolic of the
Aspects of Home Rule)
valuation. The personality of the Right London District. During this prelate's
Rev. John Milner, Bishop of Castabala tenure of office many important changes
and Vicar Apostolic of the “Middle"
“ Middle " took place in the circumstances of the
337 District, stands out in these pages like still unemancipated Roman Catholics.
some grim, minatory notice-board in a The lay committees which, through penal
LITERARY GOSSIP
341 scrubby warren. His fierceness and irrecon- | times, had been the medium for the
cilable despotism are almost fascinating support and management of the “mis-
MEETINGS NEXT WEEK; GOSSIP
Such primacy as could be claimed by any
sions or parishes, all died out, having
of the Roman Catholic prelates in Eng- been found unsuitable. On the other
land lay either with Dr. Poynter, as pre- hand, an Emancipation Bill, approved
siding over the metropolis, or Dr. Gibson, (faute de mieux) by Dr. Poynter, provided
as the senior by date of consecration; for a committee of Roman Catholic noble-
but Milner would brook no divergence
men and gentlemen to examine ecclesi-
DRAMA-IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS ; GOSSIP. .
from his
views on discipline or
astical communications between England
348 expediency. The book before us, in fact, and Rome, with power to suppress any
is largely a record of difficulties and which they deemed injurious to the State.
dissensions among the Roman Catholic Little wonder that Milner's eloquence
episcopacy and nobility in England, was evoked by such a proposal.
LITERATURE
in politics ecclesiastical
ecclesiastical and secular, A letter from the Bishop of London to
brought about by the impetuosity and the Vicar Apostolic, at vol. ii. p. 191, is an
headstrong nature of Milner, whose apo- | interesting illustration of the difference
stolic blows and knocks" made his between their positions at that time.
ENGLAND AND THE PAPACY. orthodoxy as unpalatable to his col- The Anglican bishop addresses his Roman
leagues as their more easygoing methods neighbour in a tone which is not unkind,
Dr. E. BURTON's “Life of Bishop Chal-
were to him.
but very much de haut en bas.
loner,' Mr. Wilfrid Ward's ‘Dawn of the
New and strange light is thrown on
We notice (vol. ii. p. 215) a censure by
Catholic Revival,' and Mgr. Ward's
the relative characters of Milner and his Dr. Poynter on the priest Gandolfy for
‘Eve of Catholic Emancipation,' carry opponents. It can no longer be supposed applying the term “ beatitude” to the final
us from the penal era of William III. to that the militant Vicar Apostolic of state of unbaptized infants. No doubt
the final removal of Catholic disabilities the Midlands was a solitary and unfailing it is technically an incorrect expression
by the statute of 1829. Biographies of upholder of the purest Roman Catholic for the limbo infantium, where the un-
Lingard, of Wiseman, Manning, Newman, principles in a perverse generation of regenerated innocents enjoy
a happiness
and Vaughan, bring our knowledge of
fautors” of schism. At the beginning which falls short of the beatific vision.
the internal concerns of the Roman of his episcopal career he was prepared We remember, however, a German Gottes-
Catholic body in England down to our
Beatrix” on
to concede to the English Government the acker wherein the name
own time. We hope for an equally full right of veto which
would have given them tombstones invariably signifies the burial
account of their affairs at that particu- a voice in the selection of bishops of of stillborn girls.
larly interesting epoch, the restoration of his faith. True, he afterwards came to
A few misprints and slips have escaped
the hierarchy in 1850.
regard the veto as “lawful, but not correction. There is
an unintelligible
With such a completion of the cycle practicable,” and opposed its concession second paragraph with foot-note at vol. i.
we shall possess a trustworthy and con- with all the passionate force of his per- p. 94; and on p. 95 the Appendix is
tinuous record of the modern history of fervid character ; but he was more than referred to without mentioning the number
Catholicism in England, founded on ori once the subject of stern censures
or letter. In vol. ii. we have
ginal documents, collected and arranged the part of the Roman authorities, not quator” twice for exequatur (pp. 30 and
by competent and honest editors. The only on the score of his offensive attitude 31); and a foot-note on p. 222 gives, in
transparent ingenuousness of Mgr. Ward, towards his fellow-bishops, but also for
an Italian passage,
unanimemente”
as manifested in his two volumes, will his actions and writings in regard to various for unanimamente. These are small slips,
make many Protestant readers rub their purely religious questions.
however, in an excellent and scholarly
spectacles and wonder what has become
book. Interesting reproductions of old
of the crafty Romish priest of the novel Roman Catholic it is impossible not to volumes.
From the standpoint of the staunch views and portraits illustrate both
and the stage, who was portrayed as
being equal to anything in the way of the anti-Roman tendencies of the Cisalpine
commend Milner's implacable opposition to
Interesting though the records of the
Club and the “ Staffordshire clergy,
The Eve of Catholic Emancipation : being the obviously schismatical Blanchardist the last years of George III. are, as leading
small body of Roman Catholics during
the History of the English Catholics during movement. It is, however, difficult to to the period of political emancipation
the First Thirty Years of the Nineteenth
Century. By the Right Rev. Mgr. Bernard be patient with his perpetual girding at and religious tolerance, their historical
Ward. - Vols. I. and II. 1803 - 1820. Charles Butler, who, with a few evident importance is small when compared with
(Longmans & Co. )
shortcomings, was one of the most valuable that of the period when“ reunion was in
Leo XIII. and Anglican Orders. By Viscount members of the Roman Church in Eng- the air. ” Seventy years after the days
Halifax. (Same publishers. )
land. Still less can one refrain from a of which Mgr. Ward writes, the power of
on
exe-
or


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330
No. 4404, MARCH 23, 1912
THE ATHENÆ UM
>>
were
the English Romanists (though they have been subjected to very severe criti- a memorandum at the end of the book,
were still served principally by Irish and cism.
now states that he reminded Lord Halifax
foreign priests) had ceased to be negligible : Lord Halifax, who throws a good deal from the first
no Bishop of London could treat them of light upon the matter, writes with
de hart en bas, and Dr. Creighton and marked gentleness, great care, and with ledge the validity of Anglican Orders,
“ that Rome could never simply acknow.
his predecessor were not likely to wish obvious sincerity and accuracy. What- and that conditional reordination in place of
to do so. Their position is one of the ever interest the matter may have in unconditional was the utmost concession she
important matters upon which Lord the future, those who investigate it will could ever make. "
Halifax's book on · Leo XIII. and Angli- have to use his book as their chief Cardinal Vaughan was still more clear.
can Orders' throws light, and thus we storehouse of facts.
The question of Rome was the main
may not unfitly consider his volume side We arise from the perusal of the book, point, and it would have to be settled in
by side with Mgr. Ward's.
which is a long and a full one, with a the end, so it was best to begin with it :
A year ago we were let into some of the good deal more information than we
that was his view, and it was shared, we
secrets of the negotiations of 1894–6, possessed when we began, and with the remember from Mr. Lacey's ‘Diary, '
especially of the discussions at Rome, knowledge of several ideas very clearly by those at Rome in whose hands the
by Mr. Ť. A. Lacey and Abbot Gasquet : expressed. The first is that the real decision really lay. The Cardinal also
the former with a certain simplicity which reason why-as almost every one except was by no means clear that Anglican
showed how English scholars had been a few learned Frenchmen and a few enthu- sacraments and the Oxford Movement
played with by diplomatists of experience, siastic Englishmen knew, all through these were not the work of Satan, and he said
the latter with some statements and some negotiations or discussions - a genuine so plainly. It was unfortunate that the
reticences which were equally significant. approach towards reunion is at present olive-branches (and such they were really
Now comes Lord Halifax, who certainly impossible is
intended to be) put forth by the Pope were
may be regarded as the fons et origo-
“ that subjection to an external authority interpreted for the English public by
shall we say ? -mali, and he tells us with . . . . is what Roman Catholics have in view Cardinal Vaughan, and that The Times, in
transparent candour what no one can
one can when they speak of membership in the its comments on them, said (though, no
read the book without being convinced Church, rather than the profession of the doubt, from a different point of view) in
is the truth, the whole truth so far as
Catholic faith and the possession of valid
each case exactly what the English
sacraments
;
he knows it, and nothing but the truth,
cardinal would have wished to be said.
about the matter. Briefly, the question or, as Cardinal Vaughan put it, “the Lord Halifax thinks that the chief blame
of the possibility of a nearer rapproche question of Rome was the crucial ques of the “
great failure” lies at the door
ment between Rome and England than tion. ” This of itself accounts for this of Cardinal Vaughan ; it is certainly the
had seemed possible for centuries was
book being styled “the story of a failure,” case that he and Abbot Gasquet obtained
opened through the general attention, and
exactly what they desired. But second
which the spread of tolerance had fostered, “certainly, so far as those who had endea-only to the Cardinal's action Lord Halifax
directed in all parts of the Christian voured to approach the Holy See in the places what he believes to be the error
world during the last decades of the interests of peace concerned, no of Archbishop Benson—“ few men have
nineteenth century to Christ's emphatic failure could well have been more complete. ” ever had so great an opportunity offered
words about unity, and to the common If we pass on to the practical reasons
to them as the Archbishop ; no man, I
belief in “one Holy Catholic and Apostolic of the failure, we find them to be mainly think, ever so completely threw it away. ”
Church. ” Attention, thus aroused, was two : first, the want of knowledge among Here it seems to us that the author
concentrated on the single subject of Roman Catholics_of the history and understands the difficulties of an English
Anglican Orders, largely through the theology of the English Church ; and, primate as little as he understood the
studies of eminent French scholars. Lord secondly, the very strong and decided determination of a Roman cardinal. His
Halifax, who evidently knows French position of the Roman Catholic body in readers will hardly fail to perceive them
almost as well as he knows English, and England. As an illustration of the first when they observe that Lord Halifax
the Roman Church almost as intimately point we may note a letter from the late was anxious to dictate the chief lines-
as the Anglican, became acquainted with Lord Bute (himself, of course, a Roman in fact, did put them in writing-of a
a learned and sympathetic French priest, Catholic), who says :
letter from the Archbishop which was
the Abbé Portal, at Madeira in 1899.
" I remember once reading to the Duke of to be shown to the Pope, and of a letter
Personal interests joined those of learning. Norfolk some of the Book of Common Prayer, from the Pope which was to be sent to the
Leo XIII. , who had a way of knowing and his remarking that that was all very English primates.
everything that was worth knowing, took well, but that I must not take a Ritualistic Much more might be said on these and
a keen interest in the personal as well as manual based upon Catholic sources, such kindred points, but we have said enough
the theological sides of the matter. He as I was reading, as giving an utterance of
as I was reading, as giving an utterance of to show the main interest of the book.
summoned representatives of his own the Anglican Church. '
It has many other attractions, not least
communion to Rome, and he encouraged The Pope, again, found an obstacle in what the letters on the subject of Russia and the
others to come, for the purpose of discus- he believed to be the political difficulties: Eastern Church, which still holds, as she
sion or investigation of the Roman view of " to begin with, the dependence of the held in the seventeenth century, the key
Anglican Orders. He was earnestly eager bishops on the civil power. ” It is per- to the position. When De Maistre spoke
for peace and reunion in Christendom. haps most reasonable to put down to of the English Church as having the fairest
He was ready to be informed as to facts want of knowledge the remarkable mis- opportunity to reunite Christendom, he
of which he was ignorant. He addressed statements of the Risposta, a document was mistaken : it is with the Eastern
Englishmen, individually and collectively, which no unprejudiced historian would Church that the future of the question
with affection and piety; but he showed put his name to, and which is stated, and lies. From the Eastern Church we natur-
no sign whatever of diluting the modern apparently admitted, to be the work of ally turn to Bishop Creighton, whose
doctrines or practices of his Church. Abbot Gasquet. It had an obvious effect letter to Lord Halifax, explaining the
As to the discussions, or investigations, upon the Commission, and even upon the real difficulties and suggesting the real
which took place at Rome, it seems that language of the Bull itself. The Pope, it solution, is by far the most valuable
the members of the Papal Commission seems clear, did not know where to get thing in the book. Close to it is a clear
were bound to secrecy. In the end the accurate information, and he seems—80 and sagacious statement from the present
Bull Apostolicæ Curæ declared English Lord Halifax thinks—at length to have Primate. Mr. Gladstone again, in his
Orders invalid. But it has never been given up the attempt in despair.
soliloquium and his letters, if a little
stated whether this Bull was, or was not, But equally important with this cause, ponderous, is eminently wise. There are
one of those Papal decisions for which and not unconnected with it, is the other letters, and passages of letters,
infallibility is claimed ; and the historical determined position of the Roman Catholic from English theologians which were
and theological arguments contained in it body in England. Mr. Wilfrid Ward, in well worth preserving. For it is as a


## p. 331 (#253) ############################################

No. 4404, MARCH 23, 1912
THE ATHENÆUM
331
more
а
לל
2
are
record that this book is of enduring How the Old Testament came into distinct Paulinism of Mark” as incon-
value. But we may be allowed to add Being. As it, however, deals much less clusive, he agrees that his Gospel was
that no
one can rise from its perusal with the formation of the Hebrew Canon destined for the Gentile world. A leading
without sympathy for the generous and than with the historical development of feature of Matthew he considers to be
charitable spirit in which it is written. the more important religious ideas which an
an attitude of pronounced pessimism
In the accuracy with which it has been
underlie the Biblical books, a towards Judaism ; and in Luke he finds
revised, and by the excellent Index, it is suitable title might have been found. embodied pre-eminently the Gospel of
well fitted to take its place among " docu- Among the topics treated are: Work of mercy and universal hope.
ments ; but we
may notice that on Jeremiah and Ezekiel,' The Importance
There are
number of debatable
p. 106, note, * p. 443" should be read for of the Growth of Apocalyptic, Why the points in the essay on St. Peter and the
p. 429, and that there is a redundant Jewish Law-book begins with a Baby. I'welve," which is contributed by the Rev.
negative, spoiling the sense, on p. 185.
lonian Chronology,' and 'The Bible in
W. K. Lowther Clarke, but a circumstance
Existence before our present Old Testa- like this does not necessarily detract
ment. ' A careful reading of the essay from the interest of a serious piece of
will amply repay the student for the time work. The author's principal aim is to
The Parting of the Roads : Studies in the spent on it. Teb on the First Cataract,
trace the development and expansion
Development of Judaism and Early in a foot-note on p. 42, is clearly a misprint of primitive Christianity under the
Christianity. By Members of Jesus for Yeb.
guidance of the original Apostles, with
College, Cambridge. With an Intro- The essay on The Devotional Value Peter as their chief, before the entry
duction by W. Ř. Inge. Edited by of the Old Testament,' by Mr. R. T. of the Pauline and Johannine phases of
F. J. Foakes Jackson. (Edward Howard, Chaplain of the College, does not, Church doctrine and life. It will, we
Arnold. )
strictly, belong to the study of origins believe, be held by many that too much
JESUS COLLEGE is to be congratulated which The Parting of the Roads was influence on subsequent Christian thought
on the appearance of this collection of intended to be, but its inclusion in the is here assigned to Petrine teaching, and
scholarly and highly interesting essays. series is nevertheless a matter for con- that the moulding effect of Pauline ideas
Their genuine religious feeling and high gratulation. It deals, from a standpoint is in an equal measure wrongly discounted.
Their genuine religious feeling and high which is both reverent and critical, with Nor is it easy to accept the opinion, bor
degree of mental energy bear eloquent
testimony to the healthy and strenuous
the difficulties which, to the mind of many, rowed from Sir W. M. Ramsay's book on
vitality which the institution is capable recent criticism has placed in the way of "The Education of Christ, that the Jews
of fostering in its members. Most of the a devotional reading of the Jewish Bible.
were at the beginning of the Christian era
contributors are men who—as we
By an earnest endeavour to exhibit the ** the most highly educated people of the
told in the editor's preface took their mind and inner purpose of the Biblical world. ” We note that Mr. Lowther Clarke
degree within the present century. It is compositions, Mr. Howard does his best accepts with perfect confidence the his.
to show
therefore only to be expected that there
that there can be a devotional torical connexion of St. Peter with Rome,
should be here and there evidences of a spiritual reading of the Old Testament a position which is, indeed, becoming
almost normal in Anglican circles.
striving for a full appreciation of their outside the old traditional method. "
theme rather than complete mastery Dr. Oesterley writes in his usual learned Mr. G. B. Redman's essay on
of it. But
compensation for and fluent manner on “Judaism in the Theology of St. Paul' is excellently and
the surprisingly few shortcomings, the Days of the Christ,' dealing with such vividly written, and will be read with as
reader will find in most of the essays topics as · Judaism and Hellenism,' Juda- much profit as pleasure. After drawing
freshness, fearlessness, brightness of dic. ism as a Law,' Judaism as a Religion of attention to the well-attested fact that
tion, and—best of all-hopefulness and Hope,' and New Testament eschatology. the original Apostles “ were slow to
cheerful search after truth for truth's Much may be learnt from the essay, but understand their Master's mind," and
sake.
many will doubt whether his statement affirming that “ they seemed for some
Dean Inge, till recently Professorial
" that the distinguishing feature of the time to imagine that the Christian Society
Fellow of Jesus College, opens the series Hellenistic faction was its presentation of a special brotherhood within the
of studies with an introductory essay so Judaism as a religion of Hope" can be Jewish Church "
(we should ourselves
full of life, colour, and movement that sufficiently substantiated. If the Jewish rather say that the Christian Society was,
one is impelled to read on whether one
Church at the time referred to had, in in their view, to remain on a thoroughly
agrees with him or not. After dwelling consonance with the ideal of the truest Jewish basis), he describes with sym-
for a little while on the twofold character Hebrew prophets, opened wide its portals pathetic insight the historical fact of
of the College as a “home of vigorous in order to admit the Gentile world into Paul's conversion, and traces the stages
athleticism and a school of learned free and full communion with the chosen of evolution which the Apostle's ideas
activity, he proceeds to paint in vivid people, such an act would have been underwent in the course of his varied
colours the characteristics of Hellenic prompted by a religion of hope. But activities. He, however, only admits
culture and the ancient Jewish civiliza- the main tendency of Hellenism within “change of emphasis
variation
tion, which found their meeting-point in Judaism was the absorption of the Jew in the language he uses, and in his views
Christianity; and he concludes by declaring into the Gentile fashions of the day, on the nearness of the end,” but not an
that “our Church-the Teutonic Catholic rather than the effort to obtain universal abandonment of his earlier ideas in favour
Church—is an ideal of the distant future. predominance for the prophetic ideal of of “conceptions quite different. ” One
But an ideal is an idea which is in process Hebrew monotheism and the higher moral may note in passing that the rendering of
of being realized. ” Rather startling is sanctions which that ideal carried with it. Maranatha as · Come, Lord ! ” (Marana
the statement that the Galileans had
In “Some Characteristics of the Synop- tha) which Mr. Redman accepts on the
probably hardly a drop of Jewish blood tic Writers," Mr. H. G. Wood, one of the authority of Prof. Burkitt, is open to some
in their veins," and not a few will think distinguished Nonconformist 'students of serious objections.
that the unlovable features of the Jewish the College, first combats Prof. Reinach's
and the attractive elements of the Greek | opinion that,
Very interesting also is the Rev.
apart from the authority B. T. D. Smith’s contribution on The
type, as manifested in early times, are of the Church," the Gospels cannot be Johannine Theology. ' The reader will
rather exaggerated in the essay; but all used as “documents for the history of the here find adequate treatment of the Logos
will agree that Dr. Inge's over-coloured true life of Jesus,” and then proceeds to doctrine, the relation of Pauline to Johan-
descriptions—if such they really are
discuss the points of view that are peculiar nine ideas, the persistence for a time of a
enhance rather than diminish the sparkling to each of the Synoptists. He finds in separate Baptist sect, The Relation of
quality of the composition.
Mark a strong tendency to dwell, in popu- the Johannine Presentation of Christ to
The second essay, which is contributed lar fashion, on wonderful works”; and History, and many other important
by Canon Foakes Jackson, is entitled 'whilst regarding “ the argument for the topics. The statement, however, that
"The
as
a
was
» and
66


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332
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4404, March 23, 1912
on
66
was
even Pauline Christianity is not irre- of Europe,” as set forth in the Act of Morocco; and the Franco-German Declar-
concilable with the earlier Judaism” can Algeciras of 1905. In other words, the ation of February 8th, 1909, equally
hardly be accepted without much qualifica- Act of Algeciras, signed by all the Great admits that
tion. Mr. Smith bases this remark on an Powers, was a fraud, because three of
opinion found in the earlier part of Prof. the parties to it-England, France, and in that country are closely bound up with
“ the special political interests of France
Harnack’s ‘History of Dogma’; but it Spain-had already entered into agree- the consolidation of order and internal
is doubtful whether more is
is implied ments which it is urged) directly con- peace,"
in the passage in question than a mere travened it. The secret articles were not and that Germany will “not impede
possibility which seemed to exist. St. communicated to Germany, but such those
Paul, as a matter of fact, tried his best secrets have a way of leaking out; and recognition of a possible protectorate,
interests. ” This amounts to a
to make his doctrine intelligible to the some such leakage evidently provoked and, so far as France and England are
Jews. But did he succeed ?
the German Emperor's visit to Tangier concerned, the secret articles made no
Mr. Ephraim Levine, formerly scholar in March, 1905, which led to the Algeciras difference to German interests in Morocco,
of the College, valiantly defends, in Conference. When France, still acting in though the same may not apply to Spain.
Essay IX. , the Jewish side of the con- accordance with these secret articles,
troversy, and his inclusion among the which remained officially undivulged, pro-
It cannot be 'seriously argued that the
essayists of the volume reflects equal ceeded to occupy Fez, on (as it is argued) secret articles were abrogated by the Act
credit on the reigning authorities of the a false pretext, Germany declared her of Algeciras, Art. 123, for that Act dealt
institution and on Mr. Levine himself. liberty of action, and the dispatch of the only with certain specified matters, which
The last essay, headed Revelation' gunboat Panther to Agadir Roads in were not considered in the secret articles.
is contributed by Mr. P. Gardner-Smith, July, 1911, was her way of indicating If this be “ the true basis upon which the
who writes reverently and effectively that the affairs of Morocco were not to be German case reposes,” it rests very in-
from an advanced liberal standpoint. settled without her consent, as a signatory securely. As to the intention of the
both of the Madrid Convention of 1880 French Government not to “alter the
** The question which must be answered and the Algeciras Act of 1905 ; or, as political status of Morocco," it is obviously
all fours with the corresponding
complete (he says] is the supreme question Mr. Morel puts it, as a defender of the
underlying all the rest-Has man received “ Public Law of Europe. ” He would not, intention of the British Government “not
a revelation from God ? ”
we imagine, deny that both the Tangier to alter the political status of Egypt.
and the Agadir
incidents”
The great controversy is, of course,
were The “political status” has not been
altered in either case: the Sultan of
between the belief in a purely objective less subtle. ” he calls them-methods of Turkey is still legally sovereign of Egypt,
examples of the somewhat clumsy- altered in either case :
revelation and the modern subjective Prussian diplomacy; but his argument as the Sherifian Sultan is of Morocco.
theory of it, and Mr. Gardner-Smith is that Germany had a genuine grievance These are diplomatic fictions which deceive
tries to show that in the innermost mean- in not being consulted as to the coming nobody, not even
the man
in the
ing of revelation there is not neces- partition of Morocco into French and street
whom Mr. Morel addresses.
sarily any antagonism between the two
views. He stoutly opposes what he Spanish “spheres of influence,” and that
The true fact is that the Act of Algeciras
“ torn across and reduced to waste
regards as the half-way theory of Dr. she was entirely within her rights in pro-
Sanday and others, and apparently claims testing: He seems to consider that any paper," not by previous secret agreements,
that the doctrine of inspiration should be other form of protest would have been but by Moroccan internal disorders. Mr.
a formal Morel holds that these were fomented by
considered to be as wide as all that is open to more serious objection-
noble, true, and good.
diplomatic protest, if disregarded, may France under the influence of the Colonial
result in an ultimatum; and he rightly Party and the financial groups, and many
minimizes the value of Agadir as a possible French publicists have said the_same
port, and repudiates the rumour that thing ; but, however it happened, France
Morocco in Diplomacy. By E. D. Morel. officers. Germany, in point of fact, was tangle, till armed interference, in spite of
the town was occupied by the Panther's was drawn further and further into the
(Smith, Elder & Co. )
needlessly, because insincerely, careful numerous professions about maintaining
This is a timely book. Its chief purpose to base the Panther's position solely integrity and independence. ” became
is to persuade Englishmen to take an upon those economic interests, repre- inevitable. No “secret articles” were
impartial view of Germany's action in sented there by presumed German mer- necessary to secure this advance ; French
the Morocco dispute. Its second object chants, which France had specifically predominant interests were recognized
is to protest against secret agreements recognized, and the sending of a gunboat everywhere. Our own history in Egypt
and ententes concluded by Foreign Offices to protect nationals is an established is not very dissimilar. We are inclined to
without reference to the people's elected right of every Power in times of disturb- doubt the utility of the fierce invectives
representatives.
against the diplomatic machine,
In regard to the former purpose, Mr. Such is the case for Germany as set whether of England or France, or of
Morel has made out a case for Germany forth by Mr. Morel, and there is much in the diatribes against the hypocrisy
which should be carefully studied by its favour. Germany undoubtedly had a
of M. Delcassé or Sir Edward Grey. We
every fair-minded Englishman, and the genuine grievance in not being consulted, think, however, that the British Foreign
130 pages of documents appended to and, further, in the danger to her com- Secretary has not shown much skill in
his argument provide the means of mercial interests-not inconsiderable, and dealing with this and other critical ques-
checking his conclusions. The argument rapidly multiplying in recent years, tions. He and his spokesman, Mr. Lloyd
is that, while France and Spain were threatened by the curious limitation of George, made much too great a fuss over
publicly declaring their resolve to respect Article IV. of the (public) Anglo-French the Panther affair and the “new situa
the independence and integrity of the Declaration of 1904, which made it tion” (which was not new at all), and very
Sherifian Empire, they were both, with possible for France to set up protective nearly involved England in a European
the full concurrence of the British Foreign tariffs after thirty years. At the same war to which, as was admitted in the
Office, conspiring to partition Morocco time, in the present reviewer's opinion House of
of Commons, no diplomatic
between themselves. Mr. Morel urges Mr. Morel greatly exaggerates the case assurance committed us. The fact is that
that the secret articles of the Anglo- against the French and English Foreign Mr. Morel does not improve a good case
French Declaration of April 8th, 1904, Offices. Diplomatic instruments are by exaggeration. When the Declaration
which were first divulged, in part, by notoriously equivocal and difficult to speaks of “German commercial and
Le Temps in November, 1911, were a interpret, but, so far as we can see, the industrial interests,” he emphasizes them
menace to German interests in Morocco, Anglo - French Declaration, Article II. , as“ very special German interests in the
and that the proceedings resulting from completely recognizes a French predomin- Morocco question "; and he even lays
them were a breach of the “ Public Law and “sphere of
ance.
influence " in ! stress on the fact that Germany comes
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No. 4404, MARCH 23, 1912
THE ATHEN É UM
333
can
we
name
first “ in the order given in the Act” of a scene in the days of Chaucer, and con- The hospital was removed in 1676 to
Algeciras, although the signatures are tinued to enliven the district during the Moorfields, and occupied a new building
obviously arranged in alphabetical order, coaching period, havo gradually passed orected from the designs of the famous
and in French Allemagne naturally away, and nothing remains of their former Robert Hooke. The third building, in
precedes all the rest. His zeal even leads glories. The whole district is full of his- St. George's Fields, was designed by
him to unauthorized doubling of conso- toric and literary interests, to mention Philip Hardwick, and erected 1812-15,
nants when he tries to minimize the only the Bankside and its theatres, to extensive additions being made in 1843–68.
importance of the “minuscullar war- which Londoners flocked in the numerous The most interesting portion of the
vessel,” translated as the “twopenny- boats supplied by the great company of volume is in the chapter on The Thames,'
halfpenny. gunboat," or to deprecate the Watermen; Winchester House and the where a description is given of the great
crocodillian tactics” of the diplomatic Clink; the grand old church of St. embankment which protects London from
machine ” and its supporters in the press. Saviour's (now Southwark Cathedral); the flowing of the waters of the Thames
Omitting a vowel in “ Abd-el-Kadi” is Bermondsey and its famous abbey ; Ken- over the low-lying marshes ; but little
inadequate compensation.
nington and its palace; and Newington, is here added to the account given by
As to the second object of this book, with its historic theatre. Here is surely Besant in his East London,' and a full
its protest against the treaty-making enough to make one small district of South history of the whole work--which has
prerogative of the Crown, as exercised London illustrious. Then there is Lam- been ºneglected by the historians of
through the Secretary of State, such beth, with its famous palace of the Arch- London-is a desideratum.
prerogative may be inconsistent with bishops; and the south-western out-
This volume contains a large number
democratic ideas, but we fail to see what growths at Battersea and Putney, which of good illustrations in the text; we are
be substituted at present.
Committee of the French Senate has commanding position on the river. The sorry we cannot say the same of the full-
page plates.
undoubtedly dealt a blow at secret agree- swallowing up of Dulwich, Lee, Eltham,
ments, but there have been not a few and other pretty spots in Surrey and
At first sight the title of Mr. Bosworth's
instances when these have been at least Kent by the relentless growth of London book, West London,' is not very clear,
expedient and have even proved valuable to the south is largely due to the building as its early pages refer to the City of
Mr. Morel may be right in criticizing of the Crystal Palace and the opening of London from the pre-Roman period.
the departure from Lord Salisbury's the Chatham and Dover and other rail-Further
on, however, find that
policy which was taken by Lord Lans- ways in the latter half of the nineteenth the
of London refers to the
downe and followed by Sir Edward century.
County of London, and West London
Grey; the entente with France may be
All must regret that beautiful country indicates Westminster and the neighbour-
worth less, to both parties, than its resorts have been covered by continued ing boroughs west of the City. This is,
obvious benefits imply; and a reason- rows of houses. No part of London has of course, correct, but sufficient care has
able understanding with Germany. is been more completely spoilt by the want not been taken to make clear the his-
unquestionably the most desirable object of proper planning than the roads running toric changes, as, for instance, in reference
on the political horizon. The present southward from the various bridges to London's fight with Winchester for the
Foreign Secretary might have shown Crowded thoroughfares have been allowed position of chief city of England, in which
clearer insight into the problem, to grow up without any system, but it is the former did not win until the reign
but his policy was an inheritance from to be hoped that, when the new County of Edward the Confessor. We read of
his predecessor. Mr. Morel's book clears Hall of the London County Council is the building of Westminster “ as the last
the air, after a thunderous fashion, finished, a complete system of improved event of importance in Old London. ”.
and we believe that most readers will rebuilding may be undertaken. It would Westminster Abbey was not then a part of
judge Germany more fairly after its be well if London followed the example London, and the use of the Abbey outside
perusal. The series of maps at the end of Paris, where the quarter south of the the City as the crowning place of our
admirably illustrate the recent cessions Seine has been rebuilt on a well-considered kings is one of the most striking facts in
of territory and diplomatic arrangements plan.
English history.
of " spheres of influence. '
Mr. Bosworth has condensed a consider-
The tenth and last volume of Besant's able amount of useful information in a
· Survey of London' has been devoted to small space.
the districts south of the Thames, and
all the interesting places to which we In The Making of London 'Sir Laurence
BOOKS ON LONDON.
have casually referred are described in Gomme has produced an interesting sketch
The vast district of South London is its pages. In spite, however, of a whole of its growth from the evolution of the site to
full of interest on account of its prominent volume being devoted to the subject, its present condition as the empire city. It
position in the history of England as the sufficient space has scarcely, we think, is a fascinating story, and the author thrills
entrance to the City proper from the been allowed for its thorough investiga- us with his picture of London as a strug.
south by means of London bridge, and tion. For instance, Charlton House is one gling centre * against Anglo-Saxon, against
therefore the main trade route from the of the most interesting old houses in the Norman, against Plantagenet. ” With the
continent of Europe. It has, however, country, and in the neighbourhood of last-named it entered ®“ into the great
been treated in modern times as the London is second only in importance work of nation - building," and it held
Cinderella of the aggregated Londons. to. Holland House. There is much to be its own in the struggle. “ The City
In the ordinary histories so much space said of its history which is omitted here. could not bear easily encroachment by
has been taken up by descriptions of Bethlehem. Hospital, built on the old St. the Crown, but it never disputed the
London north of the Thames that South George's Fields, is one of the most imposing political pre-eminence of the Crown. "
wark and its surroundings have been buildings in the south of London, but we London's remarkable position in the
often crowded out.
find no illustration or full description of history of the country is well brought out,
The historic inns of old Southwark, this, and, instead, there is a view of the and, if we are able to accept the author's
which made the High Street so animated second hospital built in Moorfields, where premises, we shall find a well-connected
Finsbury Square now stands. The first view of the whole history; but we do not
London, South of the Thames. By Sir Walter hospital was on the site of Broad Street feel that the evidence relating to Celtic
Besant. (A. & C. Black. )
and Liverpool Street stations. It was and Roman London is at present clear
West London. By G. F. Bosworth. (Cam. founded by Simon Fitz-Mary in 1246, or full enough to allow us to follow him
bridge University Press. )
The Making of London. By Sir Laurence
without a certain amount of dissent.
especially to receive the Bishop of Beth.
Gomme. (Oxford, Clarendon Press. ) lehem, canons, brothers, and messengers of
We say this with regret, and we hope that
London Stories, Edited by John o' London. the Church of Bethlehem as often as they
fuller evidence may in the future be
(Jack. )
had occasion to travel to London. "
obtainable.
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334
THE ATHENÆUM
No. 4404, MARCH 23, 1912
'London Stories' is a frankly anecdotic
In one or two minor points we differ from
collection concerning Londoners of all THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. Mr. Russell Smith. In ascribing the triumph
ages, edited by “John o' London,” who
of the Church at the Restoration to a reaction
Religious Liberty under Charles II. and
applauds in a brief Preface the various James II. By H. F. Russell Smith.
against
“ Cam-
Sectarianism and disorder," he
omits the fact that it was a reaction of
writers and artists who have assisted him. bridge Historical Essays. " (Cambridge Uni-
The volume is somewhat clumsy in size, versity Press. ) - It is not possible, in the insults of twenty years, while its attitude
revenge for the accumulated injuries and
gathering up a series of parts which have space at our disposal, to do more than
as the reign went on was determined by
appeared from time to time. It is essen- speak in general terms of the success with the fact that, led by Sheldon, it was regarded
tially popular in style and outlook, and writings and especially of pamphlets and Catholicism. We do not quite follow the
as the one effective barrier against Roman
largely dependent on older volumes of papers, the author of this excellent disser- author when he says that “the fear of
gossip and reminiscence, as well as the tation has shown that, in spite of all appear Popery made it difficult to discover a
labours of recent scholars. Indeed, it ances to the contrary, the whole air, so to principle upon which Dissent could be
would seem that little more than the speak, from the Restoration onwards, was
ready writer is needed for brief articles saturated with the idea of religious tolerance, James I. was surely referring, not to the
allowedwhile Popery was prohibited. "
where so much is quoted. Ballads and until in 1689, the earliest moment when connexion between Toleration and repub-
other verses of earlier days appear here took place in the Act of Toleration. This is, bishop, no king," but to the powerlessness
and there.
we believe, Mr. Russell Smith's first appear- of a king under Presbyterian rule as he had
A good many fantastic and curious ance as an historian, and it is a pleasure to
known it in Scotland. Presbyterianism may
characters are depicted, stories of frauds congratulate him upon so well-balanced and have been established" in England for
and humbugs being varied by a modicum in illustration and argument ; in spite of the others, and the genius of the English people
of history and respectable people like demand for condensation, he is thoroughly
George Eliot and the Duke of Wellington. readable in point of style ; and he shows effective sense. When the author
saw to it that it was never established in an
The articles are never long enough to
that
a refreshing freedom from prejudice and Charles II. posed as the champion of the
says
weary the impatient reader, or to put any special pleading, with a firm grasp of Church, he clearly does not realize that
great strain on their writers as specialists. essentials and considerable power of analysis. throughout the running fight for the dis-
In judgment and scholarship the volume
As a necessary introduction to his main pensing power the King was vainly endeav:
. is not pre-eminent.