REVIEWS
fessional examination of its military merit we leave to others, but we can vouch for its interest to the layman.A. F. W.
The idea carried out by Sir Walter G. F. Phillimore in Three Centuries of Treaties of Peace (Murray, pp, xvi + 227, 7s. 6d. net) is an entirely salutary one, and his execution of it is, up to a certain point, obviously sound. He clearly indicates the relationship between the unsatisfactory nature of former treaties of peace and the wars that followed them, and traces the evolution of their underlying principles. He gives us not merely a valuable, well-indexed book of reference, but proves a trustworthy guide in its interpretation. It is, therefore, all the more surprising that, in some aspects of the practical suggestions which he makes for the settlement of the present war, he should fail to carry his own principles to their logical conclusion. He doubts, for instance, whether the policy advocated by The New Europe with regard to the Czecho-Slovaks and Jugoslavs, as opposed to some form of limited autonomy within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is justified either on grounds of expediency or of the wishes of the people themselves. Such a doubt is hard to understand. If, as the author submits, one of the main guarantees of the future peace is to be the principle of nationality, why not give it a fair chance, especially as the evidence as to the wishes of the people concerned is, for anyone who cares to read it, so overwhelming?G. G.
The Voice of Bohemia
In the Budget Commission of the Reichsrat, 23 October, Fr. Udrzal, the Czech deputy, who is one of the Vice-Presidents of the Reichsrat and leader of the agrarian party in Bohemia, spoke as follows:—“There is much talk at present of constitutional reform. The Bohemian deputies have made a sincere declaration that they desire an independent State, a free nation, and in reply we are offered a reform of the Austrian constitution. Why? Because those who offer it know that it cannot be realised. The Czech nation has no confidence in a form of State in which, after three bloody years of war, the minority is permitted to rule. We regard this as a crying injustice. On the return of peace, the Czech nation expects to enjoy the right of selfdetermination and national liberty. Whatever be the issue of the war . . . we believe that the day of the domineering master-nations is over, and that certainly gives us a guarantee of undisturbed existence. The Czech nation demands equal rights for all nations. Federation can only take place between free peoples.”
Bavaria and the German Empire
The new Bavarian Premier, Baron Dandl, in his opening speech in the Diet on 13 November, laid the greatest possible stress upon Bavaria’s position in the Empire and her relations with the other
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