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Chemists and Stores everywhere, 1s., 2s. 9d. and 4s. 6d. THE NATIONAL REVIEW No. 331. SEPTEMBER 1910 EPISODES OF THE MONTH In our last number we quoted an extract from the Official Report of Mr. John Dillon's speech in the House of Commons (July 14) Accusation and Challenge in moving to reduce the British Navy Estimates by two million pounds, which we invited the speaker to justify. The passage in question ran as follows: It is an abominable thing that there are men in this country who are deliberately and avowedly, without any concealment whatever, trying to provoke war between Germany and this country. That is no charge for me to make, because many of them, notably (sic) Mr. Maxse of the National Review, and many other publications, openly say this war is bound to come, and the sooner the better [our italics] because we want it while England is able to beat them. This is a strong and specific statement which if true would be a very serious statement. It would admittedly be "an abominable thing" for any Englishman "deliberately and avowedly and without any concealment to try "to provoke war between Germany and this country." Perhaps it would be even more abominable to do so secretly. In reply to this charge publicly formulated by Mr. Dillon, we pointed out that, on the contrary, the National Review had done its utmost to prevent an Anglo-German war by insisting, in season and out of season, that the single way of keeping the peace with such a Power as Germany was for Great Britain to be so strong, especially at sea, as to convince Germany YOL. LVI 1 that she stood to lose more than she could reasonably hope to gain by attacking this country. It is the Dillons and Co., including the Brunners and the Byleses, who are promoting and precipitating, and indeed making inevitable, an Anglo-German war by thwarting British counter-preparations to that "blow at the heart" which has for many years been systematically and scientifically organised across the North Sea. We challenged Mr. Dillon to substantiate his statement that the editor of the National Review advocated " a preventive war"-in the Bismarckian sense, and we invited him to indicate any passage in this Review justifying his statement in the House of Commons that the present writer has said that the sooner' an Anglo-German war comes 'the better.'" Moreover, we undertook to contribute the sum of £50 to any Irish charity named by Mr. Dillon in the event of his doing so conditionally on his undertaking to make an equal contribution to an Irish charity to be chosen by the editor of the National Review should he fail "to substantiate his odious contention by producing any such passage from any number of this review." We added: "We will forward our cheque directly Mr. Dillon forwards the incriminating quotation, which we will reproduce in the following number of the National Review. We think our readers will agree that this is a fair offer on our part. Irish charities please note." As it was self-evident from his speech that Mr. Dillon was not a reader of the National Review, we took care to send him at the House of Commons a slip containing our challenge. Silence Those who are familiar with Dillonite methods of controversy will not be surprised to hear that Mr. Dillon has made no response. He has preferred "to take it lying down," and Irish charities remain the poorer by £50. Nothing is easier than for a Member of Parliament-protected by a "privilege" of which many Members are unworthy-to get up and denounce Brown, Jones, or Robinson for having notoriously or "notably done this, that, or the other, and those of his ignorant hearers who wish to, believe it. But it is a very different thing to substantiate a categorical accusation, though we should have imagined that ours was a particularly tempting offer. Had there been a jot or tittle of truth in Mr. Dillon's allegation, nothing would have been easier than for him to send us the quotation in return for our cheque. Our offer remains open to Mr. Dillon, nor are the resources of civilisation exhausted by parliamentary privilege, and we can assure him that he has not heard the last of this episode. It is always satisfactory to nail a lie to the counter. It is peculiarly satisfactory to nail this particular lie-" terminological inexactitude" is, we believe, the accepted parliamentary termnot that we care a brass farthing what Mr. Dillon or any other Molly Maguire thinks or says of the National Review. But we do care what serious people think, and we welcome this opportunity of repudiating a calumny which is a convenient brickbat in the hands of thoughtless persons. It is so much easier to discount the "alarmist" than to face the disagreeable facts he is compelled month after month to set forth, or to answer the arguments founded on those facts. In an easy-going, self-complacent, somnolent community like ours, the battle of apathy is half won by dismissing prudence as folly, and by denouncing apprehension as jingoism. If provident fear be the mother of safety, the outlook to-day is far from reassuring, because, although Great Britain is menaced by a more formidable foe than she has ever confronted, the mass of our people and the general run of our politicians speak and act as though the horizon were cloudless. The courage to look facts in the face is a thing of the past. We look in vain for any public man who will take off his coat and awaken his countrymen from their Sleeping Sickness. SINCE the Navy debate, in which Mr. Dillon so brilliantly distinguished himself, and to which the Prime Minister contributed that appalling speech which will hang like Imposture a millstone round his neck for all time, several incidents have occurred which, in the general excitement caused by the capture of Crippen and the various exhibitions of flying in different parts of the country, have more or less escaped public notice. Our Radical contemporaries, it is true, have made a forlorn effort to boom the so-called Free Trade Congress, organised by the Cobden Club and consisting almost exclusively of prophets without honour in their own country. The last of these gatherings, it will be remembered, was held in London under British Ministerial patronage, when many foreign delegates were reluctantly 66 to compelled to confess that there was no hope for Cobdenism. in their countries, and that its existence depended entirely on our continuing to remain the common dumping-ground for foreign goods-including the goods of foreign Free Traders with an eye to the main chance. It was a farcical performance, but not more farcical than the latest picnic, which was not held, as might have been anticipated, in one of the great Protectionist centres, such as Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Rome, St. Petersburg, Madrid, New York, or Tokyo, all of which so sorely need the light, though from time to time in spite of every appearance to the contrary, we are informed by enthusiasts that they are coming round Cobdenism if we only possess our souls in patience, and resist the blandishments of our own pernicious Tariff Reformers. There might have been some sense there certainly would have been some courage-in proclaiming the faith of Cobden in the strongholds of List, but the Cobden Club, in spite of the moral support of its foreign associates, couldn't nerve itself to get beyond Antwerp where on the edge of a Protectionist Continent, which, though differing on many questions, is unanimous in rejecting free imports, while praying that England may preserve a policy which is as advantageous to our competitors as it is disastrous to ourselves, Lord Welby and Co. once again waved their moth-eaten banner and demonstrated to their own satisfaction that the entire universe, except the Radical Party of Great Britain, is composed of fools and knaves. No wonder the Spectator has been prompted to publish an article entitled "The Tragedy of Free Trade," showing how the true faith is being throttled by its own friends-his Majesty's Ministers. That was the first of the great Peace and Goodwill demonstrations of the past month. It will have no more influence on human history than the operations of the three tailors of Tooley Street. THERE was yet another kindred gathering, in Sweden, where a so-called Peace Conference assembled to enjoy the delightful hospitality of the Swedish Government, whose Foreign Minister welcomed the delegates in the discourse appropriate to such occasions. What, one may ask, is the effect of these junketings except to mislead unwary Peace |