BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 254, 23 September 1933, Page 9

BOOK NOTES

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN. The second volume of Mr J. L. Garvin’s “life” ol : Joseph Chamberlain deals with—a rather tempestuous passage in his subject’s career. Chamberlain broke with W. 15. Gladstone, his chief, over the Irish question; he was anathema to tire Irish Nationalists, and he was still suspect to the Unionists who had not forgotten his extreme Radical tendencies. Chamberlain had a biting tongue which spared no one and provoked reprisals. He gave and received hard knocks. To the Conservatives lie was “Jack Cade” —how many of those who are conversant only with his later history would have believed that he had ever been thus designated had not. Mr Garvin disinterred it? To the Liberals he was “Traitor,” “Gasca,” and “Judas,” while the Irish Nationalists dredged the gutter for abusive epithets. A journal conducted by W. O’Brien and T. Healy was particularly virulent. During these years Chamberlain’s political existence was at stake but, a born fighter, he won with flying colours. Some of his prophecies lia-ve proved singularly apt. He foretold that the grant of Home Rule would involve the division of Ireland and the virtual secession of Southern Ireland. His fluid political opinions have exposed him to the charge of inconsistency. The Republican became a staunch supporter of the Throne, although Queen Victoria is said never quite to have forgiven his earlier criticisms of the monarchical principle in the abstract. The “Little-Englander” became a convinced Imperialist, and the advanced Radical a pillar of the Conservative Party. Yet these apparent contradictions, as Mr Garvin shows, were incidents in a logical process of development which matured in the decade under review. QUEEN VICTORIA AND MR GLADSTONE. “The Queen and Mr Gladstone 18451879.” by Philip Guedalla.—The letters in this volume, which cover the 85 years between Mr Gladstone’s first appointment to Cabinet office in 1845 and the election of 1880 which recalled him to the Premiership, have been selected by Mr Guedalla from the papers in tlie possession of the Gladstone Trustees. In his preface the editor quotes statistics which, then allowance has been made for the full half-century which the correspondence covers, are eloquent of the conscientious industry of both Queen and Minister. The collection contains approximately 800 letters or telegrams from the Queen, 900 from her Private Secretaries, and 4,500 from Mr Gladstone. Of these 6000 documents the editor has selected approximately 1500. After the Prince Consort’s death Mr Gladstone won the Queen’s regard by his instinctive appreciation of her feelings, and though, when he became Prime Minister, the Queen regretted his Irish Church policy, she worked loyally and effectively to avoid a conflict between the two Houses. Gradually, however, her relations with him became strained. Mr Gladstone was devoted to the monarchy as an institution, and the Queen herself recognised his loyalty. But what she longed for and what Disraeli afterwards gave her was a perception of her difficulties in her lonely and sorrowful widowhood. Here Mr Gladstone’s sense of duty stood in his way. Evidently the Queen needed tactful handling in personal matters, arid unfortunately there were two important issues in which Mr Gladstone showed himself wanting in tact. The first concerned the question of regular employment for the Prince of Wales. The Prince himself wished to be attached to various Government departments in turn. Mr Gladstone, thinking of the monarchy as an institution, wished him to replace the Lord-Lieutenant in Dublin. When his proposal was rejected he had the bad taste to press it, although the Queen had expressed the wish “that this plan may now.be considered as definitely abandoned.” The other matter arose out of Disraeli’s refusal to take office after the defeat of the Government in 1873. So far from helping the Queen to deal with the crisis, Mr Gladstone actually permitted himself to make debating points against Disraeli’s letter of refusal to form a Government and to pretend that he did not know what his rival meant. The Queen sent him a sharp note. Mr Gladstone defended himself at length, and Disraeli did not miss the opportunity of a devastating rejoinder. No wonder that the Queen replied in chilling terms to the letter of 1875 in which Mr Gladstone announced his retirement. London Times. NELSON. Mr E. R. Fremantle begins his study of Trafalgar with a general account of life in the navy, in Nelson’s day. It was a rough school for all concerned especially for the ordinary ratings. Many of these had been impressed from the mercantile marine and, accepting the situation philosophically, were usually the best hands. The pay was miserable, and the victuals and. accommodation abominable. Discipline was harsh, and the “cat” was frequently ordered. This punishment was so firmly established that even the most humane commanders found their efforts to mitigate it thwarted by professional opinion. There is evidence that the men themselves were, oil the whole, opposed to its discontinuance. It was preferable, in their view, to other forms of retribution. Mr Fremantle examines, the theory that Napoleon’s plan of invading England was merely a feint to conceal his real purposes. This doctrine has gained some currency of late years, particularly among French historians, who may perhaps, in the interest of Napoleon’s glory, wish to show that the abandonment of the enterprise was premeditated and not enjoined by circumstances. The argument is that the concentration at Boulogne, with its consequent threat to Britain, immobilised a section of the British Army and fleet and gave Napoleon a force which he might conveniently transfer to the Austrian theatre. The story of Trafalgar has often been told, but Mr Fremantle re-emphasises certain significant points. ff'he ceaseless vigil maintained off Toulon, Brest, and other French bases is often . described as a blockade, which is quite a misnomer. Nelson deprecated the term in connection with the watch lie kept. “My system,” he wrote, “is the very contrary of blockading.” The object of the latter is to pen the enemy in; Nelson earnestly prayed that the enemy might come out. Secondly, although the battle was the crown of Nelson’s career it was not an isolated action, but the culmination of a strategical game of chess in which Nelson had the mastery throughout, lie was an expert duellist, who anticipated every move of his adversary, countered it, dealt heavy blows as opportunity served, and finally administered the coup de grace. The war lasted for ton years after Trafalgar, but the end was a foregone conclusion. Napoleon could win spectacular victories by land, but Britain held the seas, pursued her commerce with virtual immunity from the French and transported her expeditions abroad without let or hindrance.