NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12464, 7 January 1904, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

- iTli: GF.'RHt.'S /llj.ry.

Tan London Spectator publishes a some win" remarkable article, the object of which if 'to show that there are proving slims that all not well with the German Army, and chat gradually militarism in its present form is becoming something incompatible with the social and politic*.! conditioas of modern Germany. The mass of the peasants and workmen who pass through the army do not the writer asserts, share the sense of militarism. The majority jro through their training contentedly enough, and become "broken in." A minority, however, and Dumereially a very large minority, are never properly broken in. Tl.ey are always unwilling soldier?. They regard militarism as the curse of the nation, and though they dare not protest openly, they are possessed by a slow-burning fir of hatred for the army. It b not merely that they are not proud of

i it. They loathe it, and would regard its i overthrow with actual sa-isfaction. Thus I the army with the colours, and still more i the Reserve*, contain a large proportion of . men who, as we hare <aid, are unv ~: . e_: soldiers. Many of them are actually enrolled i in the Socialist organisations and would obey, if they darrd, chiefs outside the army, j while all are inspired by the Socialistic spirit of protest and revolt against the existing I regime. When such men are to be found in the ranks in have numbers, and when the J officers have been in the true sense denationalised— become, that is a caste with caste interests to serve rather than merely a selected portion of the na on—and iinally*. when there i 3 a growing sense of conflict between the civ : ! and the military ideals, can it be said that ail is well with the German Army ; In gu: port of the view we _~,, just stated, the Spectator goes on Lo say, conies a telegram in the Times describing an : article in the Gil Bias, entitled "Giandeur et Decadence de i'Armee Aiiemande." According to the writer, the town recruits ire converting the country recruits to Socialism. and so the barracks arc actually bfeuning schools Oi Socialism. "It is the recruits from the towns who lead and dominate- their village comrades. The action of their superiors is powerless to counteract that influence, mil as all refer .nee to politics is carefully excluded from military education, the nplcei's do not, even consider it. to be pan: of their business to attempt mdo so." Inferring to the officers, the writer In the Gil Bias recall* the siring of the Prince de bigne, "Woe to the lukewarm!" He says that the German oncers, as a rule, ate not even lukewarm. Many of them perform coldly and mechanically a service which has become more and more cold and mote and more mechanical. "The scops for intelligence and initiative has become daily more restricted, all losing sight of the essentia] object of armies, which is war, and thinking only of throwing ,:■,<• in the eyes of their superiors at the time A inspection." The Gil Bias recognises, however, that there are exceptions, at: 1 that it must be admitted that the supreme management has remained remarkable. " Most of the genera's at the head of the hierarchy are, it says, men of grea* merit, ami it would be dangerous to conclude from the preceding facts that Germany Las ceased to be formidable or that she is about to lose her supremacy. ' Though this indictment is naturally to some extent suspect as coming from France, we think we may safely conclude that the able and careful Paris correspondent of toe Times would not have given ;t the distinction of a telegraphic summary if he did no; know that the writer was a person whore opinion was at any rate worthy of consideration. Further proof of what we have said as to the gradual alienation of the German people as a whole from the military caste is given in the German novel.. "In a Small Garrison Town," made famous by the courtmartial and the sentence passed upon its writer, and by the way in which the incident has been received in Germany. The novel and the whole incident show the demoralisation which has affected a part, and the denationalisation which has affected the whole of the German Army—an organisation of which, if things do not soon change, it may become true to say that, while the officers belong to a strict military caste, the men belong to the civilian population, and are therefore at heart intensely hostile to their leaders. COHPrLSOIIY greek AT CAMBRIDGE. The council of the Senate of the University of Cambridge are contemplating some kind of "stock-taking" in "the studies, teaching, and examinations of the university." They have suggested to the Senate ' to appoint a syndicate to consider these matters. It is thought likely that one of the first questions which will engage the attention of thin syndicate—should it. be appointed—will be that of compulsory Greek. The proposal to appoint a syndicate has not met with universal approval. Seventy-nine membets of the university voted non-placet on the grace which proposed the appointment of the syndicate, whilst ninety-two objected to the names of those who have been asked to serve. The objections taken are in the main three, partly general and partly personal. It is thought that the members of the proposed syndicate are too old, and that they do " not represent the opinion of those whose judgment is founded upon recent experience." It. is thought that college lecturers are not sufficiently represented, and it is thought that "the proposed syndicate contains the names of too many who are already known to be in favour of changes" in the present position of classical languages in the university. The fact that there are two well-known and experienced college lecturers on the syndicate, and that the syndicate is not to consider college lectures but university studies, is sufficient answer to the second of these objections. As to the first, the registrar points out that the old statutes of the university enjoin us to entrust matters of importance to the seniores et sanlores amongst us, and those acquainted with the proposed syndicates will not deny that this phrase fits them. The last charge seems otiose. What would be. the use of appointing a syndicate composed of people who are known to be not "in favour of change';" Had the opposers of this grace been successful, it is difficult to t-ce. how any proposals for reform could have come from within the university in the near future.

THE CHRONOLOGY OF CHACCER'S POEMS.

After having been accepted with little dispute for a whole generation, the order and dating of Chaucer's chief works propounded by Profwsor ton Brink, and substantially adopted by Dr. Skeat, is now being assailed from more than one quarter. The obvious weakness of ten Brink's arrangement (-'ays the Pilot) wv; that it made Chaucer write the bulk of his poetry, and all the best of it, when en the wrong side of forty, a division to which hardly any parallel can be found in English literature, save the not very striking exception >f Cowper. Ft has recently been suggested that other of the "Canterbury Tales," those of the "Doctor of Physic ' and the "Manciple,'' foi instance, may have been written, as those of the "Second Nun" and the " Cleik'' are recognised to have been, in the years immediately succeeding 1570. and also that the " Knight's Tale" must have preceded the "Legend of Good Women," instead of following it. An American scholar has now pointed out that there is a reference to "Troiius" and "Creseid," as a possible subject for Sloth's dreams when he ought to be a... cnurch in Cowers " Mirour de I'Omme," and that as the reference must surely be to Chaucer's poem, while the " Mirour' stems to Lave been written before 1377, we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the "Troiius" must have been composed about 1376, or from four to eight, years earlier than had been supposed. The new date certainly helps to fill what looked like a long unemployed gap in Chaucer's poetic life, but as Cower constantly made alterations and interpolations in his poems, and we do no; know whether the unique manuscript of the " Mirour" belongs to an early or a late recesi: on, it is a little dangerous to assume that the date by which the poem as a whole must have been in existence is also that of any single passage in it, while if lines 6245-55 are an interpolation, the argument tor an earlier date for "Troiius" falls to the ground.