CURRENT LITERATURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17380, 31 January 1920, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT LITERATURE.

. NOTES-' ON NEW BOOKS -"'•- si carac. The • aftermath of war. is a flood of memoirs, some of them, no doubt, released by the - removal of necessary, restrictions upon what was at the time, less essential literature; but noticeably some 'very important ones arise directly from the war itself. The two with which we propose to deal are from such diametrically opposed men as the English and the German admirals of the respective fleets. Both have a common object, the expression of discontent at arbitrary authority, which ignored their recommendations. Both evince esteem for their monarchical rulers and both, by different methods, are patriots. Yet never were there two suca different bocks, and never were there two so distinctly different types of mind. . While the one is essentially British, the j other : s characteristically Gorman ot this I century. LORD FISHER'S MEMORIES. " Memories-Fisher" is the significantly modest inscription on the cover of Lord Fisher's beck (Hodder, Stoughton, Lou don) as staccato and unorthodox as the rest of his impressions. He is pain !to discover that the printed word cannot be made to express- his individuality, tie grieves that he caunct, in ink, shake his fist in your face. Yet his consolation should certainly be that, after reading his book, one has an unforgettable picture of a hot-tempered sailor, find with zeal, impatient of red-tape, as irascible as ho is kind, impulsive, heroic, and most decidedly individual Wilful to a degree, one can quite understand how difficult for a Kitchener to deal with. Poor in this world's goods, but from his complete absence of the meaner qualities, a mtin who must be much loved by his friendr, and one whose conception of his country is a noble one. We all know from newspapers the essence of his teaching-. He wanted money for a strong navy, he wanted submarines, he wanted airships. Ho also badly wanted King Edward, whom he loved and revered, to " Copenhagen" the German fleet when the Kiel Canal was new, and when their harbours had to be deepened to let their new Dreadnoughts out. They were boasting he' said, of their intention to m«Ko England's mighty navy hesitate at sea "it seemed to me simply 1 a sagacious act to s'jize the German fleet when it was so very easy of accomplishment. But, alas! even the very whispf • of it excited exasperation against thu supposed bellicose, but really peaceful, First Sea Lord, and the project was damned." According to Lord Fisher, Jcllicoe has all the Qualities to make lnm " a born Commander of a Fleet— the Nelsonio attributes but one—he is totally wanting in the great gift of insubordination. Jellicoe is saturated with discipline. He is the One Man to, command the Fleet, but he is not the man to stand up against a pack of lawyers, clothed in Cabinet garments, and possessed of tongues that have put them where they are. War is big conceptions and quick decisions. Think in oceans! Shoot at sight. Moderation in war is imbecility. We have neither been Napoleonic in audacity, nor CromxwelUan in thoroughness, nor Nelsonian in execution." Winston Churchill is approved by Lord Fisher. He did not want the Dardanelles scheme— Kitchener did. Sailors are mute round a Council Board; and Fisher's admiration for the three who broke away and made an independent report is worth noting. They were Mr.. Fisher (Australia), Sir Thomas Mackenzie (New Zealand), and Mr, Koch,' M.P, Lord Fisher's is an interesting photograph of a very striking personality— without a grain of malice against anyone. 1 With all the true Britishers desire that his country shall lead'the world—a fire- ' brand if you like","but actuated by splendid ideals—a ireal live man, and a" lovable ' one. •

VON TIBPITZ'S MEMOIRS. " By Memoirs," by Grand Admiral Von Tirpita (Angus, Kobsrtfion, Sydney: Chauptaloup and Edminston, Auckland).— To deal with this adequately, a book itself is necessary. Mot because he is . German .and we are British, but because he is as spiteful and malignant as Fisher is hot-tempered and kind, because *he fouls his own nest so consistently, because he hates the enemy so ignorantly and so bigotedly, because his venorc lor mann-Hoilweg is so poisonous. He presents a portrait of a''hateful personality, ' and such a pictuie of muddls in Germany that one only marvels why the armistice was not signed in 1914 kHe does net "slang" the Kaiser, but he does represent him as ft most contemptible fool, the most negligible factor in the German Empire. There is such ft differ•once between Fisher's " Ii they had done what 1 suggested" and Tirpitz'ii continual growling. The Chancellor wan evidently vacillatmg ana weak; : but if -pits was as strong as ho wishes us to think, why oould he not overrule this nest of weaklings, and -take his wonderful fleet out in spite of them? . He claims that everybody was afraid of offending the British: the fleet must not ,go out because its "personnel" was not strong enough: ana it was necessary to have it as a potent factor in the peace negotiations. Tirpitz hajd brought it to a pitch of perfection. He had introduced factors into its. eonlitruetion, such as rendered the ships practically unsinkable: he had fought for years, against the Reichstag, against the .Emperor, to get grants of money for h.'-i navy. He had endured the " diplomatic checks" of England; had salved them by insisting upon Supplementary Navy .Bills, was within a. few years, ready for war, when England, aided by the vacillations of Bethmann, drove Germany too soon into war.' Then instead of proving 'he value, of the fleet, its ammunition was used by the soldiers (this escapes him in one of his letters), and only small raids ■wens made. He always contended that London alone should be bombarded by sea and by air The Foreign Office lacked a sense of values: the democracy was possessed by self-humiliation:; there was lack of unity in Germany's world politico. Ho quote'/ a French officer, who tells a German one. that lier armies are wonderful, but her diplomacy is a laughing stock. The amount of vituperation he expends upon ihe Chancellor and the derision he gives to Fohl, who was admiral, are only equalled by the persistency cf his hatred • of ..11 things English. His repetition, of th'jir cunning in diplomacy and of their ! success as a result of it becomes almost a compliment. One does gather that, if ho had had his way, the ruthiassness of the submarine would have been greater. He finds it very pitiful, that in order to remain friendly witty America, and not to irritate England too much, the restrictions upon submvind warfare, should have disheartened brave commanders. The British Navy should not feel hurt when it reads from Von Tirpitz that the " English estimated our superior quality so justly that fey did not seek battle even under favourable circumstances. The organisation, the training, the point of view, and the spirit of our navy were all directed to swift action aid sudden attack. Battle offered to us oir best opportunity. The English hoped to gain their end without a battle. It to thus for us to force them to fight-. . . L' the army and the diplomats had been equal to gaining a favourable result the throtj tling of the navy might have been borne: iut the idea of our leaders that we should ■come out of the i?ar alive without shaving the strongest military and political past' against England was a fatal illtsioa, and lay at the root of our lose of tha war. The most significant thin® slxrat tliS German admiral's book is the innar dis- > ruption of Germany. Nobody trwt-u anybody else. Nobody did the right thing- ; - Von Tirpitz, more thin any Gna of has fouled his own nest, . most comply a svllen, sinister, raw-as ut .f rl ? from our conception of £si j? sible. His book makes us W& was" high -time':, the .rewlutwn^^^^y^ but for the first time dunr.? ,of war books we g et a , Gero«y's into the reasons which If l * joilto. I