of timber for the mines is as good as cut off. Already many English mines can no longer be worked and England's Allies are feeling the effects of the reduced export of coal. Shortage of food is not the greatest danger which threatens England, but shortage of merchant tonnage. In peace time England's record in shipbuilding averaged 2 million tons a year; this production has become absolutely impossible of attainment.

England, concludes Dr. Lohmann, has always misused her sea-power. At last, however, she has found her master, for the U boat war will put an end to her proud dreams of consolidation and extension of her power in every sea. The object of the U boat war is the liberation of the world from English maritime supremacy and the inauguration of the participation of all nations, great and small, in free and unfettered seatraffic.

Dr. Lohmann, it is explained, is the founder of the firm in Bremen which builds U boats for merchant service, and he achieved renown by the successful voyage of the merchant submarine Deutschland.

The Genie of the World-Pump. (The Summer Offensive.) "Can we pump a little more into this slack fellow?"

ENGLAND AND RUSSIA.

DR. PAUL OSTWALD, who writes on England and Russia in the July number of Nord und Süd, says that when Russia, soon after the Treaty of Portsmouth, threw herself entirely into the arms of England, it was a step directed against Germany. No one in Russia can deny that this step was taken in full cognisance of the consequences for Germany. It was necessary to make the Tsar safe on his tottering throne, and England, on account of her hostility to Germany, was only too ready to come to an understanding with Russia. But ambition made Russia blind, and no one seems to have noticed how the promoters of the AngloRussian Agreement sold the political independence of Russia and made her the train-bearer of anti-German policy.

Sacrifices enough in blood and treasure has Russia now made to defend England's interests, the writer proceeds. The Tsar would gladly have made a separate peace to save himself and his throne; but it was not he who ruled in Russia, but England through her ambassador. Russia was sacrificed for English diplomacy.

No. 333. Vol. LVI.]

[September, 1917

LONDON, September 1st, 1917.

"Three years of war, with After all they have meant to Three Years. every home in the British Empire, have served to weld more closely than ever the bonds of unity which steel the hearts of the whole nation in their firm resolve to secure the sacred principles of justice, freedom and humanity. It is for these we fight, and, by God's help, we mean to triumph. Thus the King in his message to the Lord Mayor on the third anniversary of the entry of Great Britain into the war.

The Future.

The

anniversary was commemorated in London and throughout the whole Empire by public meetings and speeches solemnly affirming our determination to carry on the war to a successful conclusion. In a trenchant and stirring speech at the Queen's Hall the Prime Minister dwelt on the lessons of the war, the aims of the Allies and the essentials of victory. The strain is great and the time may be long, but we have no fear for the future. These last three years have proved that the old qualities of toughness and steadfast endurance are still the greatest characteristics of the British race, and day by day the Central Powers are realising more and more what these qualities mean. And it may be that we are nearer the end than we commonly believe, as was suggested in the striking simile with which Mr. Lloyd George brought his discourse to a close. No one has any idea how near the top we may be. The last ridges of a climb are always the most trying to the nerves and to the heart, but the real test of great endurance and courage are the last few

hundreds and scores of feet in a climb upwards. There may be accidents and failures and one of the climbers may miss his footing and fall, but if the rope holds all is well." So we may interpret that all will be well so long as the allied nations maintain their resolute front to the enemy and their inner cohesion.

Victory is Coming.

It was indeed fitting and seemly that the Ambassador of the great American Republic, now standing shoulder to shoulder with us in our fight for civilisation, should commemorate the anniversary by visiting the great port of Plymouth from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in the Mayflower. "In memory of them and in the comradeship of this righteous war, whose awful shadow will darken this world till we win," Mr. Page greeted the people of Plymouth as kinsmen and comrades. Mr. Page's words at Plymouth did somewhat to unfold what the union of the English-speaking races, which has been brought about by and in the turmoil of this terrible war, may mean in the future. "There is coming," he said, "the greatest victory for free government that was ever won, and the day of this victory which we are both fighting for may turn out the most important date in history. The necessity to win it has cleared the air as no other event in modern times has done, and but for the millions of brave lives it has cost this clearing of the air would richly repay all the treasure the war has cost. For it has revealed the future of the world to us, not as its conquerors but as its necessary preservers of peace. . . . It is this that the war is revealing to us. It is not a task of our seeking; but it is a task that we will with

the other free peoples gladly undertake. To undertake it our comradeship must be perpetual and our task is to see to it that it be not broken or even strained. That is our task and our children's task and their children's task after them; for we are laying new foundations of human freedom." We sincerely hope that the suggestions made by Mr. Page as to the ways and means by which a simultaneous campaign of education could be carried out in the United States on the British Empire and in Great Britain on the history and daily life and institutions and temper of the American Commonwealth may see fruition. For the full development of our mutual ideals will be impossible unless we learn to know each other better.

take place there were large crowds all along the route, and there was no mistaking the enthusiasm evoking cheer after cheer, welcoming the Americans as they swung along, with the Stars and Stripes heading each contingent.

PeaceMade in Germany.

It is extremely unlikely that the peace proposals put forward by the Pope were directly inspired by Germany, but their general tenor is so definitely anti-Ally as to show the great value of enemy propaganda work throughout the world. If one considers the terms of the Papal proposals, and accepts them, one is obviously under the illusion that here are two great bodies of nations, whose aims are not very dissimilar, and who, in order each to enforce its own aim, is inflicting endless bloodshed on civilisation. To get back to the origins of such a view is not difficult; the Church of Rome has little hold on Britain, save for Ireland, while it has been dispossessed in France, and robbed of all political significance in Italy since the establishment of the Italian kingdom; and Russia is ruled spiritually by the Greek Church. On the other hand, Austria and Catholic Germany are the great modern centres of Roman strength; as things are to-day, Papacy must look for support to the old-time heart of the Holy Roman Empire. The wonderful work that such Catholics as Cardinal Mercier have done is ignored in the Papal proposals; the proved abominations in Belgium and Serbia, the wanton murder of non-belligerents and of neutrals on the high seas, the awful massacres that were done in Asia Minor at the bidding of Turkey, the introduction of poison gas into civilised warfare, the placing of hospital ships on a level with vessels carrying troops and munitions, and the definite policy of leaving "only eyes to weep with" which involved wholesale deportations of women from northern France these and the many other abominations are ignored in the proposals with which the Papal authority would bring about peace, a peace that would leave