Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/144

 136 REVIEWS OF BOOKS January to pass on the more general chapters of these volumes is that they are very discursive. Lord Bryce recognizes this himself, and tries at the end of his treatment of each topic to sum up in short paragraphs the various points which he holds to have been established. The larger portion of the work is, however, devoted to concise descrip- tions of the history and political mechanism of every state which comes under his review. Many readers will judge these passages to be the most valuable. There are some specially novel and enlightening comments on democracy in Australia. Lord Bryce lays stress on the Australians' passion for all kinds of sport and on their universal recognition of Sunday as a day of pleasure, but also on a narrowness of vision due to deficiency in education and mental isolation from other countries. He writes of New Zealand with less enthusiasm than many travellers, and urges its need of a well-staffed university. He draws attention to Switzerland's fine abnegation of titles and honours, and its admirable system of universal military training. Many incidental references are made to issues not directly relevant to democracy. The value of instilling in early years an interest in citizenship and a knowledge of the actual process and machinery of central and local government is brought out in the sketch of Swiss life. The continued neglect of such subjects in English education is presumably due to a fear that party politics must intrude in teaching of this character, but it is surely mistaken and deplorable. In relating the story of the labour party's achievements in Australia the advantages of a clear-cut programme and of iron party discipline are treated as having been the salient factors of victory. This phenomenon is of universal application. One of the pathetic attributes of democracy is its love of a concrete 'platform', however crude. One of .its cardinal weaknesses is its sub- servience to the ' big battalions ', however wrong. Modern Democracies has not perhaps quite the sustained interest and originality of Lord Bryce's earlier books, but it is none the less likely to rank among the classics of its type. It has the learning, the thought, and the style that belong to great literature, while occasionally, as in his tributes to the republics of antiquity (i. 208) and to the worth of the Swiss example (i. 505-6), the prose becomes majestic. GERALD B. HURST.