New-York tribune., 1906-04-07
DRAWING Il PREMIER.
Mr. LIE Queur's FeuiHeton 4dUer-
tised from the Treasury Bench.
London, March 81.

lst OF exceptional power had been discovered
M lie Queux has received his advertisement
from Prime Minister the day before the serial
publication of The Invasion Of 191O' has he
gun In The Daily Mail" The proofs of this
iresh bit Of feuineton had not been sent 10
downing Street 10 beguile the leisure moments
or the harassed and overworked Chief Of State.
II had merely been advertised in the morning
newspapers with a tremendous war map, show
ing In detail where the Germans had landed
IN England when the Channel fleet was on
guard IN the wrong waters. and the lines of
coneentrlc advance upon London. "The Daily
Mali understands the fine art of advertising
It's wares. and this was a most fetching feat
OF window dressing; but the artist who flu
minated that map with military sensational
Ism could hardly have hoped in his most i'm
aglnative moments for a certificate from the
Front Government bench that he was a dan
gerous realist. The Prime Minister with por-
tentous gravity expressed his surprise that an
advertisement alarming should have ap-
peared 'in newspapers Of which but a few
years ago we were all proud" Il do not know"
he added, without smile fickering on his face,
what step the government will take. I am
afraid they do nothing; but we can safely
leave it, think. to be judged by the good sense
and good taste Of the British people" Lucky
Daily Mail" to escape without menace Of In
the Crown and to have it's enterprise rewarded
with pawky answer from the First Lord OF
the Treasury! Happy novelist, who is enabled
TO lean back in his armchair behind Queen
Anne's Gate and to express to a copy-hungry
interviewer his astOnishment that the Prime
Minister should have given utterance to un-
just criticism without reading q line Of the
book,
The Prime Minister ought not, perhaps, TO
have been drawn easily into treating an in
genious newspaper advertisement as a serious
matter Of international Importance. He might
naturally have suspected an insidious bit Of
literary log-rolling-an art almost as indus
triously carried on in London as newspaper ad-
vertsing, and indeed. not easily differentiated
from IT except IN the commercial detail that
space is not paid for. Possibly he was off his
guard. since the questioner who called his at
tentiOn 10 the realistic map was not one
Of the wicked Tories schemfng Nationalists
of the Opposition benches, but a loyal follower
on his side of the House. Mr. Lehman,
apart from being for brief period Editor OF
The Daily News when that stanch organ
Of oldtime Liberalism and Nonconformlty was
rescued from militant patriots during the Eoer
War, is a lifelong Whig. a grandson of Robert
Chambers and member for one Of the leicester
shire divisions The Prime Minister was not
perhaps. OvercreduIous when. after receiving
private notice of the inquiry respecting THE
Invasion of 1910" he took a serious view OF
the question whether the government ought
either TO do TO say anything which would dis
courage the publication OF matter of this sort
calculated prejudice relations with other
powers" Yet if he had been as cautious as
Scotsman usually is. he would have reIaem-
bered that Mr.. Lehman has been on the staff
Of Punch" for sixteen years and is the author
Of Adventures Of Picklock Holes' and the
Prize Novels" as well as the Digest of Over
ruled Cases" Even the Edinburgh ancestry was
not a guarantee against the insidious Punch
humor, which may be understood In England
from its literary quality but is often a puzzle
for the unsuspecting Scotsman and the inqUisi-
tive foreigner. Mr.. Punch's guests at the weekly
mahogany are not to be taken too seriously,
even if they are barristers OF the Inner Temple
and have stood unsuccessfuily for Parliament
two or three times before finally gaining Gd-
mission TO Westminster.
The artful Daily MaiT' has however what
its cleverness deserves-the handsome adver-
tisement from the Treasury bench Of its new
feuilIeton the opening day OF serial publca-
ton. With this gratuitous official tribute to the
map maker and the amiable reference of the
whole matter 10 'the good sense and good
taste Of the nation, full page advertisements
can be dispensed with, and even the editors
own certificate that the novel is an intensely
interesting narrative" be dropped. With or
without the naval chapters by that accom-
plished expert Mr.. II. W. Wilson, this stirring
account of the siege of London N 1910 ought
NOW TO have a successful run. If timorous old
ladies are frightened by the war maps at the
stations. and railway traffic falls off in the
Eastern counties and the South Of England in
consequence Of the illusion that Germans have
invaded the home soil the country has the
Prime Minister'S word for ii that the govern
ment is helpless and that anxious Britons can
not do anything except 10 read Ny. lie Queuxs
story and TO find out for themselves how the
campaign OF 1910 turns out, and whether
London is really doomed to an ignOminious sur
render after the collapse of the blue sea- theory
of defence. Happy novelist, when Mr.. Punch
and the Prime Minister stand hand in hand
and cheek by jowl to give him a send-on for
serial publication He is particularly fortunate.
since his enterprise is not startling in novelty,
for there was a German attack in The Battle
Of Dorking" and ne himself has conducted a
previous imaginary campaign in The Great
War" He admits that he has official Sc
crets TO reveal and scouts the idea that his
bool, will cause international complications or
any irritation in Germany. where he has as
many readers as in England. In this way he
seems 10 forecast the doom OF London In 1910.
for the Germans will not Ike 10 be beaten in
the siege vet there is a bare chance that Mr.
Haldane may hold the suburban storehouses
Of ammunition IL reserve instead OF saving
few Thousand pounds by abolishng them, ana