Evening star., 1915-03-28

the only one, for the American am
bassador sat within the reach of his
right arm. and Henry James. the Amer
lean author. on his ieft--Was the lee
turers statement that the American
revolution vas perhaps the grea te.,s
cause OF the race consciousness tat
made subsequent vars struggles pc
tween. peoples and not between uS :
nasties or caSteS.
Another and perhaps more interest
ing observation OF Lord Bryce's was
his statement that although now the
bible IS printed in less than FORTY
United States. he believed he was safe
in predicting that in fifty years no
more than four languages would be
spoken in America.
tences in the whole lecture was the
Irishman's description of the great
Aryan race. which he spoke of as
starting from its Asian home and
marching west, driving it's cattle be-
fore it. until it arrived at the Cliff
House. San Francisco. in automo-
bile"
on the general subject Of the war
Lord Bryce warned his hearers that
none of the nations was free from the
national characteristics that We're the
cause He pointed to the exaggerated
national and racial pride that was due
to the writings and teachings of his
torans and poets and authors in all
lands, and ended by expressing the
view that the general exhaustion that
would follow this struggle would per-
haps prevent a war OF very large
scale for many years to come.
x
There is. Of course, hardly phase
of life which has not been affected by
the war. At the beginning of the war
there was attempt on the part Of u
section of the public to visit the sup
posed sins of the present German gen
Grafton upon Wagner, Beethoven and
Bach, and the authorities at Queens
Hall, in a weak moment. actually tenn
porarily banned the classics of the
great German composers. But wise
counsel prevailed and now, except at
"A few Of the cheaper restaurants, one
may listen to '.Tannhauser' as If no
gulf Of war separated the fellow-coun-
trymen of it's composer and the people
of Britain.
Recently. however, there has been u
recurrence Of this initial prejudice, due
largely to the fact that word has been
received in this country of the action
Of Hans Richter, the famous Austrian
conductor long associated with Ger
man opera ut Covent Garden, who has
announced his determination to return
all the English honors and decorations
him in happier times.
This action of Richter is to be re
GREETED all the more because he was
extremely popular among opera Soers
in England, and especially among the
lovers of Wagner. In fact, il was
Richter who was largely responsible
for the. vogue of the German composer
within recent years at Covent Garden,
and his retirement couple of wears
ago was sincerely regretted by all
lovers of good music.
No branch of the British army has
done better work since the fourth day
of August last than has the Royal
Flying Corps. Both Gen. French and
Gen. Joffre have praised it in high
terms. the former claiming that it has
aerial branch of the German army
This is high praise when it is reniem-
bered that the German flyers held most
outbreak of war and possessed many
more machines than England.
Much of the credit for the showing
made by the British .tirmen is due to
the organization and training of one
man-f-ol. Sir David Henderson, drec-
tor of military training aud head of
the Royal Flying Corps. Sir David Is
comparatively young man, being born
in 1862, but he has seen II lot of active
war service in the Sudan and South
Africa. For years he specialized in
reconnaissance. and eight ycars ago
wrote a-book- on the- subject which has