New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-06-10
CRITICISM
AND BOOK NEWS
Mrs. Humphry Ward on British Preparedness
Other War Books-The Autobiography
of Charles Francis Adams.


Young Officers presently greeted us
she SAYS Wherever she went she saw
efficiency, enthusiasm, resolution ana
calm assurance of victory. She is par.
ticularly informing on the subject oil
the part taken in this gigantic labor
of preparation by the women OF Eng
land: they swarm like bees in the mu-
milton factories; IN all the hives OF war
industry that have sprung up IN the
kingdom. Only of practical results on
the battlefield she says but little. 10
be sure. she is certain that French s
expeditionary force saved Paris, TO-
gether with the Russian army sacri-
feed in East Prussia, and she writes
of the work of the British feet but
Of the degree Of British readiness for
the great offensive of this spring or
summer there is not a word. Perhaps
n pledge OF silence was laid upon her,
even as She assures us that she may not
reveal what a naval officer told her of
what the German fleet might and could
have done and now never will do.
Certain il seems from her account
that the English people are awake and
working at top speed and with stead
lily decreasing percentage OF wasted
effort; that England's sons are rushing
10 arms inspired by patriotism. II is
only of the men at the head of affairs
that she says little. beyond expressing
her unqualified confidence in their fit
ness for their tasks.
The book will give reinsurance TO
wide circle Of England's friends in this
country It will hardly convince those
more thoughtful, no less sincere
friends of hers who through twenty
L .s.ts h.ar
failures in the field. her inability 20
turn all this enormous output OF en-
ergy into successes in the field. II is
results alone that count in the history
of the nations; and. pace Mrs. Ward,
the conviction will continue to persist
among observers in this country, IN
all the neutral countries, and among
England's allies as well, that there Is
something seriously wrong at the top,
at home and at the front.
Mr.. Choate's introduction is, in the
main, n eulogy Of the book itself, an
able review which overlooks none OF
its salient features.
Godfrey Pike is an English news
paper man who ventured into Germany
two weeks after the declaration of war,
TO act as secret correspondent of the
London DAILY Chronicle" He reached
Berlin in September, 1914, via Bergen,
Christiania and Stettin, and was ar
rested in January of the following year
to be interned at Ruhleben for the
duration Of the war. There he met
Edward Falk, District Commissioner in
the Political Service of Nigeria, with
whom he escaped on July 9. 1915. TRAY
cling south, then west, they reached
the Dutch frontier after innumerable
adventures.
This simple narrative stands apart in
the literature of the war. II is book
Of adventure of real adventure Of cap
tivating quality. Mr.. Pike does not
stop TO tell US Of the results of his
newspaper work; he plunges at once
into vivid descriptions of his arrest,
OF the civilian concentration camp, its
/ English inhabitants and the daily life
there. He has no complaint TO make of
the German treatment of himself and
his involuntary companions. Their ac-
commodations were primitive but bear
able, and, il seems, within the camp
itself, they were left very much TO
themselves. The idea of escape slowly
grew within him, then became an OBJ
session. He examined every possibil-
itv. every chance. When. at last, his
plan was made he hesitated long before
he dared to confide it to his companion.
II was quite simple, after all. They
were never really suspected, although
the search for them was going on in
every part of the Empire. They passed
/ the German guard on the frontier with
| out knowing il; they believed them
I selves still on German territory when
a Dutch soldier found them hidden in
a thcket, and told them tina. they were
free:
do you know that you are on
Dutch territory"
"Nol Mo-" | said. Nothing Of
the sort!"
He addressed something more in
his wretched speech to Falk, and
my friend in his excitement took
him by the lapels OF his coat and
shook him, saying, NO, we are not
really in Holland; not really?" And
then we knew that we really must
be in Holland, for no German sol
der would let you shake him vio-
lently by the lapels Of his coat.
Without knowing it, we had come
through the German sentries and
their cavalry patrol the night be-
fore. We were fifty feet over the
frontier.
And as we walked down a rough
lane at the end Of which. not far
away. was England. our jolly Dutch
frontier guard, who had taken US
for smugglcrs, said: "You see that
red-roofed cottage there"
81 should say / do. I've been
crawling about on my belly in mud
all day in order TO keep out Of its
sight
We'll" he remarked, "it's been
close thing for you. That cottage
is in Holland. The rain from its
roof drops off into Germany"