BOLSHEVIKI AT THE THEATRE

A RUSSIAN newspaper reproduces the following description of theatrical life in Moscow by a dramatic critic who recently visited the city:

Theatrical life in Moscow is curious. The audience consists of the democracy of the city, and the price is anything. This is the kind of thing that happens nowadays at the theatre. A few days ago a play was being acted at the Korsh. At the end of the first act some Soviet deputies strolled into the theatre, and sat down, to find that the first act had finished. They immediately demanded it to be started again, and this had to be done.

The same evening at the Khudozhestvenni Theatre, just before the commencement of the play, the manager was summoned to the telephone, and was informed that in consequence of the late arrival of some Soviet deputies the curtain must not go up for half an hour. He was obliged to carry out these orders. At the end of half an hour the telephone bell again rang, and he was informed that a further postponement of an hour must take place. It was explained that the actors and actresses were all ready and were growing nervous at the delay, and that the audience was becoming restless; but the only reply received was that, if the order was not carried out, the theatre would be closed forthwith. The management gave in.

The nationalization of all the Moscow theatres is imminent.

THE END OF THE U-BOATS

IT is learned that a number of the German submarines, which since the great surrender have been lying in British ports, are to be handed over to Allied Governments. Some of the boats are being sent to Italy, Japan, and other countries. The Government has agreed to the sale by the Admiralty of a large number of others, and, in accordance with this decision, 47 are

being disposed of by tender, with the important stipulation that they must be broken up. Among the submarines being sold are under-surface craft of all sizes and descriptions, from the small coastal boat to the big ocean-going submarines which operated against the British Fleet in the Atlantic and other waters. They are lying at Harwich, Chatham, Portland, and other ports, complete as handed over by the Germans. It is understood that certain engine parts will be removed before they leave the possession of the Admiralty.

Twenty-five of the boats were sold recently by the Admiralty to Messrs. George Cohen, Sons, and Co., shipbreakers, etc.. of Commercial Road, E. They are the U 80, UB 25, UB 34, UB 49, UB 50, UB 51, UB 62, UB 87, UB 77, UB 79, UB 105, U 24, U 43, U 52, U 53, U 60, UB 31, UB 60, U 107, U 164, U 105, UB 149, U 100, UB 120, and UB 132. Among the boats above-mentioned are submarines of a number of different types. U 164 is one of the ocean-going submarines 228 feet in length, of 800 tons displacement. The smaller craft are of the 250-ton type.

Interviewed recently, Mr. Laurence Levy, one of the partners of the firm of Messrs. G. Cohen and Sons, said: 'All the submarines sold to us are to be broken up, and the Diesel engines will be removed. Those were two of the conditions of sale. The boats are very much as the Germans left them, and in some cases the torpedoes are still on board. The breaking-up operations will occupy several weeks, and will make available large quantities of steel, iron, copper, etc. The boats would have little value for cargo or other similar purposes. The purchase price ran into several thousands of pounds.'

Although the boats have been disposed of as scrap-iron, it is understood that some of the material may be used for the manufacture of mementos of the submarine

war.

LE MOT JUSTE

His many admirers will rejoice to hear that Professor Saintsbury the Grand Old Man of Literary Criticism - escaped from his recent accident with nothing worse than bruises. As he explained the accident to a friend, the motor cut his legs from under him, and he was carried along, sprawling on the bonnet and objurgating the chauffeur. When the car finally stopped, the man said very calmly: 'You ought to thank God, sir'; whereupon the Professor replied: 'So I do; but I damn you!'

VON BETHMANN AND THE KAISER

THE Kreuzzeitung publishes the following letter from the former Chancellor, von Bethmann-Hollweg:

A letter was published recently in the Kreuzzeitung dealing with the demand which has repeatedly been made in the enemy press for the extradition of the German Emperor, and quite rightly pointing out the well-known constitutional responsibility of the Imperial Chancellor for the policy of the Empire. The letter wishes that I would state my willingness to appear before a Hague Court of Arbitration, appointed by neutral States, and to submit to its verdict.

Allow me to recall what I have already stated in an interview published in the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (November 27, 1918):

'I long for the day when I can help the truth to victory, before an impartial State Court of Justice, which should of course have all the material placed at its disposal by both sides.'

Naturally, in so doing, I claim that my legal responsibility for the Emperor's political actions should be made the basis of its decision by a neutral State Court of Justice also.

NEWS OF THE WANDERING JEW?

Is the Wandering Jew to be added to the legends of the war? A conversation overheard recently between two soldiers in a train suggests the possibility of the emergence of that strange character in a war setting. The soldier who told the story related how one day he came alone to a Flemish village.

He could not make himself understood, and at last the villagers brought to him a most ancient Jew, who did speak a little English 'of an old-fashioned kind.'

This ancient Jew was evidently regarded by the people as a wonderful personality. The soldier said to the old man that he must have lived a long time. 'Yes,' said the Jew, 'ages- ages!' 'Then you've seen a lot and gone through a lot, I expect,' the soldier went on. 'I have,' said the Jew solemnly, 'but I cannot die.' 'Do you want to die?' 'Yes, but I cannot, I cannot die.' And all the villagers, standing round in a ring, nodded their heads to confirm his words 'Yes, he cannot die.'

TOSSING THE PANCAKE

SOMEWHERE far back in medieval times the custom of scrambling for a pancake and a prize at Westminster School on Shrove Tuesday had its origin. There is considerable doubt about the date, and the story that Henry VIII and his Court once attended in state to witness it is unauthenticated; but in future the history of the famous and ancient school will record that in peace year the King, the Queen, the Heir to the Throne, and Prince Albert, with the ladies and gentlemen in waiting, visited Westminster specially to witness the Shrove Tuesday ceremony, and that the King personally handed the prize of one guinea to the scholar securing either the pancake or the major part of it.

Before noon, parents, scholars, old boys, and a few specially invited guests assembled in the school hall, and the competitors for the pancake prize took their places. They were a couple of dozen stalwart lads, elected by their school comrades, and taken, one from each form. Presently a guard of honor, supplied by the school O.T.C.. marched into the hall, followed by Lord Stamfordham, the King's private secretary, and the Right Honorable Sir Derek Keppel, Master of the Household.

The King and Queen arrived at 12.30, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and Prince Albert, and attended by the Earl of Jersey (Lord in Waiting), the Dowager Countess of Airlie (Lady in Waiting), and Major Reginald Seymour (Equerry in Attendance). The King wore Field-Marshal's

uniform, and the Princes the uniforms of their respective regiments. The Royal visitors were received by the Dean of Westminster and Doctor Gow, the headmaster of the school. The band played the National Anthem, and then the King proceeded to inspect the guard of honor. When all was in readiness for the competition, the competitors were moved forward into the middle of the cleared space, and the school cook appeared on the scene carrying the pancake in the frying-pan. He was presented to the King and Queen, held out his pancake for close inspection, then gravely retired to his position behind the competitors and behind the bar, but almost immediately beneath it.

There has been some misunderstanding about that bar. It is not erected for the occasion, but is the dividing-line between the upper and lower schools. One crosses the hall about fifteen feet above the floor, and the other perhaps eight or ten feet higher. If the cook pitches his pancake over the upper bar custom entitles him to claim two guineas, but if he only gets above the lower bar no mean feat his reward is a single guinea. If he fails to reach either, he is promptly 'booked,' which means that every scholar among the sightseers will pitch at his head a book provided for that particular purpose. This cook made no mistake. He swung his pan aloft, and the cake, leaving it whole and quite flat, soared into the air and crossed between the two bars at a height of about twenty feet.

Immediately it reached the floor the twenty-four competitors were rolling, struggling, and squirming in one confused heap, to the intense amusement of Their Majesties. At the end of the melée D. Moonan, of 'College,' a King's scholar, emerged disheveled, but victorious, with the pancake stowed away somewhere inside his jacket. The Dean produced the traditional guinea, and at his request the King took it and handed it to the winner. The remainder of the proceedings was of more formal character. The masters were presented, the various school captains were called up to speak to the King and Queen, and the boys, at the call of Doctor Gow, gave hearty cheers for the visitors.

JENNY'S NEW BROTHER

LITTLE can be done these days in the British Isles, by land or sea, without the potent intervention of one of the Geddes Brethren. The Islamic Chant, which consoled true believers in the Business Faith during the dark days of the war: 'Brainy is Eric and Auckland is his brother,' is heard again now as the Brethren, to the blare of press trumpets, march to take over roads, canals, railways, and docks. The Australian soldier may be excused who, being shown, among the sights of Edinburgh, the church where Jenny Geddes threw a stool at a 'Popish parson's' head, inquired innocently, 'Was she Sir Eric Geddes's sister?'

A LETTER FROM LORD LANSDOWNE To the Editor of the Morning Post: SIR, The writer of your leading article of to-day does me an injustice. In commenting upon the speech which I made in the House of Lords on March 6, as to the economic situation in Central Europe, he says:

'Lord Lansdowne thought the war was lost and that we had best agree with the adversary quickly. But he was mistaken then, and it is just possible he may be mistaken now.'

The writer of the article, like many other people, has in his mind not what I actually said or wrote, but what I was supposed to have said or written, in the winter of 1917-1918. I never said or thought that the war was lost. On the contrary, I said that we were fighting 'to inflict signal defeat upon the Central Powers.' I continued:

'We are not going to lose this war, but its prolongation will spell ruin for the civilized world, and an infinite addition to the load of human suffering which already weighs upon it. Security will be invaluable to a world which has the vitality to profit by it; but what will be the value of the blessings of peace to nations so exhausted that they can scarcely stretch out a hand with which to grasp them?'

It was for this reason, and in order to avoid what I described as 'a world-wide catastrophe,' that I desired to explore, without loss of time or missing an opportunity, every avenue by which it might be possible to arrive at 'a clean peace based on

adequate reparation and giving adequate security for the future.'

I find it difficult to resist the conclusion that the 'world-wide catastrophe' is approaching. The writer of the article says that the terrible things Lord Lansdowne foresees may not happen.' Some of those which I foresaw in 1917 have happened already, and others, unless I am much mistaken, are going to happen now. Sir John Beale's warning in the Times of the 5th instant is ominous.

In your article it is apparently suggested that because Germany is to blame for this war and its ruthlessness, we need not overmuch concern ourselves with the sufferings of her starving people. That, I am glad to think, is not the view of His Majesty's Government. Mr. G. H. Roberts, the Food Controller, in a statement made at

Newcastle-on-Tyne yesterday, spoke as

follows:

'From information which reaches me, from absolutely unimpeachable authority, the situation in great tracts of Europe is nothing less than tragic. . . the question now arises whether we shall be able to get sufficient food to those countries in time to prevent a catastrophe. . . . I pray it may be possible for us to concert such emergency measures as may stave off impending disaster. Clearly, we cannot complacently watch Europe starving and feed ourselves to the full. That is not the spirit of this nation.'

Mr. Roberts is, I think, a better exponent of the spirit of the nation than the writer of your article.-Yours, etc., Lansdowne. Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square, March 8.

Amid the turmoil of gossip, propaganda, praise, opinion, and abuse which now passes as news from Russia, occasional calmer voices have been heard, warning the world to look to the Red Army, which the Bolsheviki have been organizing amid disorganization. The latest news appears to confirm the reports of those observers who declared the Red Army to be a powerful fighting force; and though the Allied troops in Russia may not be in deadly peril, it is now frankly admitted that their situation is far from secure. Trotzky's speech on the Bolshevik army being not only the most important document to reach us from Russian sources, but also the only official account of the Bolshevik army, its history, organization, and purposes, THE LIVING AGE reprints this rare and most important paper for its readers.

Staff, but forfeited his place because of a criticism of the Premier. He is now lecturing in America.

*

Kurt Oscar Müller is on the staff of the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, a journal of Conservative sympathies.

'Revolutionary Days' is a very illuminating description of sentiment in Alsace at the time of the revolution, a description which is the more significant because it comes from a German officer.

Edmund Gosse is one of the bestknown English critics of literature.

Sir Frederick Maurice, a distinguished soldier, was attached to the British General

Robert Lynd is literary editor of the Daily News.