L A N D A IS U W A T E K 
July 31, 1915. 
of the older warfare, but are. perhaps, not true of 
?he present S'reat war. At any rate, they remain 
tobe teSedfn this gre«t duel of whk.h Poland ^s 
the theatre. , ^ 
(1) Each fortress niubt V)e capable ot pro- 
longed resistance against any siege tram the 
enemy is able to bring against it. 
So far as this point is concerned we no^x kno\x 
from" the experience of the war that permanent 
fixed works of restricted area, whose position is 
known, go down at once before the modern siege 
train But we also know that temporary .'.nd 
mobile batteries well concealed ^Mermr to the old 
works can hold out indefinitely. Witness Osowiecs 
and Verdun. So far as this point is concerned, 
therefore, everything depends upon how 
thoroughly the Russians have transforme^l the 
old permanent system of their triangle into the 
new temporary system. 
(2) The theory presuppo.ses ample munition- 
ment within the fortresses defining the triangle. 
We know how grievously lacking our Ally 
has been in munitionment for heavy guns with his 
field prmv. It may be that he has deliberately 
refused t6 draw upon great accumulations withm 
his fortresses, upon the resistance of which he had 
all along determined to depend. But it is ob\ious 
that the strength of these three pointy— Brest, 
Ivangorod, and Neo Georgievsk— will largely 
depend upon the munitionment they command. 
(3) The theory presupposes that the garrisons 
within the fortified areas are large enough to 
strike effective blows against Ibe flraik or ui)on tlis 
communications of the advancing ene-ny; or, if 
invested, to compel the enemy to innnobilisc large 
forces This is' a verv important point, and is 
perhaps the weakest side of the theory as applied 
to this great war. 
Foi- the field ariuics in this war are so enor- 
mous that the an.ount of men detached for the 
garrison of anv one of these fortresses may be 
quite incapable of acting effectively against cvea 
the flanks of such hosts. Met/., in 1870, held up 
a very great jiroportion of the wliole Cerman 
army. Przemv.sl did not hold up a fifth of the 
Kussian armies in Galicia alone. It did not hold 
up a tenth of the Russian armies south of War- 
saw, nor a twentieth of the total Russian armies 
in the field. , 
It is, indeed, upon this last point that toe 
whole thing will probably turn. If Ivangorod, 
Neo Georgievsk, and Brest, or any one of them, 
ran exh-.iiPt a sufficient proportion of the enemy's 
already heavilv-tried energy, the theory will work 
and the Vistula line will be saved. But if there is 
a miscalculation here the Polish triangle will not 
hold out. The enemy's invasion of tho area 
between the three strongholds vnW not, conse- 
quently, prevent him from attaining his obje::t 
upon the Vistula. The three fortresses r/ill not, 
in that case, effect the purpose for vAuch they 
were designed and to which, perhaps, Pa.ssuva 
stratepy now has determined to use the a. 
II. BELLOC. 
SIR ROBERT BORDEN, P.C , K.GM.G. 
T 
lllF RIGHT HONOLR.VBLE SIR ROBERT 
LAIRD BORDEN, P.C, K.C.M.G., Pnme 
Minister of the Dominion of Canada, whose 
portrait forms our frontispiece this week, is 
now in the sixtv-second year of his age, but 
carries !iis years lightly. ' The impression he leaves on 
you is a man of strength, rugged strength. He talks 
slowly, and there is music in his voice ; the snnle that 
lights up the strong features is like a gleam of .sun- 
Bhine. Under six feet in height, he has broad shoulders 
and a well-knit figure, and the thought will occur how 
remarkably well Canada's Prime Minister would look 
in khaki, with red tabs. 
Sir Robert comes of a Province famous for its 
Loyalist stock, though his people were actually there 
before the coming of the men who at the Declaration of 
Independence remained true to the mother-country, 
despite her faults, and proved their loyalty by deeds, 
iThey made their sad way northward " along the 
shore of the mournful and misty Atlantic," and settled 
in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is Acady. 
Here in Grand Pre, the home of Evangeline, was 
Canada's future Prime Minister born and brought up, 
and you might without exaggeration and with only the 
alteration of a couple of words adapt to this son of 
Grand Pre, in so far as his political life has been con- 
cerned, those well-known lines applied by Longfellow to 
the daughter of this village in the forest primeval : 
Patience and abnegation of self and devotion to others — 
That was the le£.sou a life of trial and struggle had taught him. 
Mr. Robert Borden threw up a valuable practice at 
the Bar when he entered politics. He was an unknown 
man outside a small circle of friends who had already 
marked his exceptional abilities and strength of 
character. Abandoning the certainty of wealth and pre- 
ferment, he .set to work and reorganised the Conservative 
Party in the Dominion. A little later came the " Reci- 
procity " campaign. There was the proposal before the 
country of a Reciprocity Agreement with the Umlcd 
States, which partici:larly commended itself to farmers 
in the Western States. The idea that the Dominion 
should countenance any international undertaking that 
might tend to weaken the bond between Canada and 
England so fired the Loyalist blood in his veins that Mr. 
Borden addressed the country from the Atlantic to tpe 
Pacific, speaking in almost every city and town. An 
incident occurred during this Loyal Progress which i3 
more eloquent than any words of the man's character. 
After a meeting in Manitoba, where the audience was 
strongly in favour of reciprocity, a burly farmer leapt 
upon the platform and, holding out his hand to .Mr. 
Borden, said, with an oath : " I disagree with every 
word that you say, but, my God, Sir, you are the 
straightest man that ever spoke upon a platform. 
Fortunate, indeed, is Sir Robert Borden to have 
seen the fulfilment not only of his own faith but of the 
faith of his fathers. Nowadays, as he himself says, 
there is not in Canada any Party, or, indeed, any group 
that has aspirations outside the Empire. Of the work 
which Canadians have done in France and Flanders he 
cannot speak too highly. You can see it has moved hini 
to the depths. " Magnificent! Magnificent! is the 
only word he can applv to it. Yet one cannot forget 
that it is to statesmen of the Borden type that the British 
Empire owes its solidarity to-day, men who have de- 
clined to accept that any consideration, personal or 
immediate, can outweigh the ultimate good that loyalty 
and faith to the pledged word bring with them. Sir 
Robert has planted seeds of the maple on the graves of 
Canadians in France. When the trees attain full 
growth they will stand as sacred groves. Each spring 
as they bunst into young leaf, each autumn as they 
redden to the fall, they will bear testimony to die un- 
dying glory and the courageous self-sacrifice of those 
brave Canadian regiments that took their place will- 
ingly and spontaneously in the fighting line of the 
British Empire. 
10 
