LAND AND WATER. 
January 20, 1916, 
FRENCH WAR BOOKS^ 
By F. Y, Eccles. 
THE publishing house of Larousse, ^^"^"^ f " 
over the world for the enterprise with which 
it disseminates useful knowledge in popular 
forms, has begun to issue a series of selections 
from French war literature for circulation in neutral ana 
allied Countries. 1 think it was well worth doing, ton- 
verts to our cause are hardly to be gained at this time 
3f day by anv arguments short of evident successes in 
the field • bift something may be done to conhrm the 
timid s\nnpathies of neutrals by the mere echo of a 
reasoned confidence and determination which have hitherto 
perhaps been most effectively expressed in the brencn 
language. It is. however, among the allies of France 
that such a scries is likely to be most useful ; for/" .the 
sphere of opinion our service de liaison is still flet^ctwe. 
and from dav to day misapprehensions are bred by the 
debauch of idle or interested rumour It is real'y im- 
portant to realise what Frenchmen believe that they 
and we are out to destrov. and why compromise is in- 
coaceivable to them ; and the best way is to read the 
authors whose credit with their countrymen stood high 
before the war and has risen with their utterances since 
The union of the national intelligence with the national 
will has never been so intimate as now. 
The series begins with MM. Maurice Barres and 
Emile Boutroux. Each author is introduced by a short 
appreciation of his whole work. The excellent account 
of Maurice Barres is from the pen of a fellow \osgian, 
M Fernand Baldensperger, the distinguished professor 
at the Sorbonne, who is serving at the front M. 
Boutroux is introduced bv a philosopher M. Marcel 
Drouin I do not quite understand how it happens that 
the introductions are printed in English as well as in 
French while the text itself is not translated. 
The selections from Barres consist of articles contri- 
buted to the Echo dc Paris. Many of these p(g;-s 
choisics formed part of a volume already noticed m 
these columns, and the rest are no doubt reappearing in 
its sequel, which is just announced under the title ot 
" Les Saints de France." It is probably superfluous to 
recommend these admirable writings, in which there 
is not a word which does not tend to action, and at the 
same time to illustrate that reflective and rehgious 
quality which reinforces the instinctive patriotism 
of the humblest as of the most cultivated Frenchman. 
M. Emile Boutroux. the philosopher— more exactly 
the critic and historian of philosophy— has a universal 
reputation as a representative of the speculative French 
intellect of to-dav. His superior eclecticism supposes a 
rare familiarity with (ierman thought, and his articles 
and lectures on subjects connected with the war are a 
solid contribution to the knowledge of the German soul. 
Even in France, where Teutomania never flourished 
there must be thinkers who have felt latterly obliged 
to vindicate their patriotism at the expensfe of their 
penetration or their consistency, or who have only 
avoided a rather ridiculous retractation by fostering the 
legend of ■■ the two (iermanies " M. Boutroux, who has 
lived in Germany before 1870 and since, who has an 
immense respect for Leibniz, knows Fnuslhy heart, and is 
not disposed to underrate the positive achievements 
of German science and erudition, has nothing to retract 
He is not one of those who explain the aggression of 
IQ14 as the effect of a sudden or at least a recent aberration 
on the part of the rulers of Germany. He knows that 
the firing of Louvain. the horror of Gcrbevillcr, and the 
sinking of the Lusitania are consistent with theories 
which' it is not at all fantastic to trace back to certain 
illustrious German metaphysicians. They are justified 
by that divinisation of " Deutschtum " which is at least 
as old as Fichtc. and is by no means unconnected with 
what philosophers call subjective idealism. 
•The ego, says Fichte, is effort • thus it implies 
something to resistit, namely, that which we call matter. 
The master-people commands : there must iherefori' bo 
nations made to obey it. Indeed, those jiations. which 
"" t K^vaiiis^ Fiutnais pendant la Onme. i. Wdtarice Barris 
(pages f hoisies). 2, Kmile B.jutroux (pages choisies). Pans : I.ihra.ne 
Larousse, 1915. 
are to the master-people what the non-ego is to the ego 
must resist the action of the superior nation For that 
resistance is necessary, in order that the latter may 
develop and utilise its' strength and become itself in the 
fullest sense " 
But the close and lucid reasoning of the atticle on 
"Germany and War." and of the lecture on The 
Development of German Thought," do not lend themselves 
readily to quotation. M. Boutroux heard Treitschke 
lecture against the French, and was scandahsed when 
Zeller (whose History of Greek Phi^losophy he was 
after%vards to translate), opened a lecture ^vlth this 
announcement : •' To-day I propose to construct God. 
The next volume of these " Ecnvains Francjais 
pendant la Guerre," will contain selections from the 
veteran historian Ernest Lwisse. 
.'HJUlr.- Belloc, The Man and His W.rk." By_G. Gr.iiihton 
Mlndell and Edward Shanks, with an mtroduct.on by G. K. 
Cheslerton. (Methuen and Go.) 2s. fid. 
Readers of L.\Nn .\nd W.^ter wlio have come to regard 
Mr Hilaire Belloc as the lucid expositor o the progress and 
events of the Great War, the student of military history, who 
interprets for them the significance of strategy and actics as 
they are unfolded week bv week, are inclined to overlook that 
he is also one of the most charming hving essayists in the 
Fngiish language, a writer of "nonsense verses which aie 
aSv Clares and a man who has earned the fine art of 
travel'to as high a level as it has ever attained. 
In this little book these truths are well set out. and not 
the least part of its value lies in the numerous citations from 
his works which are for the most part excellently chosen^ 
Mr Belloc has run a tilt against many of the worst abuses of 
Party Government, and has stripped the tinsel and gaudy 
deceits from that old idol, whose worship so many Knglish- 
men find it^ hard to abandon, even in these hours of eartli- 
Se and whirlwind. But in this direction his work ma 
Se said to be only at its beginning, and we b^heve he m11 
accomplish much more in the years to come than anyth ng 
he Ims achieved hitherto. Though Mr. Belloc has writ en 
1 ttle poetry, the most of it is of the highest order, and has 
alreadv been the begetter of rhyme. It is mentioned 
in these pages that Rupert Brooke acknowledged his indebted- 
ness to Hilaire Belloc. and the extraordinary resemblance 
be ween Brooke's well-known sonnet "The Soldier. and 
one of Belloc's poems in " The Four Men is too close to be 
accidental. The first two verses of Belloc s poem run . 
He does not die that can bequeath 
Some influence to the land he knows, 
Or dares, persistent, interwrcath 
Love permanent with tlic wild hedgerows : 
He does not die but still remains 
Substantiate with his darlihg plains. 
The spring's superb adventure calls 
His dust athwart the woods to flame ; 
His boundary river's secret falls 
Peri)Ptuate and repeat his name. 
He rides his loud October sky ; 
He does not die. He docs not die. 
Leaving aside his writings on war, it is as a traveller that 
Hilaire Belloc has won the affections of so many readers, and 
tirciapter in this volume on this part of us literary career 
seems to the reviewer to he inadequate In one paragraph 
he is unjustly praised for committing thehcmous sm of 1 im 
Writing'" Belloc is much too great an artist to be guil v of 
dtler •' Fine Writing," or " Superfine Writing." But where- 
eve'he wanders he ttkes us by L hand, and ^howY^/" ^ha 
is visible to himself. That is the true spirit of he lionest 
lover of Earth, the mother of us all. We are aU children to- 
gether and but he has the longer sight, and lus delight is 
to disclose for others all he himself sees. And nothing better on 
travel has been written than these few sentences from Belloc s 
pen, with which we will end this brief review :— 
1.00k you, good people all, in V""' little passage through the dayligM 
get to see as many hills and buildings and rivers, ^f '!«• '>"°«^' 
men, horses, ships and precious stones as you can possibly manage^ 
Or else slay in .ine village and marry in it and <lie tber'-- I-or one 
of these two fates is the best fate for every man. luther to Le 
what i have been, a wanderer with all t"t bitterness of . or to 
stay af Home and to hear in one's garden the voice of Cod. 
Me-,srs. George Allen and Unwin. Ltd.. announce 
new editions of " The Autobiography of Frnebel and 
Pestaloz/.i's famous svork, " How Gertrude- Teaches Her 
Children \" _ 
