March i6, 1916. 
L A N D A N 1 ) \V A T E R 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOU:)u ."iNGSWAY, LONDON. ¥.C. 
Telephone: HOLBCM^N 2828. 
THURSDAY, MARCH 16th, 1916. 
CONTENTS 
I'AGIC 
Verdun War Cartoon. By Louis Raemaekers i 
Foret de Compiegne after the Pursuit. By G. Spencer 
Pryse 2 
The Old Order Chan-eth (Leading Article) 3 
The Wings of Vcrdui.. By 'lilaue Belloc 4 
Sortes Shakespeariar ■. By Sir Sidney Lee 9 
Revolution in W!;iuliali. By Arthur Pollen 11 
An Anibassadoi- of Empire. By Neoimperialist ij 
Freebooters of the Balkans. By Jan Cordon 14 
Why Peace is Impossible. By L. March Phillipps 15 
Inadetiuacy of our Banks. By Arthur Ritson 17 
Chaya. By H. de Vere Stacpoole nj 
Town and Country 24 
The West End 26 
Choosing Rit 
THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH. 
THE Army Estimates introduced into the House 
of Commons by Mr. Tennant on Tuesday after- 
noon must have fallen like a sledge hammer on 
the minds of thoughtful persons, shattering 
f lally and completely their old ideas on the military 
'.Icfence and security of these islands. After this official 
speech in which millions* were spoken of so glibly, it 
needs a mental effort to recollect how recent was the 
time when reams were written and speeches delivered in 
shoals to prove that our national commitments need 
never contemplate under any circumstance an army 
one-quarter the size of the one which is enrolled to-day. 
It were foohshness to indulge in recrimination even 
against those who carried their opinions on this point to 
excess. The nation accepted things as they were ; 
neither platform, press nor pulpit desired any change, 
except spasmodically. No warning note ever issued 
from the most patriotic ballot-box. Yet before wc have 
been at war two years, an Act enforcing military service 
is on the Statute Book, and the British Army numbers 
four millions of men. 
Stupendous as this break with the past has been, it 
is not yet complete. The Royal Palace of Westminster 
enshrines traditions both glorious and mean ; among 
the latter must be reckoned the ancient belief that the 
populace can be kept quiet with a liberal diet of tine 
words and specious promises, and that a too nice regard 
of the naked truth is, if not indecent, at least inexpedient. 
It is an old tradition, based on fairly sound experience, 
though it has been rudely b.'oken once or twice. But it 
is doomed to-day. Wc hope it may disappear with 
the wiUing consent of those who work at Westminster ; 
otherwise, the change will come f: m ^vithout, for the 
people weary of half-truths and oi pror. es half-fulfilled. 
To give an illustration, we will t . ;.■ the question of 
the'German losses. Mr. Tennant was asked in the House 
of Commons a little time ago whether, in view of the fact 
that the official German estimates of German casualties 
were regarded by eminent mihtary critics in this and 
otlier countries as wiiolly unacceptable, lie wuukl consider 
the desirability of accompanying any further statement 
with a reasoned analysis. He replied that such an 
analysis while gratifying legitimate curiosity in this 
•country, would also gratify the curiosity of the German 
military authorities. It is not easy to understand the 
exact meaning Mr. Tennant intended to convey by these 
words. They sound mere Hippancy, for the German 
(ieneral Staff of course knows its own losses only too well. 
This answer in the House appeared in the papers on the 
very date that Land and Watkk published the first 
part of that most carefully reasoned analysis of German 
losses which Mr. Belloc prepared when he was in Paris. 
Had there been any real ground for the refusal of the 
Under-Secretary for War, obviously we should not have 
been permitted to publish this analysis. 
At the end of last week the Government issued 
without a word of comment the official German Casualty 
Lists for February, and, adding them to those previous- 
ly published, showed total losses to the end of February 
of 2,667,372. Mr. Belloc demonstrates irrefutably that 
the irreducible minimum of (ierman losses up to December 
31st, 1915, is just over 3.V millions. He has explained 
step by step how this sum total is arrived at ; there is no 
purpose in repeating his reasoning here. But the Govern- 
ment, when issuing these German Official figures, should 
at least have added a cautionary note warning readers 
against placing i-eliancc on them. The total of killed 
and died of wounds for February is set down at 7,301, 
although the Verdun slaughter had been in progress for 
more than a week ! Still more flagrant is the total of 
prisoners up to the end of February. Here there is no 
difficulty in checking the German figures. The Allied 
(Governments have positive and direct evidence showing 
the exact number of German prisoners taken until at 
least the end of January. This total is more 
than double the number of prisoners (117,045) men- 
tioned in this German Official List. In issuing these 
figures without explanation, analysis or comment, the 
Government undoubtedly misleads the nation. 
Numbers are the supreme factor of the war. They 
are the balance on which the issue hangs. The German 
military authorities are quite alive to this truth and edit 
their lists accordingly. The special correspondent of 
certain London newspapers, who was present at Verdun, 
has spoken of Germany in her present desperation " flash- 
ing falsehoods round the world." There is no falsehood 
more vital to her failing state than this one of losses ; 
yet wc find the British Government in its blindness aiding 
her in deceiving the Neutral nations by accepting her 
figures at their face value. Why they should act thus is 
incomprehensible, for we dismiss as unworthy of credence 
the general rfeport that they do so out of timidity lest 
recruiting be discouraged, should British manhood 
realise how heavy is the toll of modern war. We assign 
the cause to that evil tradition of Westminster which 
half despises and half fears the people and almost in- 
stinctively prefers the half-truth. 
The presence of Mr. Thomas Hughes in London 
should act as a salutary warning to the Government, that 
the former era when consideration first and last could be 
given to local voters, has passed. The horizons widen and 
those who lead this nation — chief of the five nations — have 
to look for judgment on their acts much farther afield 
than most of them have been accustomed to do. Ministers 
must emerge from their official " dug-outs " and face 
realities on the other side of the parapet, however im- 
pleasant they may happen to be at the moment, with 
far higher resolution and determination than they have 
done hitherto. The day of the shirker is done. Courage 
comes into its own, not only on the battlefield but in 
the council chamber, though this be the last place to 
respond to the new spirit that is astir in the air. 
