April 27, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 2828 
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 1916 
CONTENTS 
PACE 
Remember Wittenberg. By Louis Ra^maekers i 
The Alarm : Bevereu. By G. Spencer Pryse 2 
Dies Mirabilis. (Leading Article) 3 
The Tigris Campaign. By Hilaire Belloc 4 
America's Ultimatum. By Arthur Pollen 9 
Sortes Shakespearianae. By Sir Sidney Lee 11 
An Unhumorous Pliilosopher. By Desmond 
MacCarthy n 
Air Problems and Fallacies. By F. W. Lanchester 13 
War in Fiction and in Fact. By J. D. Symon 15 
A Book on ZeppeHns. (A Review) 16 
Chaya. By H. de Vera Stacpoole 17 
Town and Country 20 
The West End 22 
Choosing Kit ~5 
DIES MIRABILIS 
WHEN Britain's part comes to be written in the 
History of the Great War, when it is possible 
for all things to fall into their right perspective, 
Tuesday the twenty-fifth day of April, 1916, 
will stand out saliently as an historic date. For the first 
time in the annals of Parliament, that institution of 
which we Britons are so inordinately and perhaps a little 
unduly proud, the defence of the realm demanded 
a secret session which is practically without precedent. 
Two secret sessions there have been previously, but they 
have been secret merely in name and for causes so trivial 
that they scarcely count. There seemed a peculiar 
fitness that purely by chance this strong action of the 
leaders of Parliament with its inevitable encroachment on 
the ancient liberties and privileges of members of both 
Houses should have occurred on the birthday of Oliver 
Cromwell. The Order in Council which governs this 
secret sitting of the representatives of the nation is 
framed in the spirit of the great Protector, who, where 
the defence of the realm was concerned, paid slight heed 
to the susceptibilities of members of Parliament. At the 
same time we may express doubt whether that section 
of this Order in Council which has reference to Cabinet 
meetings has not been framed in a too drastic manner, 
and whether indeed it will be found possible or even 
serviceable in practice. 
But Westminster witnessed another sight on this 
historic Tuesday. The men of Anzac — Australians and 
New ;:ealanders — marched to the Abbey and there 
" united in .praise and thanksgiving for those of our 
brothers who died at Gallipoli for their King and Empire 
in the high cause of freedom and honour." The King 
and Queen were of the congregation and their Majesties 
must have thought of their own coronation in the old 
Abbey, so rich in the memorials of our race, and com- 
paring the two occasions have found reason for deep 
gratitude that King and Empire should in these hours 
of trial stand so closely together and be united by one 
common purpose. The Prime Minister of Australia later 
defined this date as " the natal day of AustraHa's en- 
trance into the world's politics and the world's history." 
That in itself constitutes a memorable day ; and the words 
which the Dean of Westminster spoke from the chancel 
steps of the Abbey : " We are resolved that by God's 
gracious favour ovir brothers shall not have laid down 
their lives in vain," were echoed by the Australian 
Premier a little later in the day : "I feel that the spirit 
of those dauntless ones whose bodies now lie on the penin- 
sula are near to us on this day of Anzac urging us to 
press on and ever on to victory." There is no faltering in 
the pronouncement of either Churchman or Statesman. 
These straightforward words are the true expression of 
the heart and soul of the British Empire. 
After a long protracted winter, summer came in at a 
single leap on this Tuesday. The sun shone out hotly 
from a blue sky, as though to grace the triumph of 
the courageous soldiers from southern sunnier lands. 
And the people flocked into the streets in their tens 
of thousands to give them welcome, cheering, waving 
handkerchiefs and flags, strawing the way with flowers 
in a manner rarely seen in this Metropolis. The day of 
Anzac was a day of high holiday in London, which will 
long be held in remembrance. And the morning had not 
far advanced before rumour was busy with startling 
episodes in the North Sea and across the Irish Channel. 
There had been a raid, some said an attempted invasion, 
on the East Coast, but a httle after mid-day an ofiicial 
statement from the Admiralty made plain just what had 
happened at Lowestoft. Before the afternoon had 
waned into evening, the news of the " rebeUion " in 
Dublin was in all the papers, the Irish Chief Secretary's 
statement in the House being fully reported. 
I Directly it was hinted abroad there was trouble in Ireland, 
all who knew. the country at once attributed it to the 
Sinn Feiners. It is a sort of " mad mullah outbreak " 
for which rebellion were too big a word. Nor can it 
be fairly termed a conspiracy seeing how open has been 
its propaganda, and how unconcealed its preparations. 
It calls for prompt repression and sharp punishment. 
Nowhere will this uprising of a few crack-brained 
fanatics, many of them in Government employment, be 
more reprobated than in Ireland. It has no backing 
and it is typical of that overweening ignorance which is 
Germany's 'chief characteristic in all her relations with 
other nations either during peace or in war that she 
should have taken it seriously. - That there is close 
connection between Roger Casement's mad descent on 
the Irish coast, the Sinn Fein ebullition, the Lowestoft 
scramble and the ZeppeUn raids is undoubted, but we 
only wish our enemies could be truthfully informed 
through their many secret channels of the actual effect 
it has had on the peoples of these islands: 
Never have the Easter holidays been celebrated with 
greater verve and delight. The slowly improving weather 
that blossomed into the summer hours of Tuesday 
and Wednesday, contributed to this. But the great 
working population is enjoying temporarily unprecedented 
prosperity, and in London the shops have been 
crowded with busy buyers and the parks thronged with 
happy holiday makers, well fed, well dressed and deter- 
mined to make the best of their brief rest and the sun- 
shine in a manner that impressed even Londoners 
themselves. The German cruisers, whose big guns 
saluted the dawn of this dies mirabilis so far from frighten- 
ing the people only gave new zest to their pleasure and 
wearied with one excitement after another, they went 
to bed that evening wondering whether the Zeppelins 
would round off the great day, but regretting that if they 
did, dead-tired they would sleep too soundly to be 
awakened unless a bomb fell on roof or doorstep. The Ger- 
man bogey will not work ; the scooped out turnip with 
its tallow "candle on a winter's night is more terrifying 
to the British public than anything the Hun has been 
able hitherto to launch against these islands. 
