September 14, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 2828 
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 1916 
CONTENTS 
PAGE 
The Advance on the Somme. By Louis Kaeraaekers i 
Lessons of History. (Leading Article.) 3 
The Dobrudja. By Hilaire Belloc 4 
Illusions. (Poem.) By Emile Cammaerts q 
American Naval Criticisms. By Arthur Pollen lo 
Nature under Gunfire. By H. Thoburn Clarke ii 
A Prelude to Reconstruction. By Joseph Thorp 13 
The Establishment of Poland.— IV. 14 
How Aeroplanes are used in War. By a Correspondent 15 
What Germany is Thinking, ^y Hugh F. Spender 18 
Greenmantle. By John Buchan iq 
The West End 22 
Town and Country ^4 
Kit and Equipment -'^i"- 
LESSONS OF HISTORY 
WITH favourable news reported daily from the 
whole long battle-front of the Alhed Armies, 
except for an occasional set-back of no really 
vital importance and with all arrangements 
for the munitionment and maintenance of the lighting 
lines working smoothly, it is inevitable that the public 
mind should occupy itself more and more with that welter 
of problems which are the direct outcome of the war. 
Many of these questions will arrange themselves, possibly 
in a manner dimly realised at the moment ; others will 
have to be settled by ourselves after careful deliberation, 
and the result will depend greatly on the spirit in which 
they are approached. 
The statement is a commonplace to-day that the main 
reason why so many young fellows from all parts of the 
Empire flung themselves willingly into the war was "to 
make the British Empire not only the stronghold of 
justice and freedom but, as it were, a city whose citizens 
shall enjoy the power and means to utilise their talents 
and develop their abilities, each and every one to the 
highest value possible, and shall be capable of self- 
sacrifice for the good of the community in peace as in 
war." This is a high ideal, but not impossible of achieve- 
ment. The more one studies history the more sanguine 
one becomes that even if at the outset we do not attain 
our object, yet we may avoid those deadly mistakes that 
in the past have first warped and finally ruined the true 
course of human progress. 
There has just been published the first part of The 
Commonwealth of Nations (Messrs. Macmillan, 6s.), which 
is " an inquiry into the nature of citizenship in the British 
Empire and into the mutual relations of the several com- 
munities thereof," edited by Mr. L. Curtis. That this 
inquiry should have been actually in progress at the very 
time when the war broke out is yet further evidence, 
were it needed, that never was the charge of decadence 
launched against the British Empire at a less appropriate 
time. The Imperial idea had assumed a new vitaHty ; 
it had shed its old self-glorification ; it had begun to 
reahse more fully its responsibilities both within its 
borders and without ; and it perceived diijily that some- 
thing was needed besides mere sentiment to weld the 
Empire into a mighty commonwealth of free citizens. It 
is less than twenty years since Kipling in his Recessional 
voiced the thought that was in many men's hearts in 
an hour of high Imperial triumph ; Joseph Chamberlain 
followed with his "plans for Tariff Reform and Imperial 
Preference, but until the trumpets of war sounded, we 
did not really comprehend how deeply the Imperial idea 
had struck home, and that the Empire was in very truth 
a single commonwealth and not a congeries of scattered 
and separate communities. So here the matter stands 
•it present, but our thoughts must travel forward as to 
how this dedication of multitudinous lives to a single 
idea shall be made the beginning of a new and more fruitful 
epoch, not only of Empire, but of mankind. 
First it is wise to take a backward survey and behold 
by what roads we have reached this stage uf our develop- 
ment. This work has been splendidly done in the pages 
of this first volume of The Commonwealth of Nations, 
a book which might profitably be read in all the 
Colleges and the Secondary Schools of the Empire. In 
the chapter which is devoted to the earlier relations of 
East and West, the clash of different civihsations is des- 
cribed graphically and succinctly. And ever and again 
there come flashes which show how little has human 
nature altered in the centuries. Consider the reply which 
the Athenians sent by Alexander of Macedon to Xerxes 
General, Mardonius. Do we not hear in these words the 
very voice of the Union of South Africa ? The Athenians, 
approached to betray the cause of Greece, answered : 
Attempt not the vain task of talking us over into alliance 
with Xer.\cs. Tell Mardonius that as long as the sun 
shall continue in his present path we will never contract 
alliance with Xerxes ; we will encounter him in our own 
defence, patting our trust in the aid of those God^ and 
heroes to whom he has shown no reverence, and whose 
houses and statues he has burnt. Come thou not to us 
again with similar propositions, nor persuade us, even in 
the spirit of goodwill, into imholy proceedings. 
The analysis in this volume of the growth of States in 
Asia and in Europe is of singular interest, and it demon- 
strates the reactionary nature of German pretensions. , 
" The confidence of the European in his owm power to 
control circumstances has encouraged exercise of the 
power and led to its development. The Oriental regarding 
the framework of society as divinely ordained has treated 
man as though he were made for the law." This is 
exactly the view Germany takes. When the Kaiser 
claims to be the Viceregent of God, many in this country 
are inclined to look on his utterances as the blasptiemy 
of a madman. They are not that ; they are an imitation 
or persistence of Asiatic theocracy. And the danger 
becomes the greater when the State assumes a Divine 
character. Now the German State has not only usurped 
this character but has trained its people to beUeve that 
duty to it is above all other laws and ethics. Had 
Germany been victorious, this ancient Asian form of 
slavery of body and soul would have been imposed upon 
Europe. The nearest parallel to the present struggle, 
if we weigh carefully the actual issues in dispute, is the 
war between Persia and Greece, and not a man has fallen 
in the Allied ranks who has not sacrificed his life as 
nobly in the cause of freedom as did the. Athenians at 
Marathon and Salamis and the Spartans at ThermopylcC. 
.And through future ages their example will shine as 
brightly as the bravery of those old Greeks shines 
to-day. But we have to do more than they did ; when 
the struggle was over, Athens and Sparta were powerless 
to develop and render stable the freedom for which they 
bled. Here we must not fail, remembering always that 
the dedication of a life to "a cause does not begin and 
end on a battlefield, but continues through the more 
subtly dangerous ease of peace. Whether we will or not 
we have to enter into the active service of one State or 
other, a service that of its very nature demands sacrifice. 
To quote the eloquent passage with which the chapter 
on the " American Colonies " in this volume ends : " No 
true citizenship is possible for men until they have chosen 
the State to which they belong and know what they 
choose, and for those who imagine that they can sleep 
for ever without choosing, a rude awakening is in store.' 
