October 26, 1 916 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSWAY, LONDON, W.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 2828 
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1916 
CONTENTS 
PAGE 
Belgium's Forced Labour. By Louis Raemaekers 
Constanza and Constancy. (Leading Article) 
Mackensen's Success. By Hilaire Belloc 
Sea Fog. By Arthur Pollen 
New Roads for London. By W. R. Davidge, F.S.L 
The Chancellor's Latest Speech. By Colonel Feyler 
Development of British Agriculture. By Sir Herbert 
Matthews 
L'Yser (Poem). By Emile Cammaerts 
Books to Read. By Lucian Oldershaw 
Greenmantle. By John Buchan 
The West End 
Town and Country x^'i- 
Kit and Equipment xix. 
5 
4 
9 
II 
14 
15 
17 
i8 
20 
26 
CONSTANZA AND CONSTANCY 
IT were easy to exaggerate the fall of Constanza, the 
more so inasmuch as it is the first success which 
has fallen to the Central Empires for several months. 
The moral effect for this very reason will be the 
,!j;reater in enemy countries, and nothing we may be sure 
will be left undone by the Kaiser and his well-organised 
and clever gang of advertisement writers to enhance 
its significance. That, however, is no reason why the 
Allies should lend themselves to their game. Rou- 
mania has been struck a heavy blow, but not a vital one. 
She made an initial mistake in subordinating the strategic 
to the political, of invading Transylvania instead of 
guarding the northern passes and assuming the offensive 
across her southern borders against the enemy's main 
line of communication — the Balkan RailM'ay, and she 
has suffered accordingly ; but if she continues to hold the 
Czernavoda bridge-head, her position from a military 
standpoint remains secure. In any case, the success 
has to be regarded from the general view-point of the war. 
The fall of Constanza can have no adverse effect on the 
battles of the Somnie, or on the Itastern Front or on the 
Italian campaigns, those fields where we have to look 
for decisive action. The immediate result has been to 
cpiicken the oft'ensive, and the victory which the 
French have gained at Verdun is vastly more signifi- 
cant than the loss of the Black Sea port. 
Roumania, when she ranged herself on the side of free- 
dom, was fully aware of the risks that lay ahead of her. 
She is playing a strong part which redounds magnificently 
to her credit. From her geographical position the only 
help which the other combatants can render must be 
by way of Russia ; this is forthcoming as quickly as 
time and distance will allow. Russia and Roumania 
are already fighting shoulder to shoulder, not for the 
first time, and in this comradeship when it is yet further 
reinforced by men and munitions, there is strength. 
Hitherto the information that has reached the public from 
this the newest arena of battle has been scanty ; and for 
reasons, not intelligible on the face of them, it has been 
deemed inexpedient to place before British readers the 
risks and perils which the Roumanian plan of campaign 
involved. As events have happened, it would have been 
wiser had publicists been permitted to explain clearly 
the exact position of affairs. But to-day, which is being 
celebrated in these islands as Roumania's Flag Day. 
when all are invited to contribute towaras trie needs of 
the sick and wounded in that kingdom, the one fact 
to bear in mind is the noble and courageous action which 
this ancient Latin people have taken in the cause of 
humanity, and to contribute in so generous a spirit that 
they may find new inspiration in the knowledge that 
Great Britain is heart and soul with them in their trials 
and is determined that whatever sacrifices they may 
be called upon to make in the doubtful issues of war, will 
be generously compensated when at the last peace is 
restored to Europe. 
That will not and cannot be yet, for to use the weiglity 
words which Viscount Grey of Falloden spoke to the 
Foreign Press Association in London on Monday, " there 
must be no end to the war, no peace except a peace which 
is going to ensure that the nations of Europe live in the 
future free from the shadow of Prussian mihtarism in the 
open air and in the light of freedom. For that we are 
contending. We know that if mankind has any birth- 
right to peace and liberty as we believe it has, our cause 
is just and right, because it is for these we are fighting. 
When people ask us, ' How long is the struggle to be 
continued,' we can but reply that it must be continued 
until these things are secured." But though the deeply 
desired end is not in sight, there has never been less 
occasion for despondency than at present. It is an old 
saying that the onlooker sees most of the game, and we 
invite close attention to the remarkable article that 
appears on another page from the pen of Colonel Feyler. 
Colonel Feyler is of Swiss nationality, and a military 
critic of Continental fame, whose judgments are regarded 
as valuable in Ciermany as they are here ; he remarks 
that the military observations in the German Chancellor's 
recent speech to the Reichstag, are a virtual con- 
fession that the armies of the Central Empires are 
now committed to a passive defensive which, judged 
by n^ihtary history and military science, can only be 
regarded under the circumstances as the beginning of 
the end. Colonel Feyler is a writer who has throughout 
maintained a cold dispassionate view of the war, so that 
this opinion, for which exact reasons are given, carries 
the greater weight. 
Lord Grey's speech, to which we have alluded, con- 
tained the most lucid, succinct and definite account of the 
beginnings of the war which has yet been given to the 
world. It will pass just as it was spoken into history, 
and all the misrepresentations and downright lies that 
German ingenuity has uttered and will continue to utter 
will prove powerless against its calm truth. Constancy was 
its keynote — constancy of the Allies one to another, con- 
stancy of them all towards the object we have in view. 
It is a good motto for these grey autumnal days when 
the very airs of nature tend to depress the spirits of 
man. But if we will only see the war as a whole, 
contrast the almost hopeless state of unpreparedness 
in which the Allies began this struggle for freedom, 
then there is no ground for depression. 
As we write, good news comes from that field of con- 
stancy, Verdun. In a few hours the gallant soldiers of 
our great Ally have won back all that they slowly 
lost step by step during the months of furious, well- 
nigh overwhelming onset. The German General Staff 
will doubtless suppress the news of this defeat in so far as 
their own people are concerned, but they cannot minimise 
its significance in the eyes of Neutrals. Verdun has been 
trumpeted by them ever since the beginning of the year 
as the key of the position, the postern gate between 
France and Gcrman\', and here they have been hurled 
back with ignominy in the hour when their bells were 
ringing and their streets beflagged to celebrate their in- 
vincibihty. The tale of German prisoners lengthens 
daily ; a sort of vacuum-cleaner process is in operation 
on the West, sucking up Huns from their trenches and 
dug-outs by the hundreds and thousands. 
