28 
LAND & WATER 
December 19, 191 8 
16ve ma verre (the gender of " verre " escaped me) . . . 
Vive la France ! ! ! " This, however, seemed to give every ^ 
satisfaction ; the " indescribable " scene described above was 
repeated, and even M. le Commandant smiled wanly over the 
shoulder of a lady, who was endeavouring to embrace him. 
After that the company dwindled, and I faded away under 
the plane trees in search of solitude, pursued by a reverent 
escort of Arab children, who had clearly been trained in the 
principles of Scouting for Boys, since it was impossible to 
shake them off. Hunted, desperate, sole representative of a 
Great Empire, I fled into the back room of a cafe and took 
tea. There was no milk or sugar or butter or cakes or bread 
— only tea. But that was enough. As I sat there, panting, 
I said to my faithful heart, " WTiy did I pray this morning 
for company and celebrations ? Oh, Allah ! let me be alone." 
In the evening there was a scratch band in the Place, and 
all the motley population was there ; even along the wall 
there stole a few of the native women in their white hoods, 
with one vestal eye glowing inhumanly through the slit. 
From far off in the hills and outlying villages the Moors and 
Arabs had come in scores, riding portentously on tiny donkeys ; 
and one thought, " Why should these men care ? How has 
the war mattered to them ? " And then I saw the swarms of 
tirailleurs, with the blue tunics and yellow facings — fine, 
lean men like sunburnt Englishmen, some of them — and I 
had my answer. For they, too, have given many to the war. 
Questionable Fireworks 
The Arab'youth were at it again, surging and chanting and 
banner-waving. " At least," I had said, " here, on the edge 
of Morocco, there wiU be no fireworks." Yet even this boon 
was denied. How can one explain the magical appearance 
of these things in such a place ? Perhaps (who knows ?) 
as part of the very active German propaganda in these regions, 
sent maybe to celebrate a German victory. For they were 
live, full-bodied things, squibs that went off like a bomb and 
put the fear of God into a soldier. So I went up and stood on 
the balcony of the Mairie, and looked down and felt like an 
Ambassador. But when the band had finished the wife of the 
Sous-Prefet came unto me and apologised because they had 
not played "^ God save the King." They had tried, but the music 
could not be foimd. I felt like a king, and I was gracious. 
Then all the world proipenaded again, and there was a 
torchlight procession of tirailleurs, with the flares lashed 
to their bayonets, and a band of weird wood-wind instruments, 
something between the bagpipes and a paper-and-comb. 
In the rear rode a number of Espahis, solemn men with thick 
turbans and beards, sitting mysteriously on grey horses. 
All round the/narrow streets they went, with the Madelon 
wailing away in the distance and bursting suddenly round 
corners ; and the torchlight shot up to the shuttered windows 
where no man may look, and one imagined the harem ladies 
peeping down through the cracks at this mad and forbidden 
world. 
In thefPlace, at the height of the festivities, a man 
approached me and asked (in French) if I spoke Allemand. 
" Why ? " I said, " are you an Allemand ? " To which, as 
the policeman said, he replied in the affirmative. Stunned, 
I enquired if he too " faisait fete " ; and again he said " yes." 
All my dreams of peace had not prepared me for such an 
occasion. From what secret haunt he had emerged, what he 
thought I was, and what action I should have taken either 
by the Manual of Infantry Training, or the Code of Honour, 
I knew not. But he had a French Alsatian wife, so I spared 
him. But my spirit was broken. I went to bed. 
In the morning all the town was still smiling, and there were 
still more flags ; and how much more beautiful the old flags 
can look in such a place, hung about the white houses in the 
African sun, than they do at home, dingy and soiled and wet. 
The Arabljo}^ were still chanting (I do not suppose they are 
silent yet), and my escort of children and boys was, if anything, 
in excess of Establishment. 
I took lunch with one of the chief citizens — whether the 
Maire^ or the Sous-Prefet or what I never discovered. 
They "were Alsatians, and their two children, boy and girl, 
were dressed in honour of the Peace in the native dress of the 
Alsatian peasant. The boy looked like a character out of 
Dickens, in a long frock-coat, and the girl like a flag of Alsace, 
in red and white. 
It was a moving thing to see these old clothes, hidden away 
who knows how long in some old chest, taken out sometimes 
bv Madame to fold and put away again, and now come out 
gloriously from bondage to fly the colours of Alsace in Northern 
Africa. 
They"'were going home, Madame said, as soon as they 
might ; and I told them that I, too, was going home. But I 
was glad the Germans were not in Hammersmith. 
The Navy in Battle* 
THE readers of Land akd WixER need no intro- 
duction to the work of Mr. Arthur PoUen. Week 
after week during the war, Mr. Pollen has con- 
tributed those illuminating essays which have en- 
abled his readers clearly to appreciate the shifting 
phases of the war at sea, and in so doing, Mr. PoUen has 
performed a valuable public service. For, under the existing, 
conditions of representative government, the security of 
the whole community does, in fact, depend upon the degree 
of national intelligence. The politician, whose business it 
is to please the largest possible number of people, habituall5r 
defers to desires bom of an ignorance which he sometimes 
shares, but to which he more often sacrifices the duty of 
statesmanship. But the politician will acquiesce as readily 
in the demands of knowledge and intelligence ; it matters 
nothing to him; for he no longer governs. Nor does he- 
consider it his duty to instnict the people. 
That duty is discharged by persons who have no votes to- 
gain or to lose ; and in respect of naval affairs, upon a right 
understanding of which depends the existence of the British 
Empire, or, to be more precise, the breakfast, dinner, and 
tea of each one of us. Mr. Pollen's work stands alone. For 
this reason : Mr. Pollen owns an exact scientific knowledge 
of the art of gunnery. And the art of gunnery is the final 
and ultimate purpose of the whole v?ist organisation of a 
marine fighting force, because the gun is the main weapon 
of a navy. 
But that fact leads the student further. It leads him to- 
enquire for wliat purpose the gun is used, and the answer 
is not so simple as it may appear. For instance, Mr. Pollen's 
valuable researches into the science of gunnery brought himi 
to the study of strategy, which is the art of bringing forces 
into contact with the enemy ; and of tactics, which is the- 
art of using those forces when they are in contact with the 
enemy. The object of both strategy and tactics is to bring 
the gun to bear upon the enemy. Hence it follows that the 
range and power of modern ai:tillery must affect tactics ; 
which, in other words, must bo adapted to the capabilities 
of the gun. In the old Navy, in which the range of the gun 
was short, tactics broadly speaKng, consisted ih close action. 
Mr. Pollen quotes a remark of the late Lord Nelson, that a 
captain who laid his ship alongside the ship of the enemy- 
could not go far wrong. 
. That proposition also appears simple ; but that again is 
not so simple as it seems. For an analysis of naval warfare 
speedily reveals the fact that there are two methods of fighting,, 
the offensive and the defensive. The priiiciple of the offensive 
is to strike as swiftly and as hard as possible, taking all risks. 
That is the tradition of the British Navy. The principle 
of the defensive is to do as much damage to the antagonist 
as possible while taking as few risks as possible ; and, in 
certain circumstances, even to avoid battle altogether, using 
the potential fighting force of the fleet as a constant threat. 
Hence we are brought to the consideration of the exact im- 
portance of decisive battle in naval warfare. Either it is 
of supreme importance, or the same results may be compassed 
by other means. If it is of supreme importance, then to 
seek out and to destroy the fleet of the enemy is the para- 
mount duty of a navy. If the same results may be compassed 
by other means, then the main purpose must be to avoid 
battle and thus save ships and men. 
Mr. Pollen's study of the conduct of British naval warfare 
brought him to the conclusion that before and during the 
first three years of the war the principle followed was the 
defensive principle. Necessarily, the next thing to decide 
was whether that principle was right or wrong. The sole 
test is victory. Can the defensive bring victory ? Mr. 
Pollen most unequivocally declares that it cannot. Victory, 
he affirms, is the prize of battle and of battle alone. 
Mr. Pollen deals with the naval actions of the war in the 
only way in which they can be made intelligible, or even 
interestmg, to the civilian. He explains what is the object 
of each operation, how it succeeded or failed, and why. 
His account of the Battle of Jutland is very remarkable. 
As m all great naval actions, there came one critical, one 
supreme moment, when all hung upon the decision of the 
commander-m-chief. The second and deciding part of 
the Battle of Jutland was a practical demonstration of the 
defensive principle. 
The storming of Zeebrugge, the blocking of Ostend, marked 
the change to the right offensive principle. It is now for 
the Bntish people to determine what is to be the national 
naval policy in the future. They will find the materials for 
forming their judgment in " The Navy in Battle." L.C.C. 
• By A. H. Pollen. (Chatto and Windus, 12s. 6d. net.) 
