ne of enormous importance. This view is the key to
all Mr. Belloc's writings on the political aspect of the war. He has
expressed it over and over again, but never in more solemn terms than in
the following passage. After showing the existence of the political
effect of the German advance to the borders of Russia, he points out how
necessary it is to control, by public authority and through our own
private wills, any corresponding political effect in England:

If, here, the one territory of the three great Allies not invaded
[he says] any insanity of fear be permitted, or any still baser
motive of saving private fortune by an inconclusive peace, then the
political effect at which the enemy is aiming will indeed have been
achieved. These things are contagious. We must root out and destroy
the seed of that before it grows more formidable. If we do not, we
are deliberately risking disaster. But be very certain of this:
That if by whatever lack of judgment, or worse, an inconclusive
peace be arranged, this country alone of the great alliance will,
perhaps unsupported, be the target of future attack....

He then goes on to show how the enemy's great offensive through Poland
began in April, 1915, and throughout the summer failed and failed and
failed. He concludes:

It is not enough to know these things as a proposition in
mathematics or as a problem in chess may be known. They must enter
into the consciousness of the nation; and this they will not do if
the opposite and false statement calculated to spread panic and to
destroy judgment be permitted to work its full evil unchecked by
public authority.

These passages will suffice to show not only that Mr. Belloc works with
an object, but also the very important nature of that object. In his own
words, he works "for the instruction of public opinion." His whole
desire is to elucidate for the general public who have not the
advantages of his knowledge and pursuits, events which are both puzzling
and urgent. In his commentary in _Land and Water_ he deals with those
problems which belong of their nature to the military aspect of the war,
and we have seen how extraordinarily qualified he is to undertake that
task as well as with what marked success he has accomplished it. His
writings on the political aspect of the war are to be found chiefly in
the _Illustrated Sunday Herald_, while many articles w