The place for England’s battleships is where they are:  in the harbors with their protecting nets down until they are called for in battle.  In motion or action, submarines have little show against them.

The Japanese at Port Arthur found that protecting nets picked up many torpedoes and submarines.  Since that time, torpedoes have been made with cutting heads to pierce steel nets encircling the warships, but their effectiveness has not so far been practically demonstrated.

It is Kitchener’s idea to keep the enemy guessing.  Therefore he was rather pleased than otherwise when the story of Russians coming through England from Archangel was told all over the world.  The War Office winked at the story and certainly had no objection to the Germans getting a good dose of it.  I think that story might have been helpful at the time when the Allies were at their weakest, but they do not now need Russians, or stories of Russians, from Archangel.

The story must also go by the board that a submarine north of Ireland meant either a new type of boat that could go so far from Germany, or an unknown base nearer Scotland.

Submarines as now built could go from Germany around the British Isles and then across the Atlantic—­in fair weather.

The eastern boundary of France divides itself into four very nearly equal sections.  Italy and Switzerland are the lower quarters of this boundary line; and of the upper quarters Belgium is the larger and Germany the smaller.  The southern half of the German quarter boundary is a mountain range and on the open sections stand the great fortifications of France and Germany, regarded by both countries as practically impregnable.  The defence of France on the Belgian frontier was the treaty which guaranteed the neutrality of the smaller country.

When Germany’s conquering hosts came through Belgium, the war soon became a battle of human beings rather than of fortifications.  Neither the French nor the Germans had learned from practical experience the modern art of fighting human legions in ground trenches, but both sides quickly betook themselves to this rabbit method of warfare.

To-day from Switzerland to the North Sea is a double wall of 4,000,000 men, all fighting, not only for their own existence but for the existence of their nationality—­their national ideals.  They are protected by aeroplanes, flying above, that keep watch of any large movements.

They are backed by 4,000,000 men in reserve and training who keep the trenches filled with fighting men, as 10,000 to 20,000 daily retire to mother earth, to the hospitals, or to the camps of the imprisoned.  On the North Sea and the English Channel they are supported by fleets of battleships, cruisers, submarines, and torpedo boat destroyers that occasionally “scrap” with each other, the German boats now and then attacking the English coast and harbors and the English boats now and then assisting to mow down the German troops when they approach too near the coast.  But the great dread and key to this naval warfare is the modern submarine.