PREDICTIONS AND THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2576, 25 September 1915, Page 13

PREDICTIONS AND THE WAR.

Sir,—'When 0110 reflects on the prophecies and forecasts nuido a few years ago as to ivhat would happen iji tho next, great war,; ancl compares .them with..the present; realities, one cannot but be .struck-with tho sense of how wide of tho mark the majority of them were. ' ; Wells, and others of his school, wero of opinion thatunder modern conditions the opposing armies would fight from a. distance of at least s mile and Hover■see-each other , till oho. side had out-manoeuvred and surrounded the other, comftellina its Jiai>

oiiets, by theso tliinkers, \rei'6 considered as useless enoumbraiices, and as for hand grenades, one might as well have expected bows and arrows to come into use again as to see the weapon that gave its name to our Grenadiers, make its appearance on our modern battlefields.

But among the gave too free a rein to. their imaginations, there stands out one- whose forecasts have been wonderfully verified. This is Hilairo Belloc, easily our' foremost military historian—his .monographs on British battles are masterpieces of lucidity. Some years before tho war, lie gavo it as his opinion t'hat the Germans would vlO" late Belgium's neutrality, invade Franco without a declaration of war, and that tho river Meuse, with its fortresses of Liege and Namur. would prove but temporary obstacles in their onward sweep. All three tilings have since happened as all the world knows. Wonderful as these forecasts were, they are, after all. no more than the .logical conclusions to winch a scientifically trained mind could come to, arguing from known premises. Now, I would like to draw_ the attention of your readers to a still more remarkable prophecy to which the_ foregoing does not apply,- seeing that it was published soveral hundred years ago, and, though being fulfilled to the letter before our eyes, does not seem to have attracted the amount of attention, its remarkable character entitles it to —remarkable because though uttered so long ago, never till this year has it found its accomplishment. ,In every other war known to history, -the armies of the contending States did tie fighting and the organisation of munitions, supplies, etc., was left in the hands of the military, the civil population being scarcely affected, except in those , parts, of the country occupied by, the hostile forces. Not till the present conflict has. the whole of any,nation been organised 1 for the purpose of overcoming another nation similarly prepared, and so at last the prophecy that "nation shall rise against hation, aaid kingdom against kingdom," after waiting; fulfilment for, nineteen hundred years has been accomplished 111 this our day. I would commend to the earnest consideration of your readers, Matt., 24, v. 7. May thoso who do not believe in inspiration bo led to reconsider, the subject.with this new evidence In its favour.—l am, etc.,. . THEATES.