liar weakness in practice. The method which he adopts
so extensively of explaining situations by means of diagrams is
undoubtedly very successful. It has, however, its limitations. So long
as the situation which he is concerned to describe is of a simple nature
it may be admirably expressed in diagrammatic form. When, however, the
situation itself is complex the diagram is also necessarily complex,
which results, in the text of his writing, in long strings of letters or
figures which lead to almost greater confusion than would the
enumeration of the objects they are intended to represent. This weakness
appears very plainly in a passage in _A General Sketch of the European
War_, in which Mr. Belloc describes how the Allied force in the
operative corner before Namur stood with relation to the two natural
obstacles of the rivers Sambre and Meuse and the fortified zone round
the point where they met. To illustrate the position of the Allied
force he draws a diagram which is excellently clear. In describing this
diagram, however, he falls into difficulties which may be seen very
plainly in the following extract in which he describes the French plan:

Now, the French plan was as follows. They said to themselves:
"There will come against us an enemy acting along the arrows VWXYZ,
and this enemy will certainly be in superior force to our own. He
will perhaps be as much as fifty per cent. stronger than we are.
But he will suffer under these disadvantages:

"The one part of his forces, V and W, will find it difficult to act
in co-operation with the other part of his forces, Y and Z, because
Y and Z (acting as they are on an outside circumference split by
the fortified zone SSS) will be separated, or only able to connect
in a long and roundabout way. The two lots, V and W, and Y and Z,
could only join hands by stretching round an awkward angle--that
is, by stretching round the bulge which SSS makes, SSS being the
ring of forts round Namur. Part of their forces (that along the
arrow X) will further be used up in trying to break down the
resistance of SSS. That will take a good deal of time. If our
horizontal line AB holds its own, naturally defended as it is,
against the attack from V and W, while our perpendicular line BC
holds its own still more firmly (relying on its much better natural
obstacle) against YZ, we shall have ample time to