CORRESPONDENCE.

A BATTLEFIELD FOR SALE.

[TO THE Eorrog Ow Tun " SPECTATOM'l

8129,—IG the Paris edition of the New York Herald for September 26th, 1916, appeared the following advertisement, surely the first, as the Herald remarks editorially, that has ever been published in a news- paper

ATTLEFIELD FOR SALE.—A piece of land of 10 hectares, 1.1 furrowed with German and British trenches, right in the Somme battle centre, north of the Bois do Foureaux and south-east of Ilartinpuich.—GBAB,DBI, 10 rue Saint-Louis, Amiens.

Without exception, this is the most astonishing armour cement which has appeared since the beginning of the war. One can only regret that the limitations of space prevented the Herald "leader "-writer from expanding to the theme. It is one which lays hold upon the imagi- nation, and which offers matter for whimsical speculation, as well as

for the most sober reflection. - But it is good to laugh in these days. If there are risible juices to be extracted from the dry bones of the advertisement column, let us have them, by all means, however feeble the trickle. Lot us forget for the moment that battlefields, least of all the battlefields of this war, ought never to be exposed for sale as such—must never be. Let us forget the significance of battlefields and think of them only in the abstract ; for here is matter for an October morning, and it were a great pity If we did not make the moat of it.

Who is this Monsieur Grardel, of Amiens, who offers battlefields for male as calmly as though traffic, in this commodity were one of the most ancient and honourable of brokerage businesses? He may be a eallous person. But we are inclined to be charitable, and therefore we beg those readers whose sense of decency is alarmed by this seemingly brazen offer of sacred ground to bear with us if we trace his act to quite innocent motives. We believe that only the most urgent need could have forced him to offer his little farm for sale. It is probable that he has laboured hard, during the years of health and strength, and at last, in the late afternoon of life, when he had earned the privilege of rest from toil, eanae the war, and with it the wreck of his hopes and fortunes. The ton hectares of land month-east of Martinpuich could never have been his hom,e. They had no associations for him. More than likely they were only an investxnent into which had gone the savings of a lifetime. The tide of battle swept over them, wrecking and devastating so completely that it will be impossible for him ever to restore them. What is he to do ? He has lost everything. The farm in his only remaining asset, and it must be sold ; for old men must live on in them days of adversity until they die a natural death. They may not go to the wars and fall fightiag for their country. But how is he to find a market for his ruined property ? The little eottage, the barns, the windmill—all are destroyed. It is a bettlefield he has, not a farm. "Very well," says Monsieur Grardel "then I shall have to sell my battlefield."

"A Vendre : Un Champ de Bataille." He smiles wanly at the novelty of the idea. "How they will stare ! " he says. "It will be way droll. I should like to see their faces when they read of my battle- field." It does not occur to him that he is committing an unpardonable offence. He is merely a thrifty old Frenchman who does not wish to become a burden to the State. Did he see his act in the light of its real significance, he would die of starvation rather than sell that battlefield. But he is so afraid of becoming dependent that his only thought is how to avoid it at a time when the Government needs every franc for the business of war.

Having decided to sell his battlefield, the next question is to whom shall he offer it. Not, assuredly, to Frenchmen. They have their battlefields, or will have them when the Boche is pushed back to his own frontiers. Whom, then, can he expect to interest ? "Those rich Americans," says Monsieur GrardeL Therefore it is to the Con- tinental Edition of the New York Herald that he sends his advertisement, "Americans will buy anything. And a battlefield I Mon .Dieu 1 How they will scramble for it!"

Monsieur Grarders notice is an excellent piece of advertisement literature. There is not a superfluous word in it ; and note how each phrase excites the curiosity and stimulates the imagination. He is first in the market with a battlefield, and those who come after him with similar proposals will do well to model their announcements upon his. This opens up a new field for conjecture. After the war are we to have a long line of speculators in battlefield realty Will the newspapers eontain such advertisements as the following, for example ?—

La OR SALE, 500 metres of German that-line trenches, two kilo- .12 metres west of Eunuch. A most desirable property, complete with barbed-wire entanglements, a mine crater forty feet in depth, a listening-post, and many dug-outs. Two hundred distinct shell-holes. Terrain undisturbed since the conclusion of hostilities.—For further particulars and complete history during German occupation, apply to IL BLANK, ISO Avenue St. Germain, Paris.

Mousiear Grardel is a pioneer, and if he does not dangle the special

attractions of his battlefield before the eyes of prospective buyers, It is because he had no precedents teguide him. The baainese *new, and it will, be some tame before it can be standardized. Therefore he contents himself with saying: "Apices of lead of 10 hectares, furrowed with German and British trenches." Ten hectares—about twenty-five acres. A most desirable size, it would seem, for a battlefield. Not of course from the military point of view, but—how shall we put it 7— from the marketable point of view. It is neither too large nor too small. The owner will be able to ascertain all the interesting details with regard to ita history. He will eagerly search the official cam. muniquis which deal with the fighting on the Somme front. By means of inquiries in the newspapers, he will get in touch with men who have occupied his trenches. Ile will learn, perhaps, that just here it was that forty Germans came forwarda shouting "Kameracl!" with their hands up, and surrendered to the diminutive "Tommy Atkins" from Lancashire.

Ten hectares of battle float may net appeal to the large collector. One can imagine an American multi-millionaire scornfully refusing to be interested. "Am I in the market for battlefields ? Yes. But I want all the first-line positions, both British and German, from the Channel coast to Armentieres. I might possibly consider the Ypres salient, if the town is included. But ten hectares! Where are your large dealers ? " No; Monsieur Grarders offer is not for the man who flanks in millions. But a less ambitious American who has never had a battlefield in his family will jump at this opportunity.

(Meal whimsical humour comes to an end. Close as we are to the war, it is impossible to taipla of battlefields in the abstract. Unless one can do so, to speak thug lightly of them is in the worst of bad taste, to say the least. Seriously, then, what must be our opinion of Monsieur Grardel ? One reads tire brief editorial in the Herald with the feeling that the writer, like ourselves, is at a loss to know what to make of this startling advertisement. One's first inclination, after readiag it, is to smile. The novelty of the thing appeals to one's some of humour. And so for a moment the Herald writer chuckles, saying : "It mast be admitted that the attractions are powerful. There aro few more eligible battlefields in the realty market at present, despite the fact that there is a good supply." And then,. in concluding : "But what is most impressive in the annoance,ment is the splendid certainty of victory which it reveals. The owner knows that the battle is won through, although it is not yet ended. And he offers to sell his battlefield, abso- lutely confident of his ability to 'deliver the goods.' Thus does a simple advertisement reflect the soul of a people."

Such an extraordinary offer called for editorial comment, and there- fore Monsieur Grardel is praised for his confidence in his ability to "deliver the goods." But what of his motives ? Nothing, surely, but the direst need could have forced him to make this offer; and even then, if we are to hold him worthy of the name of Frenchman, he must have been prompted further by some such motives as we have attributed to him. He is either wholly innocent or wholly vile.

Will he finds buyer ? Can an American be found who wishes to purchase a battlefield ? It is an American who writes this comment, and he is unwilling to believe that there is one of his follow-countrymen who would not be horrified at such a proposal as this. It is unthink- able that any one is so lacking in common decency as to sell battlefields as such or to buy them as such. For if ever there was sacred ground, it is that devastated strip of territory in Belgium and Northern France where so many thousands of Britons, Frenchmen, and Belgians have sacrificed their live:. It is drenched with their blood and strewn with their graves. Monsieur Grardel is the first who offers a portion of that ground for sale. Who can say at what sacrifice it has been restored to France and to hire? We cling to the belief that he is innocent of the significance of his act. We believe, too, that he will find no purchaser for his property, and that his announcement "Battlefield for Sale" is both the first and the last ever to be published in any newspaper.— [Might not Monsieur Grardel have had a different object ? Suppose him a classic and a reader of Tile-Live--the French have always been ardent students of the Latin historian—and a special admirer of the passage about the sale at auction of the ground occupied by Hannibars tent quoted by us toalay in our article on "The Consolations of the Classics." Perhaps he said to himself : "I will depress the Boche by selling my gun-swept battle-ground at a normal price t" Anyway, that is the way we like to think of Monsieur Grarclers sporting offer. "You can't worry us, you Huns, with your drums and tramplingl 'Real Estate Business as usual,' even right in the Somme Battle centre." —ED. Spectator.]