State for War, responding for the Army, said that the soldiers in the field would deeply appreciate the toast. Every officer returning from the front said that the men were doing splendidly.
Lord Kitchener referred to the good work done by the London Scottish and the Indian troops, and paid a very warm tribute to our gallant Allies, especially expressing his admiration for Generalissimo Joffre and Grand Duke Nicholas.
He affirmed that the British Empire is now fighting for its existence, " I want every British citizen to understand this cardinal fact. Only from a clear conception of the vast importance of the issue at stals can come that great national moral impulse without which governments, War Ministers, even armies and navies, can do little. We have enormous advantages in our resources of men and material and our wonderful spirit, which has never understood the meaning of defeat. All these are great assets,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.