It cannot be denied that At all evente I know that there is not a great newspaper in London which can afford space to print tithe of the letters that are pouring in upon it urging that pressure shall a little depressed before this speech at once be brought upon the Govern-was made. The retreat of the Allies ment to institute at once a system from Belgium to the lines of defence of compulsory service, at least in im the frontiers of France were the Territorial Fores. That, in the frankly admitted by the military view of most, would be sufficient. authori in Paris alike to be in The Territorigis are coming forward the nature of a reverse; and it was splendidly. In some cases whole only natural that we should fear battalions have to a man volunteer-that the advantage to Germany ed for foreign service, and in most would prove greater than was cases the number ready to go to the acknowledged. Even the proud confront forms a very large proportion sciousness that the British army had, in ite first battle, proved worthy of its great traditions, could not prevent us from realizing, perhaps for the first time since the war began, how great is the task before And if Lord Kitchener's speech bae—as it was intended to do—impressed that knowledge upon us still more deeply, it has ab the same time braced us up with the convietion that under his leadership the Empire will prove equal to the task. There was not a boastful word in the speech, not a hint of prophecy as to the result—only a solemn warning that the three years for which the new army is recruited may not see the end of the struggle, and an expression of conviction that whatever sacrifices might be called for would be willingly borne, both by the old country and by the Dominions beyond the sea, for our honour and for the preservation of our position in the world.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.