An Army of 1,200,000.
We shall then be in a position, as is apparent from the figures I have
already read, to put something like--I am not giving exact
figures--something like 1,200,000 men in the field.
_Mr. Long_ (Strand)--Does that include the Indians?
_Mr. Asquith_--No, it is entirely exclusive of them. This is the
provision made by the mother country. And of course it is exclusive of
the territorials.
_Mr. F. Hall_--And of the national reserve?
_Mr. Asquith_--Exclusive of the territorials, exclusive of the national
reserve, and exclusive of the magnificent contributions promised from
India and from our dominions, we here in these islands, this mother
country, will be in a position to put into the field, enrolled as our
regular army, something like 1,200,000 men. That is an effort which it
is worth while making great sacrifices to attain. As regards money, I am
perfectly certain that this House will be ready, willing, and even eager
to grant it, if and when the occasion arises. What we want now is to
make it clear, to those who are showing all over the kingdom this
patriotic desire to assist their country in one of the most supreme and
momentous crises in the whole of its long history, that they are not
going to be treated either in a niggardly or unaccommodating spirit; but
that they are going to be welcomed and that every possible provision is
going to be made for their comfort and well-being, so that under the
best possible conditions they will take their place and play their part
in that magnificent army of ours which, as every one who has read the
moving dispatch Sir John French [cheers] published this morning, will
realize has never done its work better, never shown itself more worthy
of long centuries of splendid tradition than in the last fortnight.
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