[Laughter
and cheers.] Before I sit down I want to say to you a few practical
words. We are confronted, as you all know and recognize, by the greatest
emergency in our history. Every part of the United Kingdom and every man
and every woman in every part of it is called upon to make his or her
contribution and to do his or her share, [cheers,] and our primary
business is to fill the ranks. There is, I find, in some quarters an
apprehension that the recruiting for the new army and the functions to
be assigned to that army when it is formed and trained may interfere
with or may in some way belittle or disparage the territorial force.
Believe me, no delusion could be more mischievous or more complete.
No praise could be too high for the patriotic and sustained efforts of
the county associations or for the quality and efficiency of the
territorial troops. It is a comparatively easy thing to make great
efforts and sacrifices under the stress and strain, which we are now
experiencing, of a supreme crisis. The territorials, without any such
stimulus in the piping times of peace, when war and the sufferings and
the struggles and glories of war were contingent and remote, these men
gave their time, sacrificed their leisure--not only in their annual
training, but in thousands of cases both officers and men devoted their
spare hours to preparing themselves in the study and the practice of the
art of war.
Pages:
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376