The breach between Germany and Great Britain became definitive on

Tuesday, August 4. Following his statement of the previous day in

the Commons, Sir E. Grey telegraphed in the morning to the British

Ambassador in Berlin, protesting against the violation of Belgian

neutrality by Germany, and asking for an immediate reply. Before it

came he received official Belgian intimations that the violation had

already been announced to Belgium and had taken place. The German

Government also telegraphed to the German Ambassador in London,

instructing him to repeat most positively the formal assurance that,

even in the case of an armed conflict, Germany would under no pretence

whatever annex Belgian territory, and that she had disregarded Belgian

neutrality to prevent what was to her a question of life or death,

the French advance through Belgium. Thereupon the British Government

sent an ultimatum to Berlin, asking for an unequivocal assurance

that Germany would respect the neutrality of Belgium identical with

that given the week before by France both to Belgium and to Great

Britain, and for a satisfactory reply by midnight to it, and to Sir E.

Grey's telegram of the morning; otherwise, the British Ambassador was

instructed to make what was, substantially, a declaration of war. Late

that night this request was refused: and on Wednesday morning, August

5, Great Britain found herself called to be once more the saviour of

Europe.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr. Gulland (L., _Dumfries_) had made a speech in the Wick

bye-election contest (A. R., 1913, p. 257) which was interpreted

as a promise of a new harbour if the Liberal were returned. He had

disclaimed this interpretation in February.

CHAPTER V.

GREAT BRITAIN AT WAR.

The war had come suddenly upon Great Britain, but it found a Government

well prepared to withstand the enemy and a Parliament and a people

whose divisions--on which the Germans had staked their hopes--were

rapidly closing, and whose determination to carry on the contest to a

victorious issue was being quickly perfected by a growing knowledge of

the real position. Promises of help began to pour in from all parts of

the Empire; at home steps were at once taken to detain Austrian and

German reservists, and to seize or capture enemy ships within reach

of British or French cruisers or lying in British ports. Twenty such

vessels were taken on the first day of the war; the following days

added many others and German oceanic trade was stopped at once. The

British Fleets, brought together at Spithead (p. 158) had taken up

their stations in the North Sea, and cruisers had been sent to protect

the great trade routes from German warships, or from "auxiliary

cruisers" in the shape of fast German liners, armed, and partly coaled,

at sea. Horses and motor-lorries were hastily requisitioned for war

purposes, and even harvesting was impeded by the (illegal) seizure of

farm horses by too zealous agents; and preparations, perfectly well

known in the ports, were actively made for the despatch to France of

the British Expeditionary Force; but it was only by inadvertence that

hints of their nature were published in the Press, and most of the

papers patriotically suppressed the news. Then began that system of

secrecy as to movements and details, loyally observed by all concerned

and rigorously enforced by authority, which was kept up throughout the

year by all the belligerents. Baffling to the contending commanders, it

was still more so to the contemporary historian; and, for the first few

days, it obscured the gravity of the contest.

The first day of war was marked in the Commons by the announcements of

the resignations of Ministers (p. 173), of the violation of Belgian

neutrality, and of an impending Vote of Credit--which was loudly

cheered--for 100,000,000_l._; and then two war measures were passed

almost without debate. The first amended the procedure in Prize Courts

in accordance with the findings of a recent Departmental Committee, the

second empowered the Crown, in time of war or national emergency, to

impose restrictions on aliens, especially with a view to the removal

or detention of spies. Next, on the adjournment, the Chancellor of the

Exchequer made his statement on the financial position. The emergency,

he said, was due to temporary causes, largely to the stoppage of

remittances from abroad to enable the discount market to meet its

liabilities; there was no failure of credit. After conferences at the

Treasury it had been decided not to suspend special payments, but to

take steps to suspend the Bank Charter Act, in order to economise the

supply of gold. After strongly condemning the hoarding of gold as

helpful to the enemy, he stated that on August 7 Government notes for

1_l._ and 10_s._ would be issued, convertible into gold at the Bank

of England, postal orders would also be legal tender, and similarly

convertible, and would be issued free of charge. The Bank rate would be

reduced to 6 per cent., and the moratorium extended for a month. Bills

and cheques would be dealt with as usual, subject to the discretion

of the bankers in preventing an abnormal withdrawal of gold. This

satisfactory account of the position was fully endorsed by Mr. A.

Chamberlain.

Late that evening a White Paper was officially published (Cd. 1467)

containing correspondence respecting the European Crisis. It embodied

nearly 160 documents, and could not be rapidly grasped; but it

eventually enabled the British people to form their own opinion as

to the responsibility for the war. Later it was republished, with

additions, in pamphlet form at the price of a penny, and German and

French translations were circulated abroad.[2]

The course of events, so far as Great Britain was concerned in them, in

the fortnight preceding the war, was as follows: The Austrian Note to

Serbia, which was in fact an Ultimatum, was delivered at Belgrade on

July 23, and a reply was demanded within forty-eight hours. Sir Edward

Grey, while earnestly deprecating any time-limit to this Note, had laid

stress, before knowing its contents, on the appalling consequences that

would follow should it lead to a European war between four Powers--a

complete collapse of European credit and industry which, in great

industrial States, would mean "a state of things worse than that of

1848." But he declined to express an opinion on the merits of the

Austro-Serbian dispute. Between the presentation of the Note and the

expiry of the time-limit, however, Great Britain made three attempts

at peace. In conjunction with Russia, whose Foreign Minister described

the Note as "provocative and immoral," she urged the extension of the

time-limit on Austria, and pleaded with Germany to do the same. Next,

she proposed that Germany, France, and Italy should work together at

Vienna and St. Petersburg in favour of conciliation. Italy, France,

and Russia assented; Germany had no objection, if Austro-Russian

relations became threatening. Thirdly, the Russian, French, and

British representatives at Belgrade were instructed to advise Serbia

to go as far as possible to meet Austria. Serbia, in fact, conceded

very nearly all the Austrian demands; but Austria had determined on

war, and Germany, when Sir Edward Grey urged her to persuade Austria

to accept the reply, merely "passed on" his message to Vienna. The

time-limit having expired, Sir Edward Grey proposed (July 26), by

telegram to the British representatives at Paris, Berlin, and Rome, a

Conference in London between himself and the French, German and Italian

Ambassadors, to discuss the best means towards a settlement. France

and Italy accepted; Russia agreed, if direct explanations with Vienna

should prove impossible; Germany, however, said that the Conference

would practically amount to a court of arbitration, but subsequently

"accepted in principle" mediation by the four Powers between Austria

and Russia. But Austria now declared war against Serbia. On July 28,

however, Sir Edward Grey was informed through the German Ambassador

that Germany was endeavouring to mediate between Russia and Austria.

He then sent word to the German Government asking them, if they did

not like the Conference he had proposed, to suggest any other form of

mediation.

The German Chancellor's answer was to invite the British

Ambassador, Sir E. Goschen, to call on him, late at night, on July

29. He intimated that, should Austria be attacked by Russia, a

European conflict would become inevitable; he thought it clear that

Great Britain would not allow France to be crushed, but this was not

Germany's aim; if Great Britain's neutrality were certain, Germany

would promise, if victorious, to make no territorial acquisitions at

the expense of France. But he was unable, on being asked, to give a

similar undertaking in regard to the French colonies. Germany would

promise to respect the integrity and neutrality of the Netherlands

so long as her adversaries did likewise. German operations in

Belgium, he said, depended on the action of France, but, after the

war, Belgian integrity would be respected if Belgium had not sided

against Germany. He hoped that these assurances might lead to an

Anglo-German understanding, and ultimately to a neutrality agreement.

Sir Edward Grey replied (July 30) with an absolute refusal; France,

without further territory being taken from her in Europe, could be so

crushed as to become merely subordinate to Germany, and it would be an

indelible disgrace to Great Britain to make this bargain at the expense

of France; nor could she bargain away any obligation or interest she

had regarding Belgian neutrality. The one way of maintaining the good

relations between Great Britain and Germany was by the co-operation

of the two Powers to preserve the peace of Europe. But, if the peace

of Europe could be preserved, he would endeavour to promote some

arrangement to which Germany would be a party, by which she and her

allies could be assured against any aggressive or hostile policy on the

part of France, Russia, or Great Britain. He had desired and worked for

this as far as possible during the Balkan crisis, and, Germany having

a like object, Anglo-German relations sensibly improved. The idea had

hitherto been too Utopian for definite proposals, but he hoped for some

more definite _rapprochement_ between the Powers when the existing

crisis was over.

On the same day, July 30, M. Cambon reminded Sir Edward Grey of a

letter written by the latter on November 22, 1912, agreeing that while

consultations between military and naval experts of their two nations

did not pledge their Governments to co-operate, yet, should either

Government have grave reason to expect an unprovoked attack by a third

Power, or something that threatened the general peace, it should

immediately discuss with the other whether, and by what measures, they

should co-operate in opposition. M. Cambon also showed a letter from

the French Foreign Minister, indicating that Germany was preparing to

invade France. Sir E. Grey answered next day, after a Cabinet Council,

that as yet Great Britain could not definitely pledge herself to

intervene. The preservation of the neutrality of Belgium might be an

important factor in determining the British attitude. Sir E, Grey also

asked the French and German Governments, through their Ambassadors,

whether they were prepared to respect Belgian neutrality provided it

was not violated; and he asked the Belgian Government whether it would

remain neutral. France and Belgium replied affirmatively at once. The

German Government temporised, and eventually gave no answer, though

Sir Edward Grey had warned the German Ambassador on August 1 of the

probable effect of a violation on public feeling in Great Britain.

Meanwhile Russia and Austria were still negotiating (July 30,

31). On the 29th Germany had suggested to Austria that she should

content herself with occupying Belgrade. That night Russia offered

to stop all military preparations if Austria would recognise that

the Austro-Serbian conflict had become a matter of general European

interest, and would eliminate from the ultimatum the points involving

a violation of the sovereignty of Serbia. Austria now agreed at last

to discuss the whole question of her ultimatum, and Russia asked the

British Government to assume the direction of these discussions.

But the hope of peace thus held out was wrecked by the German ultimatum

requiring Russia to countermand her mobilisation. Germany, meanwhile,

had gone further towards mobilisation than Russia; the German Secretary

of State refused to discuss a last proposal from Sir Edward Grey for

joint action of Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, pending a

reply from Russia; and on the afternoon of August 1 Germany declared

war against France. Next morning the Germans violated the neutrality

of Luxemburg. British merchant ships had already been detained at

Hamburg--though the detention was temporarily countermanded on

representations from the British Ambassador--and the only question

now left for the British Government was whether Great Britain should

remain neutral. The determining factors proved to be the violation of

Belgian neutrality and the danger to France; and the position was fully

explained by the Foreign Secretary on August 3 (p. 170) and by the

Prime Minister two days later.

The Prime Minister moved the Vote of Credit (Aug. 5) in a speech

continuing the noblest traditions of Parliamentary eloquence. After

an emphatic tribute to the unremitting efforts of the Foreign

Secretary to preserve peace both in the Balkan crisis and to the

very last stage of the recent negotiations, he quoted from the

German Chancellor's communication to the British Ambassador at

Berlin the appeal for British neutrality, the refusal to undertake

to respect the integrity of the French colonies, and the treatment

of what, to himself personally, had always been a crucial and almost

the governing consideration--the position of the small States. The

proposal, Mr. Asquith said, amounted to this--as regarded France,

free licence to Germany to annex, if successful, the whole of the

French possessions outside Europe; as to Belgium, the British reply

to the pathetic appeal of the King of the Belgians would have been

that "without her knowledge, we should have bartered away to the

Power that was threatening her our obligation to keep our plighted

word." He characterised the German proposal as infamous; and in

return Great Britain was to get a promise--nothing more--from a Power

"which was at that very moment announcing its intention to violate

its own treaty obligations and inviting us to do the same. Had we

even dallied or temporised with such an offer, we, as a Government,

should have covered ourselves with dishonour." He quoted at length

from Sir E. Grey's reply, which showed that the Foreign Secretary, who

had already earned the title of the peacemaker of Europe, persisted

to the last in his efforts for peace. "The war has been forced upon

us." Every member of the Government had had before him throughout the

vision of the almost unequalled suffering entailed by war, not only

to the present generation, but to posterity and the whole prospects

of European civilisation. Nevertheless, they had thought it to be the

duty as well as the interest of Great Britain to go to war. They were

fighting, first, to fulfil a solemn international obligation; secondly,

to vindicate the principle that small nationalities were not to be

crushed, in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary

will of a strong and overmastering Power. He believed no nation ever

entered into a great struggle--and this was one of the greatest in

history--with a clearer conscience and stronger conviction that it was

fighting, not for aggression or the maintenance of its own interest,

but for principles whose maintenance was vital to the civilised world.

"With the full conviction not only of the wisdom and justice, but of

the obligation to challenge this great issue," and in order to ensure

that the whole resources of the Empire should be thrown into the scale,

he asked for a Vote of Credit of 100,000,000_l._ not only for naval

and military operations, but to assist the food supplies, promote the

continuance of trade, industry, business, and communications, relieve

distress, and generally for all expenses arising out of the state of

war. This gave the Government a free hand, and the expenditure would be

subject to the approval of the House. He asked also, as War Secretary,

for a Supplementary Estimate for men for the Army. He had taken that

office in order that the unfortunate conditions existing should be

ended and complete confidence re-established; and he believed and knew

that it had been. There was no more loyal and united body, none in

which the spirit and habit of discipline were more deeply ingrained and

cherished, than the British Army. It was unfair that his own attention

should be divided, and Lord Kitchener, with great public spirit and

patriotism, had undertaken the office. He was not a politician, and his

acceptance did not identify him with any set of political opinions. On

his behalf, the Prime Minister continued, he himself was asking for

power to increase the Army by 500,000. India was proposing to send two

divisions; every one of the Dominions had already tendered unasked the

utmost help, in men and in money, that it could afford to the Empire in

time of need. The mother country must set the example, while responding

to these filial overtures with gratitude and affection. "We have a

great duty to perform, a great trust to fulfil, and confidently we

believe Parliament and the country will enable us to do it."

Mr. Bonar Law, speaking for the whole Opposition, gave their

whole-hearted support to the Government. He had said in his first

speech on foreign policy as Opposition leader (Nov. 27, 1911) that an

Anglo-German war would be due to human folly; it was due to human folly

and wickedness; but neither were in Great Britain. Though she was under

no formal obligations to take part, the Triple Entente was understood

to mean that, if any of its members were attacked aggressively, the

others would be expected to aid. Berlin might have prevented war,

but a miscalculation had been made about Russia and Great Britain.

He endorsed entirely the Prime Minister's view of the position. The

struggle was Napoleonism once again. "Thank Heaven, so far as we know,

there is no Napoleon." There was danger, not of a scarcity of food,

but of a fear of scarcity, and he warned the country against panic.

With the command of the sea Great Britain would have freedom of trade

with the colonies and the whole of the American Continent, without the

competition of her enemies or her allies. He offered the Government the

full services of any member of the Opposition.

After further debate, which exhibited the progress of the Liberal

conversion to the necessity of the war, the motion was agreed to,

and also the increase of the Army by 500,000 men and the Navy and

Coastguard by 67,000.

Subsequently, on the second reading of the Appropriation Bill, the

President of the Local Government Board summarised the measures

to be taken to prevent or relieve distress. For the prevention of

unemployment, manufacturers were making patriotic efforts to keep

their businesses going, and working short time instead of discharging

employees; additional employment would be provided by the Road Board,

the Development Commission, and various Government Departments, while

Distress Committees and Local Authorities were invited to plan relief

works. As to relief, the Prince of Wales's Fund would, it was hoped,

supersede local funds; local authorities were being asked to see to

the feeding of school children, local representative committees were

to be formed for the distribution of the Prince of Wales's Fund, and a

Central Advisory Committee had been formed with himself as Chairman,

and including Mr. Long, Mr. Burns, and Mr. Ramsay Macdonald. He invited

suggestions. The Poor Law was kept in reserve, as a last line of

defence.

The Prince of Wales issued his appeal, endorsed by the Queen, on

August 6, and the response was immediate. In the first two days

the subscriptions amounted to 400,000_l._; they ultimately passed

4,000,000_l._ Queen Alexandra also issued an appeal for soldiers'

and sailors' families, and hosts of other appeals followed for Red

Cross and hospital work and other matters; to these also response was

generous.

Meanwhile the British Navy had achieved its first success and suffered

its first disaster. On August 5 the third Destroyer Flotilla,

shepherded by H.M.S. _Amphion_, and patrolling the approaches to the

Channel, found the small Hamburg-American converted liner _Königin

Luise_ laying mines off the estuary of the Thames. She was chased by

a destroyer and sunk by a torpedo, some fifty being saved out of a

crew of 130. Early next morning, however, the _Amphion_ herself struck

a mine and was sunk, and about 130 of the crew and one officer--a

paymaster--were lost, besides twenty German prisoners. In officially

announcing the disaster to the House of Commons (Aug. 7) the First Lord

of the Admiralty said that this indiscriminate scattering of mines,

imperilling even neutral merchantmen, was a new fact calling for the

attention of the nations. He added, however, that the strict censorship

of the Press permitted the rise of many alarming rumours, and a Press

Bureau would therefore be appointed under Mr. F. E. Smith, M.P., which

would give out "a steady stream of trustworthy information" from both

the War Office and the Admiralty, and he emphatically commended the

patriotic reticence as to war preparations shown by the Press. (The

Press Bureau, however, hardly fulfilled this forecast.)

The first instalment of emergency war legislation was completed before

the adjournment (Aug. 10) of both Houses as follows. The Defence of

the Realm Act empowered the King in Council to issue regulations

authorising the trial by court-martial and the punishment of persons

contravening regulations designed to stop certain specified forms of

espionage, such as obtaining information to assist the enemy, tapping

wires, or blowing up railway bridges or docks. The Patents, Designs,

and Trade Marks (Temporary Rules) Act extended the powers of the Board

of Trade to make rules under the Patents and Designs Act, 1907, and the

Trade Marks Act, 1908. Its object was essentially to enable the Board

to allow the rights in patents or trade marks owned by enemies to be

ignored in the United Kingdom during the War. An Electoral Disabilities

Removal Act prevented members of the Militia, Reserves, Yeomanry, and

Territorial Forces from being disqualified by absence on the military

or naval service of the Crown, or by the grant of poor-law relief

towards their families during such absence. Another Act enabled the

Government to requisition food, forage and stores for the Army; another

empowered it to requisition foodstuffs withheld "unreasonably," _i.e._

in order to raise their price. Finally, a Housing Act revived for one

year, in order to reduce unemployment, the powers conferred on the

Government by the dropped clause of the new Housing Act (_post_, p.

209). The Board of Agriculture in rural districts, the Local Government

Board in towns, were authorised to acquire land and buildings and to

arrange for housing with local authorities or authorised societies.

It was explained that they would proceed by lending money to such

societies, and use the other powers given them only in the last resort.

This Bill was amended, at the instance of certain Unionists, so as to

require the concurrence of the Development Commission--an amendment to

which some Liberals reluctantly agreed in order to avoid imperilling

the Bill. This done, the Houses adjourned for a fortnight, and it was

announced that the leaders would attempt to avert controversial debates.

The efforts to compose the Home Rule conflict were not entirely

successful (_post_, p. 203); but less menacing differences were settled

or suspended at once. The contest in the London building trade, which

had been somewhat mitigated in July by sectional submissions on the

part of several of the Trade Unions concerned, was settled on August

6 by the abandonment of the project of a general lock-out by the

masters, and the withdrawal on the part of the men of their refusal

to work with non-unionists; and settlements were also effected of a

dockers' strike at Liverpool, of various sectional railway disputes,

and of a coal strike in South Wales, which for a day or two had seemed

likely to interfere with the supply of coal for the Fleet. Political

propaganda, too, was formally suspended, notably by the Women's

National Liberal Association and the Land Union; and the appointment

of Earl Kitchener as a non-political War Minister was followed by

rumours of the impending establishment of a coalition Government. The

only approach made to this, however, consisted in the invitations to

Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Mr. Long, Mr. F. E. Smith, and other Unionist

leaders, to give their counsel and assistance in various departments

to the Government; and they accepted cordially. A general amnesty was

announced (Aug. 11) both for suffragist prisoners and for persons

convicted of offences in connexion with industrial disturbances; and

both the non-militant and the militant groups of the suffrage societies

provisionally abandoned their agitation (though a few of the militants

made a scene at the Home Office on August 27), and organised themselves

for the relief, in various ways, of the women and children sufferers by

the war. Admirable work was done in these directions by the National

Union of Women's Suffrage Societies, and by the Women's Emergency

Corps; and Miss Christabel Pankhurst, on her return from Paris a little

later, repaid the Government by speaking at meetings designed to

encourage recruiting for the "new Army."

Earnest appeals had already been issued for recruits; the response was

immediate; and on August 9 Earl Kitchener, as War Minister, issued

a circular to Lord-Lieutenants of Counties and Chairmen of County

Territorial Associations, asking for 100,000 men to form a new Army.

Recruits came in for it at the rate, at first, of 3,000 daily; most of

the members of the Universities' Officers' Training Corps applied for

commissions in the Territorials or Special Reserve; those who asked

to be appointed to the latter were offered commissions in this "New

Army," and sent (if they accepted) to officers' training camps, whence

they were despatched by instalments to join their units elsewhere.

Retired officers and non-commissioned officers largely returned to the

colours and were used in these units, which formed additional "Service

Battalions" of the existing infantry regiments, their numbers following

those of the Territorial Battalions. This Army was formed into six

(territorial) divisions each of three brigades. By the end of the year

there were also a second and a third new Army formed, or in process of

formation, on the same lines. The officers' training camps, however,

had been given up.

The Navy, meanwhile, was active. Cruisers were guarding the great

trade routes and patrolling the North Sea; a German submarine attack

on the First Cruiser Squadron was repulsed, and it was announced on

August 10 that the German submarine U 15 had been sunk by H.M. cruiser

_Birmingham_. The German cruiser _Karlsruhe_ had been surprised (Aug.

7) by H.M.S. _Bristol_ 200 miles south of Bermuda while coaling from

the Hamburg-American liner _Kronprinz Wilhelm_ and had escaped after

a 200 miles' chase; the German battle cruiser _Goeben_ and the light

cruiser _Breslau_, after the latter had shelled Tunis, escaped from a

pursuing Allied Fleet through the Straits of Messina, and proceeded

to Constantinople, where they were bought by the Porte. (Rear-Admiral

Berkeley Milne, commanding the Mediterranean squadron and Rear-Admiral

Troubridge, commanding the pursuing fleet, were exonerated from

responsibility for their escape.)

Further events were reassuring for the British public. The German

wireless station at Dar-es-Salaam, the only good harbour in German East

Africa, was destroyed (Aug. 9) by a British force; another British

force occupied Togoland in West Africa (Aug. 7); and Japan (Aug. 5)

and Portugal (Aug. 10) formally announced that they recognised the

obligations imposed by their respective alliances with Great Britain.

Help was tendered lavishly from the Dominions and Crown Colonies;

at home private houses and other buildings were freely offered for

hospital purposes, yachts were converted by their owners into hospital

ships, and the great London hospitals allotted beds for the wounded.

Great activity--sometimes marked by zeal rather than knowledge--was

shown in preparing for Red Cross work, and in making clothes for

soldiers and others. The Queen issued an appeal to all needlework

guilds throughout the British Isles (Aug. 10) to send in underclothing

for soldiers and sailors, and ordinary garments for their wives and

children and such of the civil population as might suffer through

unemployment; steps were taken locally to consider how distress

might be mitigated, and the newspapers were full of suggestions for

help. But, after the first shock, the great mass of British citizens

kept their heads, responded as far as possible to the call for

"business as usual," and prepared to face bravely the prospect of

lessened income--already visible in the withholding of many interim

dividends--and the huge sacrifices demanded by the contest.

In two respects only there had been at the outset a tendency to panic.

Before the Bank Holiday there had been some attempt by private persons

to lay in large stores of food, and to draw gold from the banks; when

the shops reopened on August 4, there was a rush to buy provisions in

many great provincial cities; next day the alarm spread to London; the

great stores were besieged; one of them had to close its provision

department, another refused to supply customers with more than ordinary

quantities; many of the small shops were speedily sold out; in the East

End certain wholesale dealers, to encourage a rise in prices, actually

provided purchasers with money; and, in the West End and some southern

residential towns on that day and for some days afterwards, well-to-do

people personally loaded hundredweights of stores into their own

motor-cars, and packed their houses to the roof. But there was no real

lack of foodstuffs; steps were taken at once by the Government to keep

open the foreign sources of supply by a scheme of insurance against

war risks; it took over the flour mills; and a Consultative Committee

on Food Supplies met the representatives of certain great distributive

companies and of the Grocers' Federation, representing some 17,000

shops, and lists of maximum retail prices were issued, as given below.

The interruption was mainly in the supply of sugar from the Continent,

and in that of butter, bacon, and eggs from Denmark. The following list

(given in _The Times_, Aug. 7) shows the first effect of the war on

wholesale prices.

July 28. August 6.

_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._

Flour 1-1/4 1-1/2

Sugar, Cubes 1 3/4 4

Beef, English 6-1/2 7-1/2

" Chilled 6 7-1/2

" Frozen 4-1/2 6-1/2

Mutton, English 8 8-1/4

Bacon, Danish 8-1/4 10-1/2

Cheese, Colonial 6-3/4 8-1/2

Butter 1 1 1 3

The following lists of maximum retail prices were agreed on by the

Advisory Committee:--

August 7. August 11.

_s._ _d._ _s._ _d._

Granulated sugar per lb. 0 4-1/2 0 3-3/4

Lump sugar 0 5 0 4-1/2

Butter(imported) 1 6 1 6

Cheese, Colonial 0 9-1/2 0 9-1/2

Lard, American 0 8 0 8

Margarine 0 10 0 10

Bacon, Continental (by the side) 1 4 1 2

" British " 1 6 1 3

The prices of sugar were conditional on supplies being obtainable at

the prices submitted by wholesale merchants. Sugar had jumped up from

15_s._ to 38_s._ per cwt. owing to the war. Of flour and imported meat

there was no shortage. A Special Committee, with Sir Ailwyn Fellowes as

chairman, was appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Foodstuffs and

held its first meeting on August 10. But there proved to be little for

it to do. The harvest, too, was promising, and the weather, except for

one short spell of cold and some rain early in August, exceptionally

fine.

In one other respect there was, for a long time, a considerable

alarm. Many stories had been circulated during recent years as to

the presence of an army of German spies in Great Britain, and even

of the existence of a host of German reservists, for whom arms were

said to be stored in London and elsewhere for immediate use at the

outbreak of an Anglo-German War (A.R., 1909, p. 117). Some provision

against these dangers was made by the posting of Territorial troops

(and in some cases Boy Scouts and Scoutmasters) to guard railways,

bridges, and waterworks, and by the formation of a force of special

constables within the Metropolitan police area. That there was some

ground for fear had been shown by the numerous trials for espionage;

and the feeling, intensified by jealousy of the Germans as trade

rivals, continued to find expression in a portion of the Press. Owing

to the necessity of secrecy imposed by pending trials for espionage,

it was not till October that the Home Department could defend itself

fully against the charge of inaction. But on the outbreak of war the

Aliens Restriction Act enabled the Government both to require all

enemy alien residents to register, and to restrict their freedom of

movement and residence; and an official statement was published later

(Oct. 9) of the steps taken to check espionage. In 1909 a special

Intelligence Department had been established for that purpose by the

Admiralty and War Office, and had since acted in close touch with the

police; the law was amended and extended by the Official Secrets Act,

1911, and the ramifications of the German spy system in England were

discovered in 1911-14. Despite immense efforts and lavish expenditure,

the German Government had got little information of value. The agents

were watched and shadowed, and arrested only when plans or documents

of value were about to be sent abroad. On August 4 twenty-one known

spies were arrested, and 200 suspects noted and mostly interned. Any

fresh organisation was impeded by a postal and cable censorship;

certain areas were cleared under the Act above-mentioned; aliens

were forbidden to possess wireless or signalling apparatus or homing

pigeons; private wireless stations were forbidden, and a special system

devised of wireless detection. The Defence of the Realm Act (p. 181)

made espionage a military offence. The success of these measures was

shown by the ignorance of the German generals on August 21 of the

despatch a fortnight earlier of the British Expeditionary Force. The

writers of letters to the Press alleging cases of espionage had been

unable effectively to assist the police. Owners of homing pigeons had

been registered, and the importation of the birds or their conveyance

by rail prohibited. No trace had been found of a conspiracy to commit

outrage; no bombs, and practically no effective arms had been found

after search; and 9,000 Germans and Austrians of military age were held

in detention camps as prisoners of war.

The interruption of national intercourse had made itself acutely felt

in other ways. Alien enemies not of military age were allowed to

leave Great Britain up to August 10 by certain specified ports, but

after that date only with special permits; but graver difficulties

arose with the hosts of British and American travellers for health

or pleasure on the Continent who were cut off by the declaration of

war. From Germany and Austria some hurried back at once without much

difficulty, others experienced hardships and even brutality from the

German officials and populace; those were in worst case who tried to

pass from Germany into Belgium after the invasion had begun. But many

British subjects, even invalids at health resorts, with their families,

were detained in Germany and Austria, while those of military age

were treated as prisoners of war. The care of British subjects was

confided to the American Embassies and Consulates, but their friends

in England were rarely able to communicate with them. By August 8

it appeared that France and Belgium were almost emptied of British

tourists. But Switzerland, as usual, contained a host of them, whose

letters of credit, cheques, and even British coin, were now refused,

and who were unable to return owing to the stoppage of ordinary traffic

on the French railways through mobilisation. But the Under-Secretary

for Foreign Affairs was able to state in the Commons on August 11 that

funds had been advanced to His Majesty's representatives at Berne,

Lausanne, and Paris, to relieve the more pressing necessities of

British subjects stranded abroad, and provide for their return. Some

of those in Switzerland came by sea from Genoa; most, however, reached

England only in the first days of September, by special trains, but

after much discomfort and delay. Had war broken out a few days later,

however, the numbers would have been far greater.

The case of American tourists for a time seemed even worse. The number

in Europe at the outbreak of the war was estimated at 80,000; and they

were impeded, not only on their way to England, but by the irregularity

of the services across the Atlantic, and by the interruption of the

international exchanges between New York and London. A Committee was

formed to deal with them; it sat at the Savoy Hotel, and arrangements

were made to cash letters of credit. But the liners leaving for the

United States were overcrowded; even the steerage was given up to cabin

passengers; berths were sold by holders at a huge premium, and a group

of Americans even bought a steamer, the _Viking_, and charged 100_l._

to 125_l._ for passages. The Committee, however, did excellent work

both in relieving the needs of the stranded passengers and repatriating

them, and by the end of August the worst was over.

Meantime the Churches had done their part in impressing on the people

the gravity of the situation, the need for endurance and sacrifice, and

the righteousness of the British cause. On August 6 a Form of Public

Intercession authorised by the Archbishops and Bishops was circulated

to all incumbents in England and Wales for use on August 9, the first

Sunday of the war; and on that day crowded and reverent congregations

filled the places of worship of all denominations throughout the

country, and special sermons were preached emphasising the coming

trial and the duty of the nation. Friday, August 21, was appointed as

a special Day of Intercession for the soldiers and sailors, frequent

services were held at the churches and chapels throughout the kingdom;

the King and Queen attended the afternoon service at Westminster Abbey;

and the day was observed by the Roman Catholic Church and the Free

Churches generally. With very rare exceptions, which included neither

the Society of Friends nor the great mass of pacifists, the British

people had made up its mind that the war was just and righteous, that

it must go on at all costs till the arrogance of Prussian militarism

was finally humbled, and that no peace would be acceptable which did

not secure a general reduction of armaments and a better method of

settling national disputes. It must be in short "a war to end war."

Meanwhile public feeling was encouraged by the checks given to the

German invaders at Haelen and Liège, by the French advance in Alsace,

and by the announcements (Aug. 12, 13) that twenty-four British and

some French cruisers were searching for the five German cruisers

known to be in the Atlantic, and that that ocean was clear of enemy

warships as far south as Trinidad. On the other hand, the Admiralty

warned shipowners that the North Sea had been rendered unsafe by the

promiscuous strewing of German mines in it; but the Danish steamers

were diverted from Harwich to more northern ports, and one at least of

the Dutch regular services to London suffered little interruption.

The area of the war also continued to extend. War had been declared

on August 12 between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary, not from

any direct cause of quarrel, but through the menace of the latter

towards France; and the Austrian Embassy was sent home by the British

Government in a specially chartered liner to Genoa. The breach with a

Power long friendly to Great Britain was generally regretted. On the

other hand, the Germans had put themselves in the wrong at starting,

and their conduct in Belgium exasperated British feeling more and more.

The German feeling was expressed in an alleged proclamation--published

in England at the end of September, but issued August 16, though its

authenticity was denied at Berlin--in which the Kaiser directed his

troops to "annihilate the contemptible little English army."

The arrival in France of the British Expeditionary Force was announced

officially in England on August 18, though the French papers had

published the news of its arrival ten days earlier on the authority of

the French War Office. The delay had given rise to disquieting rumours,

and it was officially stated that no casualties had as yet taken place

among the troops. The route taken was mainly by way of Southampton

to Havre and Boulogne; and it was learnt from the naval despatches

(Oct. 23) that two destroyers and the eighth submarine flotilla had

watched continuously to attack the German fleet had it interfered. The

South-Western Railway Company dealt with the huge traffic admirably. At

the same time (Aug. 18) there were published a Message from the King

and Instructions from Earl Kitchener. The former, delivered before

their departure, was as follows:--

You are leaving home to fight for the safety and honour of my

Empire.

Belgium, whose country we are pledged to defend, has been attacked,

and France is about to be invaded by the same powerful foe.

I have implicit confidence in you, my soldiers. Duty is your

watchword, and I know your duty will be nobly done.

I shall follow your every movement with the deepest interest, and

mark with eager satisfaction your daily progress. Indeed, your

welfare will never be absent from my thoughts.

I pray God to bless you and guard you and bring you back victorious.

The following instructions were issued by Lord Kitchener to every

soldier in the Expeditionary Army, to be kept in his active service

pay-book:--

You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French

comrades against the invasion of a common enemy.

You have to perform a task which will need your courage, your

energy, your patience.

Remember that the honour of the British Army depends on your

individual conduct.

It will be your duty not only to set an example of discipline

and perfect steadiness under fire, but also to maintain the most

friendly relations with those whom you are helping in this trouble.

The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part,

take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country

no better service than in showing yourself in France and Belgium in

the true character of a British soldier.

Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything

likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting

as a disgraceful act.

You are sure to meet with a welcome and to be trusted; your conduct

must justify that welcome and that trust. Your duty cannot be

done unless your health is sound. So keep constantly on your

guard against any excesses. In this new experience you may find

temptations, both in wine and women. You must entirely resist both

temptations, and, while treating all women with perfect courtesy,

you should avoid any intimacy.

Do your duty bravely. Fear God. Honour the King.

KITCHENER,

Field-Marshal.

The concentration of the Expeditionary Force in France was completed

on August 21; but it was not till some days later that its location

was even approximately known. Meanwhile the hopes set up in England by

the earlier accounts from France and Belgium gradually gave place to

anxiety as the Germans occupied Liège and advanced to Brussels, and

the French retired in Alsace; and the sudden and as yet unexplained

fall of Namur (Aug. 25) caused dismay. This event, it was announced,

necessitated the retirement of a portion of the Allied troops from

the line of the Sambre to their original defensive position on the

Franco-Belgian frontier; but the British position was not fully

revealed till Sir John French's despatch was published (Sept. 10).

On August 22, he stated, he had moved the troops to positions

for commencing operations in pursuance of General Joffre's plans

(apparently to cover the French left on the Sambre). They occupied

a line of about twenty-five miles in length from Condé westwards

through Mons to Binche, the Second Corps extending from Condé and

Mons, the first from Mons to Binche, the 6th cavalry brigade on the

extreme right at Binche. After cavalry reconnaissances on August 22

and 23, the actual engagement began at 3 P.M. on the 23rd; but, having

believed himself faced only by one or at most two German Army Corps, he

learnt at 6 P.M. from General Joffre that there were at least three--a

reserve corps and the 4th and 9th Corps, while a fourth was engaged

in a turning movement on his left flank, and the French on his right

were retiring before the Germans, who on the 22nd had secured the

passages of the Sambre between Charleroi and Namur. He therefore began

to retire at daybreak to the line Jeulain-Maubeuge, some ten miles

farther back, a position previously surveyed, but difficult to hold,

and reached it before nightfall. During this retirement the Second

Cavalry Brigade, under General De Lisle, attempted a flank attack on

the enemy's infantry, but was stopped by a wire entanglement, and

the 9th Lancers and 18th Hussars suffered severely. Supported by the

19th Infantry Brigade, the Second Corps, under General Smith-Dorrien

effected a retreat, but with two German corps on its front and one

threatening the flank, it suffered great loss. From the new position,

however, a retreat was necessitated by the efforts of the enemy to

outflank the British force and drive it on Maubeuge, and on the 25th

a further retirement was effected to a line some sixteen miles to the

S.S.W., running from Cambrai by Le Câteau to Landrecies. The 4th

Infantry Division now came up to assist; and the First Corps reached

Landrecies at about 10 P.M. But the enemy, though much exhausted, came

on, and the 4th Guards Brigade in Landrecies were heavily attacked by

the 9th German Army Corps, which itself suffered tremendous loss in

the narrow streets. Meanwhile the First Corps, under Sir Douglas Haig,

was heavily engaged south and east of Maroilles; but, mainly through

his skill, and with the assistance of two French reserve divisions, it

was extricated in the night and resumed its march at dawn. The next

day, August 26th, was the most critical. At daybreak it became apparent

that the enemy was throwing his main strength against the left of the

position occupied by the Second Corps and the 4th Division; General

Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien could not continue to retire, and no support

could be sent him, nor had there been time properly to entrench the

position; but the troops showed a magnificent front to a terrible fire,

the Artillery, outnumbered by four to one, making a splendid fight;

and at 3.30 a retirement was commenced, of necessity, and heroically

covered by the Artillery and protected by the Cavalry. The left wing

was saved by General Sir H. Smith-Dorrien's skill, to which Sir John

French paid a very high tribute. The retreat was continued till the

28th, when the troops halted on the line Noyon-Chauny-La Fère, along

the Oise some twelve to twenty miles south of St. Quentin. The British

losses were very serious, but inevitable, inasmuch as the British Army,

only two days after a concentration by rail, had had to withstand the

attack of five German Army Corps. The enemy, however, was too exhausted

by the 26th to pursue effectively. The services of officers and men

were acknowledged by the Commander-in-Chief in the highest terms, and

special note was taken of the gallantry of the Flying Corps, both in

reconnaissance and in aerial combat.

But as yet only part of the truth was allowed to emerge in Great

Britain. When Parliament reassembled on August 26th, Earl Kitchener

made a statement in the House of Lords--his maiden speech, though he

had been a Peer since 1898. As a soldier, he said, he had no politics,

and his term as War Secretary was that of the new Army--for the war,

but not for longer than three years, a term selected because others

would then be ready to replace them. The Expeditionary Force, having

advanced to near Mons, had then been for thirty-six hours in contact

with a superior German force, and had maintained the traditions of

British soldiers and behaved with the utmost gallantry. Since the

beginning of active operations rather more than 2,000 had been placed

_hors de combat_. Mobilisation had taken place without a hitch; the

Expeditionary Force proved itself wholly efficient, thoroughly well

equipped, and immediately ready to take the field. The Press and the

public had aided the Government by a discreet and necessary silence,

the civilian population by meeting requisitions; the railways had

justified the confidence of the War Office, the troops, thanks to

the Admiralty, had been conveyed across the Channel without any

untoward incident. After laying stress on British moral support to

France as "a factor of high military significance," and expressing

hearty sympathy with Belgium, he pointed out that Great Britain's

military system enabled her still to have a vast reserve from herself

and the Dominions. Sixty-nine Territorial battalions had volunteered

for service abroad; the hundred thousand recruits asked for had been

practically secured; behind these were the Reserves. While the maximum

force of the adversary Empires was constantly diminishing, Great

Britain's reinforcements would steadily and increasingly flow out till

she had an Army in the field not unworthy of the British Empire. The

new Field Army might rise in the next six or seven months to a total

of thirty divisions, continually maintained in the field. Should the

war be protracted and its fortunes varied or adverse, exertions and

sacrifices beyond any yet demanded would be required from the whole

nation and Empire, and would not be denied by Parliament or the people.

In the Commons that day the chief business was a statement by

the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the arrangements for

repatriating and assisting British subjects stranded on the Continent,

the introduction of much emergency legislation--to be summarised

later--and the announcement by the Speaker of the receipt and

acknowledgment of a congratulatory message from the Russian Duma. Next

day (Aug. 27) the Prime Minister, in reply to a question, declared

emphatically, in view of Lord Kitchener's statement, that compulsory

military service was unnecessary; the sinking of the _Kaiser Wilhelm

der Grosse_ was announced, also the engagement of the British force,

and the British occupation of Ostend (p. 193); and in the course of a

discussion regarding the Moratorium, the Chancellor of the Exchequer

stated that while bankers, financial houses, and merchants favoured its

continuance, manufacturers were two to one in favour of bringing it to

an end. But the feature of the day was the speech of the Prime Minister

in moving an Address expressing admiration for the heroic resistance

offered by Belgium to the invader, and pledging Great Britain's support

to her gallant ally. After a reference to the cause of the war he

insisted on the binding obligation on Great Britain to intervene. We

did so only when confronted with the choice of keeping or breaking

solemn obligations, between the discharge of a binding trust and a

shameless subservience to naked force. "We do not repent our decision."

The issue was one which no great and self-respecting nation, certainly

none bred and nurtured like ourselves in this ancient home of liberty,

could have declined without undying shame. He recalled the struggles

for integrity and national life made by small States, by Athens and

Sparta, the Swiss cantons, and the Netherlands; never had the duty of

asserting the preservation of that life been more clearly and bravely

acknowledged and more strenuously and heroically discharged than by

the Belgian King and people. The defence of Liège would always be one

of the most inspiring chapters in the annals of liberty. The Belgians

had won for themselves the immortal glory that belonged to a people who

preferred freedom to ease, to security, and even to life itself. "We

are proud of their alliance and their friendship." We were with them

heart and soul, because we were defending with them the independence

of small States and the sanctity of international covenants, and he

assured them, in the name of Great Britain and the whole Empire, that

they might count on our unfailing support.

Mr. Bonar Law, in seconding the motion, fully endorsed the Prime

Minister's eulogies and promises. The events in Belgium confirmed

the view that the war was a struggle of the moral influences of

civilisation against brute force. Belgium had deserved well of the

world and had placed Great Britain under an obligation, which would

best be discharged by realising that for both countries the war was a

struggle for life and death, and by employing all British resources to

bring it to a successful end. Mr. John Redmond eloquently associated

Ireland with the motion, eulogising Belgium, and suggesting that the

loan contemplated (p. 216) should rather be a gift. The resolution was

agreed to _nem. con._ In the House of Lords a similar Address was moved

by the Marquess of Crewe, who said that Germany would have to make full

reparation, and seconded by the Marquess of Lansdowne, who said that to

Belgium was due the difference between the existing situation and that

at the same time in 1870.

Next day (Aug. 28) a message was read in both Houses from Sir John

French, describing the British resistance in the Cambria and Le-Câteau

district; and Lord Kitchener, after communicating it to the House of

Lords, announced that two divisions and a cavalry division, besides

other troops, would be sent from India to France. The Marquess of

Crewe added that the wonderful wave of enthusiasm and loyalty passing

over India was largely based on the desire of the Indian people that

Indian soldiers should stand side by side with their British comrades

in repelling the invasion of France and Belgium. It was known in India

that French African troops had been assisting in France, and "our loyal

Indian fellow-subjects" would be disappointed if Indian troops could

not assist British. The Indian frontiers would be fully held, and the

popular enthusiasm precluded any internal trouble. It pervaded all

classes, and found expression, among the princes, in munificent gifts

for the service of the troops.

The British people did not yet know the whole story of the fighting

in France, and Lord Kitchener's appeal for another 100,000 men did

not excite alarm. The public disquiet might have been greater had the

newspapers published particulars of the precautions taken on the East

Coast--constant patrolling by destroyers and seaplanes, destruction

of houses which might obstruct the line of fire on a hostile fleet or

serve the enemy as sea-marks, extinguishing of street lamps on the sea

front or in streets visible from it, prohibition or restriction of the

lighting of such rooms in private houses as were visible from the sea,

and eventually the temporary extinction, for the first time in 100

years, of all lighthouses and lightships. But these things were only

revealed in private conversation or correspondence.

Meanwhile the British public was confirmed in its conviction that Great

Britain had acted justly by the publication of the despatch from Sir

Edward Goschen describing his final interview with the German Foreign

Secretary and the Imperial Chancellor.[3] The refusal of the former to

refrain from violating Belgian neutrality on the ground that "rapidity

of action was the great German asset," and the phrase of the latter,

that Great Britain was going to war "just for a scrap of paper,"

seemed to place Germany hopelessly in the wrong. The naval warfare,

too, was encouraging. The _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ had been sunk

by H.M.S. _Highflyer_ off the Rio del Oro in West Africa--in neutral

waters, according to the German contention; Ostend had been occupied

by British marines; and the German cruiser _Magdeburg_ had been blown

up in the Gulf of Finland. Still more encouraging news came on the

evening of August 28, of a British victory that morning in the Bight of

Heligoland. The official account, given in despatches published October

22, was substantially as follows. Information having been received from

the submarines patrolling the North Sea of the probable movements of

the enemy's ships, an attempt was made to draw them out; on August 26

and 27 the area to be occupied was searched for hostile submarines by

the destroyers _Lurcher_ and _Firedrake_, and, at daylight on August

28, three submarines (E 6, E 7, E 8), followed by these destroyers,

headed for Heligoland, the submarines running on the surface, to invite

a German attack. Other British submarines were watching, submerged, in

the area. Near Heligoland a mist settled on the water, facilitating

a German surprise. In rear of these craft was the _Arethusa_, a new

light cruiser just commissioned, with the First and Third Destroyer

Flotillas. A German torpedo squadron was sighted making for Heligoland,

and was attacked by the _Arethusa_ and the Third Flotilla. Then, at

7.57 A.M. two German cruisers, respectively with four and two funnels,

were sighted; the _Arethusa_ engaged the nearest, and was attacked by

both, and by several destroyers. All her torpedo tubes were disabled

and all but one of her guns, and for a few minutes she was on fire. At

8.25 A.M., however, she shot away the fore bridge of the two-funnelled

cruiser, which made off towards Heligoland. The four-funnelled cruiser

had meanwhile turned on the _Fearless_, but the Germans drew off and

retreated into the haze. Before their retreat, the British and German

destroyers were engaged; the German commodore's destroyer (V 187) was

sunk, and the crews of the British destroyers, having launched their

boats to save life, had to retreat under a fire from a German cruiser,

abandoning two boats. Thereupon the submarine E 4 (Lt. Com. Leir)

proceeded to drive off the cruiser, which escaped her, covered the

destroyers' retreat, and then took aboard, at great risk of attack,

the British crew of one of the boats, with three Germans, leaving the

other Germans, for whom, he had no room, and of whom some were badly

wounded in the boats, to proceed to Heligoland. He left a German

officer and six men to navigate them, and provided water, biscuit and

a compass. Having effected temporary repairs and got all her guns but

two in working order, the _Arethusa_, with the _Fearless_, proceeded

in vain to search for the _Lurcher_ and _Firedrake_ (which, however,

escaped the German cruisers), and then, though her speed had been

reduced by the damage received, went forward again towards Heligoland.

At 10.55 A.M. a four-funnelled German cruiser (possibly the _Yorck_)

fired on her; the _Fearless_ and the First Flotilla came up, and the

assailant disappeared in the mist. Ten minuter later she returned,

but failed to get the range, and was driven off. A few minutes later

three British ships sighted the German light cruiser _Mainz_, and after

twenty-five minutes' action she was on fire, disabled and sinking; the

Light Cruiser Squadron came up and finished her destruction, but 220

of her crew were saved by the _Lurcher_, many of them badly wounded.

The Battle Cruiser Squadron under Admiral Beatty had been called up,

and at 12.30 the _Lion_ drove off and pursued a four-funnelled cruiser,

the _Köln_, which was engaging the _Arethusa_; the _Lion_, after

firing two salvoes at the German cruiser _Ariadne_, which disappeared

into the mist, on fire and sinking, returned to the chase of the

_Köln_, and sank her with all hands. Soon afterwards the _Queen Mary_,

battle cruiser, and the _Lowestoft_, light cruiser, were attacked by

submarines, but avoided them, the former narrowly and with great skill.

The _Laurel_ and _Arethusa_ were towed into Sheerness and Harwich,

the latter being taken in tow by the _Hague_, with no light but two

hand lanterns. Two German destroyers at least were sunk and eighteen

or twenty badly damaged. The British vessels _Goshawk_, _Laertes_,

_Ferret_, _Laurel_, _Laforey_, and _Liberty_ were among those specially

distinguished.

This news was accompanied by another stimulant to British action--the

announcement of the atrocious and deliberate destruction of Louvain,

"the Oxford of Belgium." In Great Britain, as elsewhere, it excited

the deepest horror and indignation; and it gave additional force to a

letter from the Prime Minister to the Lord Mayors of London, Edinburgh,

Dublin, and Cardiff--the capitals, so to speak, of the four divisions

of the United Kingdom--announcing that the time had come for a combined

effort to stimulate and organise public opinion and effort in the

greatest conflict in British history, and proposing meetings throughout

the country at which the justice of the British cause should be made

plain, and the duty of every man to do his part should be enforced.

He suggested that these four principal cities should lead the way,

and offered to address a meeting in each; and he added that he could

count on the co-operation of the leaders "of every section of organised

public opinion."

But, while hope was encouraged by this movement (which had been

previously suggested in the Press) and by the Russian successes in

Galicia, London was horrified on August 30, by accounts of the retreat

from Mons published in the _Daily Mail_ and _Times_, the latter

speaking of "a retreating and a broken army," the former of a "pitiful

story," and of an incessant German advance, and the gaps left by

the Censor's editing suggested that the whole truth might be worse.

The _Daily Mail_ telegram closed with an appeal for reinforcements

at once. For a few hours this news produced something like a panic;

but its diffusion was restricted as the day was Sunday, and in the

afternoon the War Secretary issued a report of the four days' battle,

showing that since the 26th, apart from cavalry fighting, the British

Army had rested, reinforcements covering double the loss suffered had

already joined, and that the French armies had that day stopped the

German advance. A decisive British victory in France, it was added,

would probably be fatal to the enemy; the continuance of Anglo-French

resistance "on such a scale as to keep in the closest grip the enemy's

best troops, could, if prolonged, lead only to one conclusion." Next

day, in Parliament, these alarmist accounts were severely condemned by

the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister, the latter describing them

as a regrettable exception to the patriotic reticence of the Press;

but it appeared that the Press Bureau had actually requested their

publication, and that the closing paragraph, urging the necessity of

reinforcements, was actually due to the head of the Bureau, Mr. F. E.

Smith, himself.

This was the last discussion before the House adjourned till September

9. It had been preceded by the rapid passing of another batch of war

legislation, and by a somewhat bitter debate on the treatment of the

Home Rule and Welsh Church Bills. This instalment of war legislation

included, _inter alia_, Bills authorising the appointment of special

constables and making certain provisions regarding them; enabling

licensing authorities, and, in London, the Chief Commissioner of

Police, to restrict the hours of sale of liquor both in licensed

premises and in clubs; empowering the military authorities to exercise

control under the Defence of the Realm Act in training areas; extending

the list of articles the importation of which might be prohibited;

giving powers to seize goods unreasonably withheld (including farm

produce and feeding stuffs); giving powers to deal with all patent

licences and registered designs where the benefit accrued to an enemy;

extending billeting to include the naval as well as the military force;

remitting death duties on the property of those killed in the war, or

dying within twelve months after it from wounds or disease contracted

in the field; giving emergency powers to the courts (for the protection

of debtors) in regard to the recovery of debts; and a War Loan Bill,

empowering the Government to raise a loan, the amount and the method of

raising it being alike left undefined.

On the adjournment, and before the explanations as to the Press Bureau,

a discussion arose which showed that political divisions had by no

means been healed by the war. The Prime Minister repeated that the

Government wished that no party should gain or lose by the suspension

of domestic controversy. Their intention was to put the Home Rule and

Welsh Church Bills on the Statute Book, but they would regard it as

most unfair to resort to a snap prorogation as though the Amending

Bill had never been introduced; and with regard to it he hoped for a

settlement. As to the Welsh Church Bill, the war had set up special

conditions, in view of which the Government made a proposal. Mr. Bonar

Law (U.) concurred; Mr. John Redmond (N.) hoped that the Home Rule

Bill would not be prejudiced by the adjournment; whereupon Mr. Balfour

protested against dealing with subjects of "acute political discussion"

under present conditions, while disclaiming any desire to make party

gain from the situation. The discussion was stopped after appeals from

Mr. Cave (U.) and the Prime Minister, and the House passed on, before

its adjournment, to the discussion of the Press Bureau and _The Times_.

But the old passions reappeared later.

For the moment, however, party feeling was stilled by the imperative

need of union and of greater preparation for efforts in the field. The

flow of recruits, encouraged by the destruction of Louvain and the

retreat from Mons, was further stimulated by the preparations in France

to resist a siege of Paris, and by the specific accounts (Sept. 1) of

German atrocities given by the Belgian Mission which visited London on

its way to the United States, and was cordially welcomed at Buckingham

Palace by the King. A Joint Parliamentary Committee of all parties was

formed to promote recruiting; Sir Edward Carson advised the Ulster

Unionist Council (Sept. 3) that all qualified Ulster Volunteers should

at once enlist in Kitchener's Army, and, without receding from its

ultimate intentions, it endorsed his recommendation; the Parliamentary

Committee of the Trade Union Congress issued a manifesto welcoming the

response of the Labour members to the appeal to aid in recruiting,

announcing that it had given assistance to the Parliamentary Committee

for that end; it urged recruits to come forward to avert compulsory

service and maintain democracy, and pressed the claims of their

dependants on the State.

In the absence of details about the military operations a strange

rumour arose, which for about a fortnight seemed better attested than

many accepted facts in ancient history. Towards the end of August

people told each other (though the newspapers were studiously silent)

that trainloads of Russian troops had been landed at Leith from

Archangel, presumably to escape the German cruisers and mines in the

North Sea, and were being conveyed, with the blinds of the carriages

drawn, on Saturday nights and Sundays, to Dover and other south-coast

ports, _en route_ for Belgium or France. Specific details gave the

story verisimilitude, and independent testimony came in from all parts

of the area supposed to be affected, and was accepted by people likely

to be well-informed, while corroborative evidence seemed to be provided

by the great number of transports taken up by the Admiralty. At last a

_Daily News_ correspondent said he had seen the Russians in Belgium,

and a Cardiff paper published a statement from a marine engineer that

he had travelled with 2,500 of them from Archangel and in the hundred

and ninety-third train of them that had passed through York. Hereupon

the Press Bureau (Sept. 15) issued an absolute denial of the rumours;

and this was officially confirmed in Parliament on November 18. But for

a time many people persisted in believing that the troops had indeed

been sent, but had gone not to France or Belgium, but to seize the Kiel

Canal. How the rumour arose was a mystery.

To return to solid facts, the Prime Minister opened his "educational

campaign" at a crowded and eminently representative meeting of the

citizens of London at the Guildhall on September 4. Three years

earlier, he said (A.R., 1911, p. 92), he had spoken in the Guildhall

on support of the Anglo-American arbitration movement, and its

supporters were still confident in the rightness of their position,

when reluctantly, but with a clear judgment and clear conscience, the

whole strength of the Empire was involved in a bloody arbitrament

between might and right. But how if they had stood aside? Sooner

than be a silent witness--which meant a willing accomplice--of the

intolerable wrongs done in Belgium, he would see Great Britain blotted

out of the page of history. The cynical violation of Belgian neutrality

was only a first step in a campaign against the autonomy of the free

States of Europe, whose free self-development was a capital offence

in the eyes of those who had made force their divinity. This was not

merely a material but a spiritual conflict. The British Government

and the Foreign Secretary had made repeated efforts for peace; the

responsibility for the refusal of his offers rested with Germany alone.

In the spirit which animated Britain in her struggle against Napoleon,

they must persevere to the end. After reviewing the resources of the

Allies and Great Britain, and laying special stress on the offers of

the Dominions and India, he said that the response up to that day to

Lord Kitchener's call for recruits was between 250,000 and 300,000,

42,000 having been accepted in London. But they wanted more men, men of

the best fighting quality, and they would endeavour that men desiring

to serve together should be allotted to the same regiment or corps. He

asked also for retired non-commissioned officers and officers, to train

men for whom no unit could at once be found; and as regarded the war he

thought that in every direction there was abundant ground for pride and

comfort, and recalled how England responded to Pitt's dying appeal to

save Europe by her example. "Let us go and do likewise."

Mr. Bonar Law followed with a speech of notable force. The key of

peace had been in Berlin. The head of the German Government had drawn

the sword; "may the accursed system for which he stands perish by

the sword." Great Britain was fighting for her national existence,

and for the moral forces of humanity. After commenting on the German

Chancellor's saying, "You are going to war for a scrap of paper," and

on the deliberate German outrages in Belgium, he dwelt eloquently on

the answer given by the fight of the past week to the German estimate

of Britain as decadent, and appealed to those who remained behind to

remember the dependants of those who went. Then Mr. Balfour and the

First Lord of the Admiralty each made brief, stirring, and confident

speeches, expressing the invincible resolve of the nation to persevere

and conquer.

Lord Rosebery, as Lord-Lieutenant of Linlithgowshire, spoke in the same

sense next day at Broxburn; and British feeling was further roused

by the sinking of H.M.S. _Pathfinder_ and the Wilson liner _Runo_,

which struck mines in the North Sea, and by the capture of fifteen

British fishing vessels (Chron., Sept. 5). But the tide seemed to be

turning. By a declaration signed in London (Sept. 5) the British,

French, and Russian Governments agreed that they would not conclude

peace separately, and that when terms came to be discussed, none of

them would demand terms without the consent of the other two. Moreover,

an official sketch of the operations in France was encouraging. It

mentioned great, though merely incidental, rearguard battles, singling

out that in which the First British Cavalry Brigade and the Guards

Brigade had been engaged near Compiègne. The British left, it stated,

was now covered by the Seventh (really Sixth) French Army, which,

with the Fifth French Army on the British right, relieved the British

force of much of the previous strain. After twelve days' continuous

marching and fighting, September 2 had at last been a quiet day. Many

men were missing, partly because in the course of the retirement in

order on a wide front, they had missed their way and got separated,

but a considerable number of them would safely rejoin. The losses were

15,000, not a third of those inflicted on the enemy; but the spirit of

the force was not affected, drafts amounting to 19,000 men had arrived

or were approaching, and, the interval of quiet since September 1 had

been used to fill up the gaps and refit and consolidate the units. The

British Army was south of the Marne, in a line with the French forces

on its right and left; the enemy was neglecting Paris and marching

south-eastwards, having apparently abandoned its flanking movement on

the Allies' left. [This change in the German plans was made about Sept.

3.] It was added that the British troops had definitely established

their superiority to the Germans alike in rifle fire and in cavalry

and artillery work. Striking incidents of the fighting were mentioned;

despite the heat, men and horses were in excellent condition; but "we

must have more men."

This account must here be supplemented from Sir John French's despatch

of September 17, published October 19. On August 28 the British

retirement was followed closely by two German cavalry corps, moving

south-east from St. Quentin; the Third and Fifth Cavalry Brigades,

under General Gough and General Chetwode, respectively repelled the

Uhlans of the Guard south of the Somme and routed the eastern German

column near Cerizy. Next day the Sixth French Army got into position

on the British left; but the German numbers were overwhelming. After

a visit from General Joffre, Sir John French agreed to retire towards

the line Compiègne-Soissons; and, as his communications with Havre

were threatened, the British base was changed to St. Nazaire (on

the Atlantic near Nantes) with an advanced base at Le Mans. General

Joffre, however, ordered a general retirement to the line of the Marne,

until he could reach a position enabling him to assume the offensive.

Rearguard actions were frequent, and on September 1 the First Cavalry

Brigade, south of Compiègne, were overtaken by German cavalry; they

momentarily lost a Horse Artillery battery, but with the help of

detachments from the Third Corps they recovered it and captured twelve

German guns. The First Corps were also engaged at Villers-Cotterets,

the Fourth Guards Brigade suffering considerably. On September 3, when

the British forces were in position south of the Marne between Lagny

and Signy-Signets, and Sir John French had taken steps to defend the

passage of the river, General Joffre invited him to retire twelve miles

farther, to a position behind the Seine. The enemy crossed, and there

were several outpost actions; on September 5 General Joffre announced

his intention of taking the offensive, and, at his request, the British

Army changed front to its right, its left coming to rest on the Marne

and its right on the Fifth Army. On September 6, the new battle began.

Some further encouragement was given by the announcement (Sept. 10)

that the Fleet had swept the North Sea up to and including the Bight

of Heligoland without finding any German ships or being troubled by

German interference.

The character, now becoming visible, of the contest as a "war of

attrition" was fully recognised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer when

(Sept. 8) a deputation from the Association of Municipal Corporations

invited the Government to raise, as part of the war loan, money

to be lent to municipalities at cost price for new works, and to

make corporation mortgages and the stock of all boroughs of 20,000

inhabitants or more trustee investments by Act of Parliament. He agreed

to their first request, but intimated (in accordance with the declared

intention of the deputation) that the money must be spent solely on

works undertaken to relieve or avert distress. It was the last few

hundred millions, he declared, that would win the war.

In a war of such a character, help was eminently needed from the whole

Empire; and when Parliament reassembled (Sept. 9) statements were

made in both Houses of the wonderful offers of service and money made

from India. In the Commons Mr. Charles Roberts, Under-Secretary for

India, read a telegram from the Viceroy telling how the rulers of the

Native States, in all nearly seven hundred, had offered their personal

services and the resources of their States. A number of Princes and

nobles had been selected for active service. The veteran Sir Pertab

Singh, Regent of Jodhpur, would not be denied his right to serve the

King-Emperor; his nephew, the Maharajah, aged sixteen, accompanied him.

Twenty-seven of the Native States maintained Imperial troops, and all

these were put at the service of the Government. Contingents had been

accepted from twelve States, including a camel corps from Bikaner, and

most had already embarked. The Maharajah of Mysore had placed fifty

lakhs of rupees (about 330,000_l._) at the disposal of the Government

for the Expeditionary Force. A hospital ship; thousands of horses for

remounts from the Chief of Gwalior and other rulers; camels and drivers

from the Punjaub and Baluchistan; large subscriptions to the Indian

Relief Fund and Prince of Wales's Fund; loyal messages and offers

from the Khyber tribes and Chitral; large donations from the Durbar

and Maharajah of Nepaul; and--as a climax--even an offer of 1,000

troops from the Dalai Lama of Tibet, accompanied by a statement that

throughout that country thousands of Lamas were praying for British

success. The same spirit had prevailed throughout British India; offers

of service and money had poured in from religious, political, and

social associations of all classes and creeds, Moslem, Hindu, Sikh, or

Parsee; meetings had been held to allay panic, keep down prices, and

maintain confidence and credit; and generous contributions had poured

in from all quarters to the Indian Relief Fund. The message was loudly

cheered, and it was promised that it should be circulated throughout

the Empire. It was also read in the Upper House by the Marquess of

Crewe, together with an account of the demonstration of loyalty and

sympathy made by the Legislative Council, and it was welcomed by the

Marquess of Lansdowne, who laid stress on the magnitude and value of

this loyally offered aid.

A message from the King to the Governments and peoples of his

self-governing Dominions (published Sept. 9) was as follows:--

"During the past few weeks the peoples of my whole Empire at home

and overseas have moved with one aim and purpose to confront

and overthrow the unparalleled assault upon the continuity of

civilisation and the peace of mankind.

"The calamitous conflict is not of my seeking. My voice has been

cast throughout on the side of peace. My Ministers earnestly strove

to allay the causes of strife and to appease differences with which

my Empire was not concerned. Had I stood aside when, in defiance

of pledges to which my kingdom was a party, the soil of Belgium

was violated and her cities laid desolate, when the very life of

the French nation was threatened with extinction, I should have

sacrificed my honour and given to destruction the liberties of my

Empire and of mankind. I rejoice that every part of the Empire is

with me in this decision.

"Paramount regard for treaty faith and the pledged word of rulers

and peoples is the common heritage of Great Britain and of the

Empire. My peoples in the self-governing Dominions have shown

beyond all doubt that they whole-heartedly endorse the grave

decisions which it was necessary to take.

"My personal knowledge of the loyalty and devotion of my oversea

Dominions has led me to expect that they would cheerfully make

the great effort and bear the great sacrifices which the present

conflict entails. The full measure in which they have placed their

services and resources at my disposal fills me with gratitude, and

I am proud to be able to show to the world that my people overseas

are as determined as the people of the United Kingdom to prosecute

a just cause to a successful end.

"The Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, and the

Dominion of New Zealand have placed at my disposal their naval

forces, which have already rendered good service to the Empire.

Strong Expeditionary Forces are being prepared in Canada, in

Australia and in New Zealand for service at the front, and the

Union of South Africa has released all British troops and has

undertaken important military responsibilities, the discharge of

which will be of the utmost value to the Empire.

"Newfoundland has doubled the numbers of its branch of the Royal

Naval Reserve, and is sending a body of men to take part in the

operations at the front.

"From the Dominion and Provincial governments of Canada large and

welcome gifts of supplies are on their way for the use both of my

naval and military forces and for the relief of the distress in

the United Kingdom which must inevitably follow in the wake of war.

"All parts of my overseas dominions have thus demonstrated in

the most unmistakable manner the fundamental unity of the Empire

against all its diversity of situations and circumstance."

In a special message to the Princes and Peoples of the Indian Empire

His Majesty repeated the first part of the foregoing, and added:--

Among the many incidents that have marked the unanimous uprising of

the populations of my Empire in defence of its unity and integrity,

nothing has moved me more than the passionate devotion to my Throne

expressed both by my Indian subjects and by the Feudatory Princes

and the Ruling Chiefs of India, and their prodigal offers of their

lives and their resources in the cause of the Realm.

Their one-voiced demand to be foremost in the conflict has touched

my heart, and has inspired to the highest issues the love and

devotion which, as I well know, have ever linked my Indian subjects

and myself. I recall to mind India's gracious message to the

British nation of goodwill and fellowship, which greeted my return

in February, 1912, after the solemn ceremony of my Coronation

Durbar at Delhi, and I find in this hour of trial a full harvest

and a noble fulfilment of the assurance given by you that the

destinies of Great Britain and India are indissolubly linked.

Next day in Committee of Supply the Prime Minister moved an additional

vote for the land forces of 500,000 men for the current year, and it

was passed unanimously. At the outbreak of war, he said, Parliament had

voted 186,000 men for the Army; the Army Reserve and Special Reserve,

which then became available as part of the Regular Forces, brought

the number up roughly to 400,000. On August 6, another half million

were voted, making 900,000. The recruits since the declaration of

war numbered nearly 439,000. On one day, Sept. 3, the total enlisted

was 33,204. In the past ten days the daily number of recruits was

equal to that of a year in peace time, and no machinery could have

met the emergency. The War Office had sent abroad the Expeditionary

Force of about 150,000 men without the loss of a man or a horse,

had provided for immediate and future wastage of men and material,

and for everything except this enormous increase in the Regular

Forces. The Territorial County Associations had been appealed to, the

training centres multiplied; there had been congestion and consequent

discomfort, and municipal buildings might have been used more fully

for the men. But the first necessity was to get the men, and he was

sure they would come forward. Men would now be allowed to go home

after attestation until called on for training, and, while waiting,

would be paid 3_s._ a day. With this half million, the Army in the

field would number some 1,200,000, exclusive of the Territorials, the

National Reserve, and the Indian and Dominion troops. It must now be

made clear to recruits that every possible provision would be made for

their comfort and well-being, and that they would take their place in

the magnificent Army which had never shown itself more worthy of long

centuries of splendid tradition than in the past fortnight. Mr. Bonar

Law assured the Government of the support of his party, and insisted

that the sacrifice must not come exclusively from the men who were

coming forward with splendid spirit to risk their lives.

Parliament did not sit again till September 14; but on September

11 a great demonstration to aid recruiting was held at the London

Opera House, under the joint auspices of the National Liberal and

Constitutional Clubs. The First Lord of the Admiralty, while warning

his audience that the war would be long and sombre, declared that the

situation was far better than could have been expected at this early

stage, and he was certain that it could be brought to a victorious

conclusion. We were building on a sure foundation. The Navy had

searched the so-called German Ocean without discovering the German

flag; the attrition on which the Germans had counted had been only on

their side; the health of the Fleet was better than during peace; and

our naval control and sea power might be kept up indefinitely. "By one

of those dispensations of Providence which appeal so strongly to the

German Emperor, the nose of the bulldog has been slanted backward so

that he can breathe in comfort without letting go." In the next twelve

months more than twice as many great ships and three or four times as

many cruisers would be completed for Great Britain as for Germany.

It was now necessary to make a great Army, an Army of a million men.

The Army in the field could be raised to 250,000, by the new year to

500,000, and by the early summer of 1915 to twenty-five Army Corps. An

Army so formed would be the finest in the world. Germany could draw on

no corresponding reserve of manhood. This would decide the issue. Let

the British people concentrate their warlike feeling on fighting the

enemy in the field, and let it be said, after the war was over, that

"they fought like gentlemen." Germany in her three great wars had been

the terror and bully of Europe. Let Great Britain fight for great and

sound principles for Europe, the first being nationality. The British

people and Empire were at last united, and while they remained so no

forces were strong enough to beat them down or break them up. Mr. F. E.

Smith declared that Great Britain was fighting for treaty obligations,

for self-preservation, and for the existence of international law.

Terms of peace would be arranged in London or Berlin, and we were

encouraged to believe it would be in Berlin by the extraordinary

spontaneity with which the whole Empire was springing to arms. There

had never been anything like it in history. Mr. Crooks said that the

fight was for liberty and home. "He would rather see every living soul

blotted off the face of the earth than see the Kaiser supreme anywhere."

Unfortunately the patriotic unity of parties was presently marred by a

sharp difference as to the treatment to be given to the Home Rule and

Welsh Church Bills. Negotiations for a settlement between the leaders

had failed, and it was announced in the Press on September 14 that

the session would be wound up at once, and these Bills would become

law automatically under the Parliament Act, but that the Government

would introduce a Bill postponing their operation till after the war;

and it was understood that it would also pledge itself to introduce

an Amending Bill dealing with the Ulster question before the Home

Rule Bill should become operative. On the other hand, the Marquess of

Lansdowne would introduce a Bill providing that the Home Rule and Welsh

Church Bills should be taken up after the war at the stages they had

reached on July 30, 1914, so that their advantages under the Parliament

Act would not be lost. The Opposition held that the Government

plan violated the pledge that no party should be prejudiced by the

cessation of party controversy; but at a meeting of Unionist members

of Parliament at the Carlton Club (Sept. 14) it was agreed (Lord Hugh

Cecil dissenting) that the party must maintain the national unity; they

would support Ulster after the war, but for the present would merely

protest and withdraw from the debate.

The Prime Minister briefly made his announcement that afternoon in the

Commons, mentioning that the new Bill would provide that neither the

Welsh Church Act nor the Home Rule Act should be put into operation for

twelve months in any event, or, if the war were not then terminated,

to such further date not later than its termination as might be fixed

by Order in Council; and the Marquess of Crewe stated the views of the

Government in the House of Lords. Failure to pass the Bills would mean

an Opposition triumph; an Amending Bill would involve an undesirable

platform campaign in Ireland to induce the two parties to accept

it, and this was not the moment to bring Home Rule into operation.

No responsible Government could contemplate imposing Home Rule on

Ulster by force; but a Government might come in at the end of the war

on some novel issue, and Ireland might thereby lose its chance of

Home Rule. He gave, at greater length, the same pledges as the Prime

Minister, promising an Amending Bill within the next twelve months,

not necessarily excluding Ulster or part of Ulster; he claimed that no

unfair advantage was being taken, and predicted that, when the Home

Rule Bill became law, the whole of Ireland would rush to enlist. The

Marquess of Lansdowne complained that the Ministerial decision must

shatter the hope of a change in party relations. But the Unionists

would not sulk. It was not a moment to rekindle controversy. The

undertaking as to the Amending Bill was vague; the Welsh Church Bill

had been referred to a Committee (p. 136) and it would be hard to raise

an endowment fund after the war. The controversy on the last Amending

Bill had established that the exclusion of Ulster was hateful and

offered an almost insoluble problem; and he noted that Ulster was not

to be coerced--though he was not quite satisfied with the assurance

given on that point. He defended and introduced his own measure, the

Legislation (Suspension during War) Bill (p. 204), but stated that his

party was ready to meet the fear that the rise of new issues might shut

out Home Rule by extending for the current Parliament the five years'

time limit in the Parliament Act to six.

After further debate this Bill was read a first time.

Next day (Sept. 15) the Prime Minister introduced his Bill in the

Commons. He said that the Opposition proposal would place the Bills at

the mercy of a chapter of accidents. If the term of this Parliament

were extended by a year, as had been suggested, the war might not be

over, and the postponement of Home Rule would have damped the patriotic

feeling of Irishmen not only in Ireland, but in the Dominions and the

United States. He stated the Government proposal, promised an Amending

Bill for the following session, and repudiated as unthinkable the idea

of coercing Ulster in the existing patriotic atmosphere. As to the

Welsh Bill, disendowment would necessitate a voluntary Sustentation

Fund, which would be hampered by the war burdens and by new taxation.

But disendowment was necessarily connected with disestablishment, and,

subject to relatively formal matters, this Bill would be delayed like

the Irish Bill. He was not troubled by the charge of breach of faith.

He would leave his honour in the hands of his countrymen.

Mr. Bonar Law declared regretfully that the Government had taken

advantage of the patriotism of the Unionists to betray them. As to

the Welsh Bill there was no breach of faith, though the time-limit

was inadequate, and it would have been better to await the report

of the Select Committee (p. 136), but it was wrong to shock the

consciences of its opponents at such a time. But the Government held

that the Home Rule Bill and the Amending Bill hung together, and

they were breaking solemn pledges in dealing with the former alone.

On the morning of August 4 he and Sir Edward Carson had suggested

to the Prime Minister that an acrimonious debate should be avoided,

and the Prime Minister had promised that until the discussion of the

Amending Bill was resumed, no controversial legislation should be

taken--on which the Ulster Unionists drew up a resolution agreeing to

the adjournment of that Bill--and also that by the postponement of

controversial legislation no party to the controversy should be placed

in a worse position. The Prime Minister had also told the House that

the Home Rule Bill would not be presented for the King's assent till

the Amending Bill had been disposed of in the Commons. He had said

that circumstances made it inconvenient to fulfil this pledge, but was

his new pledge stronger? Amid protests from the Ministerialists, some

of whom, headed by the First Lord of the Admiralty, ostentatiously

left the House, Mr. Bonar Law likened it to the German promise which

the Prime Minister had contemptuously dismissed as valueless (p.

179). He stated that in the negotiations of some ten days earlier

the Prime Minister offered the Unionists two alternatives: (1) his

present course, which they refused to consider; (2) another suggestion

which they accepted. [What this was did not transpire, but the Prime

Minister, intervening, made clear that it was put forward only as a

basis for criticism and further suggestion by the Opposition.] The

Unionists, Mr. Bonar Law continued, had been prepared to agree to a

Bill extending the operation of the Parliament Act to the succeeding

session, and to the postponement of a general election till after

Home Rule was settled. Mr. Redmond's speech (p. 172) was a promise

of conditional loyalty; but he blamed him less than the Government.

Ulster and the Unionists, in spite of all, would help the Government

to preserve the country till the war was over; but they would withdraw

from a debate which, under present circumstances, was indecent.

Mr. John Redmond (N.) said he would not waste time by replying to Mr.

Bonar Law's speech. But the settlement was not a party triumph, but a

severe disadvantage for the Nationalists, owing to the delay of the

Home Rule Bill. But the moratorium was necessary, and he hoped it would

lead to a very different Amending Bill. The two things he cared for

most were, (1) that autonomy for Ireland should extend to the whole

country, (2) that no county should be coerced into Home Rule. These

things were then incompatible, but when Nationalists and Irishmen had

fought side by side on the Continent and drilled together for home

defence, he believed a real Amending Bill would be offered to the

Government by agreement. Meanwhile the Nationalists must cultivate a

spirit of conciliation. His speech (Aug. 3; p. 173) was not an offer

of conditional loyalty, but an appeal to the Ulster Volunteers to

allow the Nationalist Volunteers to fight by their side in defence

of their country, and to the Government and the War Office to enable

the Nationalists to do their duty. He regretted that it had found

no response. Ireland had furnished proportionately a larger quota

to the Army than Great Britain. In 1885 the numbers per thousand of

the male population were Irish born 76, British born 42; in 1893 75

to 47, in 1903 69 to 44, in 1913 42 to 32. That was the record when

Irish sentiment was completely out of touch with British; what would

it be now, when Irish sentiment was wholly with Great Britain in the

war? The little groups of Irishmen who were opposing enlistment were

the bitterest enemies of the Nationalists. Ireland felt now that the

British democracy had kept faith with her; she was specially moved by

the fact that the war was undertaken in defence of small nations and

oppressed peoples. Like South Africa, Ireland had been transformed from

"the broken arm of England" into one of the strongest bulwarks of the

Empire.

After other speeches, the Bill was brought in amid cheers.

In the House of Lords, meanwhile, the second reading of the Home

Rule Bill was moved, but ultimately adjourned by 93 votes to 29.

Violent attacks were made on the Government by Viscount Midleton

and the Marquess of Londonderry, and its course was defended by the

Lord Chancellor and the Marquess of Crewe. The latter said that

any expectation on the Continent of civil war in Ireland had been

encouraged quite as much by the threats from Ulster as by any action of

the Government. What was important was that the Home Rule Bill and the

Amending Bill should come into operation at the same time. The Marquess

of Lansdowne said that the Unionist complaint was that the Government

were enabling the Nationalists to obtain without a struggle what

would otherwise have cost them a very serious struggle. They desired

adjournment, partly because prolonged and minute discussion of Irish

questions would just then be futile or mischievous, partly because they

had no security that there would be an Amending Bill.

A similar motion adjourning the Welsh Church Bill was also carried by

89 to 27. The Archbishop of Canterbury said that there was no need

for haste, save on purely political lines. The Bill now would be

devastating to the Church. The Government were taking advantage of

the war to do them an intolerable wrong. Other Peers also spoke. Lord

Lansdowne's Legislation (Suspension during War) Bill was then passed

through all its stages.

Sir Edward Carson issued an indignant manifesto to the Ulster

loyalists, attacking the Government for taking advantage of the war to

pass the Home Rule Bill, but reminding them that their motto, now as

always, was "Our Country First," and that they must go on with their

preparations to assist it to victory. But they would never have Home

Rule--never!

Next day, however, the Commons, on the motion of the Home Secretary,

disagreed with the Lords' amendments to the Suspensory Bill. He

described that relating to the Welsh Church as "essentially absurd";

and the Lords gave way.

But interest that day centred in Earl Kitchener's second statement on

the military situation. After paying an emphatic tribute to Sir John

French's "consummate skill and calm courage," to the ability of his

generals, and to the bravery and endurance of the officers and men,

he said that the tide had turned, and there were good reasons for

confidence. There were in the field rather more than six divisions of

British troops and two cavalry divisions, which were being maintained

at full strength; further Regular divisions and additional cavalry

were being organised from units withdrawn from oversea garrisons

and replaced where necessary by Territorials who had patriotically

volunteered for service abroad. Troops were coming from India and

the Dominions, and the response at home to the call for recruits had

afforded a remarkable demonstration of the energy and patriotism of the

young men. The difficulties in accommodating the recruits had been

overcome; the War Office had had to deal with an ordinary year's supply

of troops in a day. This "splendid material" was to be organised into

four new armies, of which the first two were collected at training

centres, the third was being formed at new camping grounds, the fourth

formed by adding to the establishment of the reserve battalions, from

which the units would be detached and organised like the other three.

The Special Reserve and extra Special Reserve Units would be maintained

as feeders to the Expeditionary Force. He referred also to the various

local battalions being raised outside these Armies, to the progress of

the Territorial Force and its volunteering for foreign service, and to

the division of marines and bluejackets then being organised by the

First Lord of the Admiralty. He spoke also of the means of providing

officers, but said the chief difficulty was in material rather than

_personnel_, but it was being overcome. By the spring the new armies

would be well trained and formidable opponents to the enemy. He added

details, also given by the Prime Minister in the Commons, of the

increased allowances to wives of soldiers (wife 12_s._ 6_d._ with

additions of 2_s._ 6_d._ for each child up to three and 2_s._ for the

fourth. Provision was also foreshadowed for dependants of unmarried

soldiers and naval men, and other matters.) The Marquess of Lansdowne

said a few words expressing the "profound admiration and gratitude" of

the House for the feat of arms of the Expeditionary Force, and its full

concurrence in Earl Kitchener's praise of Sir John French.

Parliament was prorogued next day (Sept. 19) by Commission, after

wholly unprecedented proceedings. The House of Lords was nearly empty;

the Commons' and other galleries were crowded. The Royal Assent was

given by Commission to a number of Bills, and then, in a new formula,

to the Government of Ireland and Established Church (Wales) Act, "duly

passed under the provisions of the Parliament Act, 1911." Loud cheers

followed from the galleries, and no attempt was made to suppress them.

Then the Lord Chancellor read the King's Speech as follows:--

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, I address you in circumstances that call

for action rather than for speech.

After every endeavour had been made by My Government to preserve

the peace of the world, I was compelled, in the assertion of treaty

obligations deliberately set at nought, and for the protection of

the public law of Europe and the vital interests of My Empire, to

go to war.

My Navy and Army have, with unceasing vigilance, courage, and

skill, sustained, in association with gallant and faithful allies,

a just and righteous cause.

From every part of My Empire there has been a spontaneous and

enthusiastic rally to our common flag.

* * * * *

GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, I thank you for the liberality

with which you have met a great emergency.

* * * * *

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, We are fighting for a worthy purpose, and

we shall not lay down our arms until that purpose has been fully

achieved.

I rely with confidence upon the loyal and united efforts of all My

subjects, and I pray that Almighty God may give us His blessing.

In the Commons, after one or two questions, members were summoned to

the House of Lords as usual, and, on the return of the Deputy Speaker,

loud cheers greeted his announcement of the passing of the Home Rule

Bill, as also the last clause but one of the Royal Speech. Then, before

the customary leave-taking, Mr. Crooks (Lab., _Woolwich_) asked if it

would be in order to sing "God Save the King," and, after a moment's

pause, began to do so. Every member rose and joined; so did the

strangers in the galleries; Mr. Crooks, after calling for three cheers,

which were heartily given, exclaimed "God save Ireland," to which Mr.

J. Redmond responded "God save England." Members then took leave of the

Deputy-Speaker, and thus this most exciting and astonishing session

came to its close.

The war had produced much "emergency legislation," of which the most

important items have been noticed; it had also increased the "massacre

of the innocents," besides eliminating the debate on the Indian Budget.

Of Government Bills passed and not previously noticed at length we

may mention the Nationality and Status of Aliens Bill (tending to

make this status uniform throughout the Empire), the Criminal Justice

Administration Bill (extending the time for the payment of fines

in lieu of imprisonment, and extending the probationary treatment

of youthful offenders on the "Borstal system"); the Elementary

Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Bill, facilitating the

establishment of residential schools for such children by local

education authorities, the Board of Education finding half the cost; a

Merchant Shipping Bill, giving effect to the chief recommendations of

the International Conference (p. 9), the National Insurance Act, Part

II., Amendment Bill (p. 115), the Milk and Dairies Bills (p. 115), and

a Housing Bill. This originally empowered the Board of Agriculture to

build cottages in rural districts at a cost of 3,000,000_l._ and to

house workmen at Rosyth (where the lack of houses was a scandal, at

a cost of 2,000,000_l._), but it was eventually cut down to apply to

Rosyth only, and subsequently extended again to provide employment

during the war (p. 182). An Importation of Plumage Bill, prohibiting

such importation in the case of certain foreign birds mercilessly

destroyed--often during the breeding season--was strongly supported by

zoologists and humanitarians, but opposed by the trade and by a very

few members as destroying British industry, and was drastically amended

in Committee and finally crowded out.

Among private members' Bills which became law, we may mention the

Education (Provision of Meals) Bill, extending the existing provision

(A.R., 1906, pp. 41, 252) to vacations and instituting it everywhere

in England and Wales; a non-party Agricultural Holdings Bill, giving

compensation to tenants for unreasonable disturbance with a view to the

sale of their holdings; a Grey Seals Protection Bill (saving a species

threatened with extinction), and a Bill prohibiting the exportation of

worn-out horses (in which there had been an extensive and very cruel

traffic to Belgium), unless they were certified not to be permanently

incapacitated for work, and requiring horses not so certified to be

slaughtered at the ports.

Among private members' Bills discussed and dropped were two Bills

restricting the sale of intoxicants on Sunday; a Weekly Rest Day Bill,

which the Commons rejected (May 21) by 117 to 105, mainly because it

was badly drafted; a Bill facilitating the further creation of small

holdings in Scotland; a Children's Employment and School Attendance

Bill, raising the age of leaving school to fifteen, enabling local

authorities to compel attendance at continuation schools, abolishing

half-time, and forbidding street trading to boys under fifteen and

girls under eighteen; this was strongly opposed by a small minority,

and dropped for want of time. A Unionist Housing Bill, setting up

a Housing Department of the Local Government Board and providing a

Government grant, preceded the first Government Housing Bill above

mentioned and failed through Ministerial refusal to provide the grant.

A Health Resorts and Watering Places Bill would have allowed local

authorities to advertise the attractions of their borough or urban

district to an extent limited by the yield of 1_d._ rate. It passed

its second reading in the Commons by 109 to 28. Four unsuccessful

essays at legislation in the House of Lords must also be mentioned--the

Criminal Law Amendment Bill for the better protection of young girls,

presented by the Bishop of London, greatly amended, and eventually

withdrawn; a Moneylenders Bill; Lord Newton's Betting Inducements Bill,

modified from that of 1913 (A.R., 1913, p. 196), which passed the House

of Lords; and Lord Gorell's Matrimonial Causes Bill, based on his

experience as Judge of the Probate and Divorce Division. This made the

grounds for divorce the same for both sexes, and allowed a marriage to

be nullified on account of insanity, incipient mental unsoundness, and

epilepsy; but after a debate of the usual character (July 28), it was

withdrawn to be reintroduced in 1915.

The Prime Minister had not waited for the prorogation to leave for

Edinburgh, where he spoke at a meeting of 3,500 persons, primarily

consisting of those eligible for the new Army, on September 18. Great

crowds were unable to enter, and were addressed either by him at an

overflow meeting or by speakers outside. Lord Provost Inches, who

presided, mentioned that Edinburgh had enlisted 11,000 men in the new

Army. Mr. Asquith began by referring to the origin of the war, and to

Sir Maurice de Bunsen's despatch (p. 215), as showing that, largely

through Sir Edward Grey's efforts, a peaceful settlement was already

in sight when, on July 31, Germany deliberately made war a certainty.

The only attempt to controvert the facts was by circulating such wanton

falsehoods as that France was beginning to violate Belgian territory.

England was at war (1) to vindicate the sanctity of treaty obligations

and the public law of Europe; (2) to assert the independence of small

States; (3) to withstand in the interest of civilisation the claim of

a single Power to dominate Europe. Rebutting the German charge that

England had never cared for treaties save in her own interest, he

quoted Pitt's speech in 1793 on the French annulment of the treaties

guaranteeing to Holland the navigation of the Scheldt, and cited Mr.

Gladstone's action regarding Belgium in 1870 and his vindication of

it at Edinburgh in 1880. The Germans practically did not contest

the British statement that their aim was to dominate Europe. They

avowedly believed that the supremacy of German culture was best for

the world. Mankind owed much to Germany, but her specific share in

the movement of the past thirty years had been intellectually the

development of the doctrine of the prerogative of material forces,

and, practically, primacy in the fabrication and multiplication of

means of destruction. To those accepting this gospel treaties were

merely pieces of parchment, and talk about the rights of the weak and

the obligations of the strong merely threadbare and nauseating cant.

Their creed had proved a purblind philosophy; they had miscalculated

the strength of the British Empire, the feelings of the Colonies and

India, the state of Great Britain. The fruits of this culture were seen

in their action in Belgium and France--Louvain, Malines, Termonde,

their proclamation at Reims. The British task might take months or

years, but the economic, monetary, and military and naval position was

encouraging; but more men were needed, and he eloquently appealed for

them, reminding them of their hardships and dangers, and of their noble

opportunity.

Next day the Chancellor of the Exchequer spoke for a similar purpose

at a meeting of Welshmen at the Queen's Hall, London. He said that no

man detested war more than himself, but it could not have been avoided

without national dishonour. France had respected Belgian neutrality

at Sedan at the cost of her own ruin; Prussia's interest was to break

the treaty, and she had done it. The German Chancellor called treaties

"scraps of paper." Then let them burn their bank-notes; they were only

scraps of paper. "What are they made of? Rags. What are they worth?

The whole credit of the British Empire." The machinery of the world's

commerce had stopped; it was moved by bills of exchange--wretched

little scraps of paper, which yet moved great ships with precious

cargoes across the world. What was the motive power behind them? The

honour of commercial men. Treaties were the currency of international

statesmanship. German merchants were as honourable as any, but if

the currency of German commerce was to be debased to that of her

statesmanship no trader would ever look at a German signature again.

The German doctrine was the straight road to barbarism. It was as if

one removed the magnetic pole whenever it was in the way of a German

cruiser. The tales about conspiracy of France and Belgium had been

vamped up afterwards. He dwelt on the outrages in Belgium, and on

the Austrian treatment of Servia; and he remarked that, the greatest

art, the most enduring literature, even the salvation of mankind had

come through little nations. He contrasted the Russian action to

free Bulgaria with Bismarck's saying that "Bulgaria was not worth

the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier." German civilisation was

hard and material; the Emperor claimed to be God's Viceregent; "there

has been nothing like it since the days of Mahomet." He did not mean

all his speeches, but the men around him did. They meant to destroy

Christianity; the new diet of the world they held was to be blood and

iron. Britain was not fighting the German people, who were under the

heel of the military caste. The Prussian Junker was "the road hog of

Europe." If the old British spirit was alive, that bully would be torn

from his seat. It would not be easy to beat them, but in the end we

should march through terror to triumph. It was a great opportunity, and

a greater blessing was emerging--a new patriotism, richer, nobler, more

exalted than the old. We had been living in a sheltered valley; the

stern hand of fate had scourged us to an elevation whence they could

see the great peaks of honour--Duty, Patriotism, Sacrifice. We should

descend again, but this generation would carry in their hearts "the

image of those great mountain peaks whose foundations are not shaken,

though Europe rock and sway in the convulsions of a great war."

Speaking at a recruiting meeting at Nottingham (Sept. 21) the Marquess

of Lansdowne attributed to Germany a design to establish a great

military despotism from the North Sea to the Adriatic, and described

the action of the Dominions and India as unparalleled in history. The

response to Lord Kitchener's appeal was magnificent, but two men in

training were needed for every one in the field. The First Lord of the

Admiralty on the same evening at Liverpool said that circumstances had

so far been unexpectedly favourable to the Allied cause; if the British

Empire had the time--and the Navy would give it--he thought, if its

resolution did not fail, it could finally settle the fight as it chose.

Without a battle, Great Britain was enjoying the advantages of a battle

in which the German Navy had been destroyed. If the German ships did

not come out, "they would be dug out like rats in a hole." Mr. F. E.

Smith and Mr. T. P. O'Connor spoke also, and it was announced that the

former was leaving for the front.

Mr. Churchill's speech, unfortunately, was promptly followed by the

sinking of three British cruisers in the North Sea, with a heavy loss

of officers and men; but encouragement was given by the news of the

daring British air raid on Cologne and Düsseldorf, by the indignation

roused throughout the civilised world by the German bombardment of

Reims Cathedral (_post_, Chron., Sept. 20, 22), and still more by the

announcement that, on the eleventh day of the Battle of the Aisne, the

Allies were gaining ground. No full account, however, was given of the

doings of the British Army in France till Sir John French's despatch

was published, October 19; and we may here continue the story (p. 199)

by summarising his account of the movement from the Marne to the Aisne.

The battle on September 6, he said, began on a front running

from Ermenonville through Lizy, Mauperthuis, Cortecon, Esternay,

Charleville, to a point north of Verdun. About noon a German retreat

began, and a series of battles followed till, on the evening of

September 10, the enemy, driven back to a line running from Compiègne

to Soissons, were preparing to dispute the passage of the Aisne. He

specially mentioned the forcing of the passage of the Petit Morin River

(Sept. 8) by the First British Corps, and of the Marne by the First

and Second Corps, and of the battle on September 10, when these Corps,

assisted by the Cavalry division on the right and the Third and Fifth

Cavalry Brigades on the left, drove the enemy northwards, capturing

thirteen guns, seven machine guns, some 2,000 prisoners, and much

transport.

A further despatch, dated October 8, but published with the first,

practically completed the history of the fighting on the Aisne. On

September 12, Sir John French stated, the enemy made a stand, and

prepared to dispute the passage of the river (somewhat to the east

of Soissons). The river valley, he explained, ran east and west; the

bottom was flat, the hills bordering it were about 400 feet high, with

numerous spurs and re-entrants; they were backed on the north by a

high plateau with patches of wood, admirably adapted for concealing

troops. The enemy held a very strong position on the north of the Aisne

(a winding stream, 170 feet wide, and unfordable), commanding all the

bridges, and with great facilities for concealment. On September 13

the British forces were ordered to advance and make good the Aisne.

Portions of them that day crossed at various points a distance of about

twelve miles from Bourg to Venizel (the latter some three miles east of

Soissons), with comparative ease on their right, with great difficulty

on their left, the Fifth Infantry Brigade, in particular, crossing in

single file under heavy fire on the broken and only remaining girder

of a bridge. The crossing was not completed till the evening of the

13th, when the enemy (though still holding some points on the Aisne)

effected a general retirement and entrenched on the high ground two

miles north of the river, leaving, however, detachments of infantry

supported by powerful artillery, in commanding points on the slopes

of the spurs of the high ground. The river was further bridged, under

heavy artillery fire, by the Royal Engineers, and on the 15th there was

a general advance, to ascertain whether the enemy intended to hold his

position or was only halting. This cannot here be described in detail;

a few points must suffice. The First Corps, under Sir Douglas Haig,

gained positions on that day by "skilful, bold, and decisive" action

which alone enabled the British forces to maintain their foothold on

the north bank during three weeks' severe fighting; the most difficult

part of this work was achieved, round Vendresse and Troyon, by the

Loyal North Lancashires, the Royal Sussex, the King's Royal Rifles, and

the Northamptons, reinforced by the Coldstream Guards. The enemy was

found to be making a determined stand against the Allies in a strongly

entrenched position along the whole line from Compiègne to Reims,

supported by heavy artillery set free by the fall of Maubeuge. The

British troops, therefore, had to entrench thoroughly, and eventually

to establish a regular system of relief in the trenches, the cavalry

men taking their turn, and also to obtain heavy howitzer batteries from

England, which were first used September 24. On the 16th the Army was

reinforced by the 6th Division. On the 17th, 18th, 19th, the Germans

heavily bombarded the trenches and the First Corps was heavily engaged;

on the 17th the Northamptons crept in mist to within 100 yards of the

enemy's trenches, and then cleared them with the bayonet; on the night

of the 18th the Gloucesters advanced near Chivy, filled in the German

trenches and took two Maxim guns. From the 23rd to the 26th the enemy

was less active; but on the 26th, and especially on the night of the

27th-28th, there were renewed German attacks, which were beaten off,

and were the last great German effort in the battle. Sir John French

eulogised the conduct alike of officers and men; the total casualties

in four weeks were 561 officers and 12,980 men, and the heavy rain and

cold during most of the battle imposed a severe tax on the endurance

of the troops. The German losses, it must be noted, were far heavier;

and after the end of September the German resistance died down and

permitted the removal of the British troops to Ypres.

All this was as yet only known vaguely; but a possible danger to London

had been impressed afresh on the public by the issue through the police

authorities of an Admiralty statement of the measures taken to protect

the capital against an air raid. More searchlights had been mounted, as

well as special guns; at Hendon aerodrome men and machines of the Naval

Air Service were held ready to pursue the raiders. Naval airships were

to pay surprise visits, to test the effectiveness of the diminution

of lighting; and for many months the darkness of the London streets,

the consequent reduction in evening performances at the theatres, and

(after the middle of November) the regulation that suburban trains must

have their blinds drawn after nightfall, served as a reminder of the

newest peril of modern war.

Besides all this, the conviction that Germany was essentially

responsible for the war had been, if that were possible, intensified;

first, by Sir Edward Grey's effective reply to a bungling attack

on the sincerity of Great Britain made through the Danish Press by

the German Chancellor (Sept. 15, 16), and next by the issue of two

important diplomatic publications: (1) Sir Maurice de Bunsen's lengthy

despatch (Sept. 16) which showed that the Austro-Hungarian Government

had pressed on the war against Serbia in harmony with the wishes of the

population of Vienna and other leading cities, and that Germany had by

her intervention destroyed the last hopes of a peaceful solution; (2)

the Russian Orange Book (Sept. 21; see _post_, For. Hist., Chap. II.,

III.).

It was amid these impressions that the Prime Minister addressed a great

meeting at the Round Room of the Dublin Mansion House on September 25,

the Lord Mayor in the chair. A small section of the National Volunteers

had issued an anti-recruiting manifesto in the morning, and police

and National Volunteers were ready to avert a disturbance, but these

precautions were not needed. Mr. Asquith, who had an enthusiastic

reception, said that he could base his title to speak on such service

as he had tried throughout his political life to render Ireland. The

Empire, as a family of nations, was united in defending principles

vital to it and to civilisation and the progress of mankind. The proofs

that Germany was responsible for the war were patent, manifold, and

overwhelming; Germany had been preparing for a generation past, and had

seized the opportunity of the Austro-Serbian dispute. But she made two

profound miscalculations; as to the resistance of Belgium--to which

he paid an eloquent tribute--and as to the attitude of England. She

believed England to be paralysed by domestic disaffection and without

interest in the conflict. But England had at stake her plighted word

and the maintenance of the whole system of international goodwill. In

1870 Mr. Gladstone had said that "the greatest triumph of our time

would be the enthronement of public right as the governing idea of

European politics." That meant that the small nations must have as

good a title as the large ones to a place in the sun, and finally the

establishment of a real European partnership, based on the recognition

of equal right and established and enforced by a common will. The

victory of the Allies would bring this within the range of European

statesmanship. The cause of the small nations specially appealed to

Ireland. Let her take her share in the war. The British Empire had

always been proud of its Irish regiments and their leaders; and he

specially appealed to the National Volunteers (after a brief reference

to the contests which had become unthinkable) to form an Irish Brigade,

or, better still, an Irish Army Corps. Local associations would be

maintained as far as possible, and officers of the Volunteers might

receive commissions. He was certain that the Volunteers would become

an integral part of the defensive forces of the Crown. Old animosities

were dead; what was needed was the free-will offering of a free people.

The Earl of Meath, the Unionist Lord-Lieutenant of co. Dublin, also

spoke; and Mr. John Redmond said that Ireland would feel bound in

honour to take her place beside the other autonomous portions of the

King's Dominions. She had been profoundly moved by the sufferings of

Belgium, and he had promised Cardinal Mercier that Irishmen would

avenge Louvain. Ireland's highest material interests were at stake in

the war. After referring to the high proportion of Irishmen in the Army

from the Peninsular War onwards he said that Ireland wanted an Irish

Army Corps, and at the same time the Irish National Volunteers would be

kept intact, and would be an inexhaustible source of strength to the

new Army Corps and Army. Speaking for an overwhelming majority of the

Nationalists, he said to the Prime Minister and Great Britain: "You

have kept faith with Ireland; Ireland will keep faith with you." The

Lord-Lieutenant, the Chief Secretary, Mr. Dillon, and Mr. Devlin spoke

also, and the meeting closed with the singing of "God Save the King,"

"God Save Ireland," and "A Nation Once Again."

A day earlier the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in an impromptu speech

at Criccieth, had mentioned that France and England had agreed that

each should lend Belgium 10,000,000_l._ without interest, and that

the Bank of England had been ready to let him have 40,000,000_l._ or

more; and he urged Wales to be forward in recruiting for this eminently

righteous war. He repeated this appeal at a great meeting in Cardiff

(Sept. 29) called to promote the raising of a separate Welsh Army

Corps. Wales, he said, would have under compulsory service to raise

250,000 men; it ought to provide 40,000 to 50,000 volunteers for the

new Army. The war must be national, and conviction was essential to

confidence. It was no picnic; but their war memories would compensate

them. The Welsh were not a martial race; but neither were the men

who composed Cromwell's Ironsides. If they failed through timidity,

ignorance or indolence Welshmen would be unable to live down their evil

repute for generations. In two months 36,000 men had joined the Army

from Wales. If Welshmen came out manfully, the sons of Wales would have

laid up for their native land treasures of honour and glory.

On the previous day, September 28, Belfast had celebrated the second

anniversary of Ulster Day, which had not been dropped owing to the

alleged breach by the Government of the "truce" (p. 204). But the

proceedings were very largely a demonstration of a broader patriotism.

Sir Edward Carson, indeed, announced that after the war he proposed to

summon the Provisional Government, which would repeal the Home Rule

Act as affecting Ulster and enact simultaneously that the Volunteers

should carry out this decision; meanwhile, let them throw themselves

whole-heartedly into the patriotic action demanded by the time. And

Mr. Bonar Law, at a great demonstration that evening, after giving

a formal pledge that the whole Unionist party would support Ulster

unconditionally; repeated that Ulstermen had no ill-will to their

Catholic fellow-countrymen, and went on to deal with the war. The

meeting was called to stimulate Ulstermen to join the Army; such

hesitation as there had been at first was due to the suddenness of the

war, and it had not lasted long. The pressure put on individuals to

join seemed to him detestable, and was utterly unnecessary. The Germans

had been shown that we were not a decadent nation. We had reason to

be proud of the Army, the Volunteers, and the spirit shown throughout

the Empire. After urging the need of better allowances for dependants

of soldiers, Mr. Bonar Law described the war as one of the greatest

of crimes, due to one nation and largely to one man. The Germans had

pulled down their spiritual altars and erected a temple to naked Force.

It was Napoleonism without Napoleon. Apart from their Army they had

made every possible mistake--with Italy, with Belgium, in neutral

countries, as regarded the Dominions and India. The British people had

no desire to humiliate the German people, but they were determined that

the dread spectre that had haunted them should not do so again, and

that the law of right, not of might, should govern the world.