In his speech on War Memorials in the House of
Lords on Wednesday Lord Chatfield dwelt more on what we should com- memorate—there is little room for disagreement here—than on the much more vexed question of how to commemorate it. There are clearly two conceptions, capable of being opposed, but equally capable of being reconciled. A recent writer, a little carried away by false analogies, called for a combination of the utile with the bellum. At least in this matter we can extract the utile, and equally the pulchrum, from the bellum. If the kind of appeal that could be made is made, the funds subscribed should be amply sufficient for the provision in London—obviously in London—of "a beautifully laid-out space with a shrine, conveying to posterity by its beauty and nobility the spiritual nature of our struggle " (Lord Chatfield's words) and, in addition, of some great enterprise for the physical and mental welfare of the people. There is one aspect of the shrine idea which appeals to me, though the idea may be quite impracticable. If an architect could so design it I should like to see the shrine so planned that in every future year of peace some small addition, if it were only of a single stone, bearing the year's date, could be made. It could be unveiled at an annual commemoration as a reminder of gratitude due not merely for peace restored but for peace maintained.
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