Another "crab" of the National Reserve may be noticed. People
who are driven by farts from every other form of belittling the Reserve any that after all it was quite useless because the men would all have come forward just the same even if there had been no National Reserve. That, of course, is a pure delusion. A good many old soldiers would have come forward, no doubt, but probably not half the number, and even then there would have been far greater difficulty in organizing them and getting them into shape. They would naturally have been a great deal more raw and rusty than the National Reservists. The fact that the military authorities were in touch through the Territorial Associations with the National Reservists, knew their names and addresses, and could put their hands upon them at three or four hours' notice was an enormous advantage. Again, the fact that the majority of the National Reservists had already donea good deal in the way of drills, route marches, and musketry practice, and bad had the military spirit generally revived in them, was of no small importance.
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