We very deeply regret the continuance of the attacks on
Lord Haldsne—attacks of which an example is to be found in certain questions put to the Prime Minister during the past week. If those questions were meant—as apparently they were—to convey the suggestion that Lord Haldane is unworthy to serve his country, we can only say that the questioner was not only ungenerous but foolish and ignorant. Lord Haldane was never a pacificist, and never willing to sacrifice the interests of his country to those of Germany. His fault was to believe in the existence of a peace party in Germany, or, rather, to believe that its influence was worth a moment's consideration. To regard his miscalculation as unpatriotio is, however, grossly unjust. It is equally unjust to forget the excellent work done for the Army by Lord Haldane. It is to him we owe the Territorial organization, and also the organization of the Expeditionary Force. Again, it is to hint we owe the system of Voluntary Aid Detachments —institutions without which we could not have dealt with our wounded. Lastly, it is to him that we owe the National Reserve. If he did not originate that force, he made it a living thing by his recognition and encouragement. It added some two hundred thousand men to the Army. To forget all this, and to pursue him with what Burke called "a hunt of obloquy," is ignoble—a cause of shame to all self-respecting men,
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