I was distressed by this advice, knowing how impossible it
would be to convince the Inner Cabinet of its wisdom. I suggested that our vast rearmament programme and our introduction of conscription must surely have impressed German and Continental opinion. They smiled. They said that people upon the Continent believed that the Military Training Act was no more than a sponge-cake thrown to the House of Commons and that, owing to the number of conscientious objectors, the opposition in the country and the rejection of the medically unfit, even this feeble gesture had proved a failure. I was indignant at this assertion. I produced the figures. By June 23rd, 234,207 young men had been registered; the number of conscientious objectors did not total more than 1.77 per cent.; of those medically examined up to date not less than 83.3 per cent.
had been placed in Grade I. Nor was this all. The Ministry of Labour, who had had twenty years experience of mass registration, had assured me only the day before that never in their experience had such willingness been shown. There was no doubt at all that at least 90 per cent. of the population were in favour of Military Training. I admitted, of course, that in this country success and unanimity were not News ; it is faction and disagreement which fills the headlines. Yet in truth the experiment had been a triumphant success. They were impressed by my vehemence.
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