That, like Mr. Keir Hardie's remark, strikes us as altogether
otiose. Of course, if the people of this country decide not to have compulsion they will not have it. If they do decide on compulsion there is no reason to suppose that the army for home defence raised thereby will differ from other armies raised by compulsion, i.e., the armies of Bulgaria, Servia, or Greece, military machines which have certainly not proved themselves to be negligible quantities. Colonel Seely ended 'with the statement that though he stood for the voluntary system, he hoped that everyone who voted against the Bill would realize that there had been a failure in achievement. There must be no shirking. If we were to try and epitomize Colonel Seely's speech in a single sentence it would be : "There is not the slightest danger—at present, but if we do not buck up immediately we are irretrievably lost."
Previous page
