On Friday week Lord Roberts addressed a great meeting at
Wolverhampton on National Service. Among the audience were a great many Liberals and working-men Radicals, yet hardly a dissentient voice was raised against the resolution. Lord Roberts said that the army recommended by the National Service League would ensure " equality in arms," which was an essential principle in a democratic country. Garrison work and the help abroad which we should owe to a Continental ally would monopolize the strength of the Regular Army in war. What would be left to guard our shores P Only the Territorial Force, which in its present condition of training would be mere "food for shrapnel." Courage would avail nothing if discipline were absent. The valour of ignorance was the most tragic of all forms of valour. What the National Service League demanded was emphati- cally not "conscription." It had never been suggested that
compulsion should be used in the case of foreign service. Finally, a compulsorily trained Territorial Force would not be used in the suppression of strikes. A bare summary cannot do justice to the sincerity and force with which Lord Roberta spoke, and which moved his audience to enthusiasm.
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