At question time the greatest interest has been shown in
matters concerning the Local Defence Volunteers and other methods for dealing with attacks from overseas. For the first time since 1805, when Napoleon's great army was assembled at Boulogne, we are grimly considering the imminent threat of invasion of our own islands. It is well that that prospect should be most seriously considered in all its aspects. But there is no reason for panic. The temper of the House as a whole is firm and steady, but in the corridors and smoking rooms there is a small choir of Cassandras whose services could well be dispensed with. We do no service to our fighting men or to anyone else by eagerly passing round all the most gloomy rumours and the most dismal anticipations. The " chatter- bugs," as Mr. Harold Nicolson aptly described them, can be a menace.
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