It is well known that Lord Esher has supported the
voluntary principle most loyally as long as he felt able to do so. He has worked extremely hard to make the Territorial scheme a success, but he has to admit at last that the facts appear to be against him. "The view," he says, "that we hare reached the limit of the nation's yield for the Territorial Force may be the true view, and, if so, what graver decision lies before the electorate than to choose between leaving the forces of the country below the minimum admitted by every one to be necessary and imposing by law upon our children the duty to bear arms in its defence ? " We are very glad to welcome Lord Esher, as we presume we may, though his conclusion is not very definite, as a convert to the policy of national service. Compulsory military training for home defence would be an untold benefit to the physique and the self-respect of the country, and it would remove all the unfairness of the present system under which an employer who sets his men free for a voluntary training is handicapped in his business. We are sure that Lord Esher is only the advance guard of many thoughtful and patriotic men who are coming to see that national service is the easy solution of all
our difficulties. a
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