troops. [Hear, hear.] It is a comparatively easy thing—do not forget this—it is a comparatively easy thing to make great efforts and sacrifices under the stress and strain which we are now experiencing of a supreme crisis. Territorials, without any such stimulus, in the piping times of peace, when war and the sufferings and struggles and glories of war were contingent and remote—these men gave their time, sacrificed their leisure, and underwent not only their annual training, but in thousands of cases, both of officers and men, devoted their spare hours all through the year to prepare themselves in the study and practice of the art of war. They have now been embodied for two months, and I am expressing the considered opinion of some of our most eminent generals when I say that the divisions now in camp in various parts of the country, improving every day in efficiency, completely justify their title to play any part which may be assigned to them, either in home defence, in the manning of our garrisons, or in the battle line at the front. [Hear, hear.]
It is, then, no want of appreciation of the patriotism and of the efficiency of the Territorial Force that leads me to ask you to-night for recruits for the Regular Army. We wish—let me make that clear to you here—we wish, so far as military exigencies permit, that the new battalions and squadrons and batteries should retain their local associations and their corporate and distinctive national character. [Hear, hear.] Why, gentlemen, the freedom and autonomy of the smaller nationalities is one of the great issues in this gigantic contest. I went a week ago to Dublin to make an appeal to Ireland, and I asked Irishmen then, as I do now on behalf of the Government and of the War Office, to enlist in, and make up the complement of an Irish army corps. I repeat that appeal to-night to the men of Wales. [Cheers.] We want them—we want you to fill up the ranks of a Welsh army corps. [Cheers.]
We believe that the preservation of local and national ties, and the genius of a people which has a history of its own, is not only not hostile to, nor inconsistent with, but, on the contrary, fosters and strengthens and stimulates the spirit of a common purpose, of a corporate brotherhood, and of an underlying and binding Imperial unity throughout every section and among all ranks of the forces of the Crown.
Men of Wales, of whom I see so many thousands in this splendid gathering—men of Wales, let me say one last word to you: Remember your past. [Applause.] Think of the
