strength will grow. [Cheers.] If we turn to our Army—[cheers]—we can say with equal justice and pride that during these weeks it has rivalled the most glorious records of its past. [Cheers.] Sir John French—[cheers]—and his gallant officers and men live in our hearts, as they will live in the memories of those who come after us. [Cheers.]
But splendid achievements—[cheers]—such as these—equally splendid in retirement and in advance—[cheers]—cannot be won without a heavy expenditure of life and limb and of equipment and supply. Even now at this early stage I suppose there is hardly a person here who is not suffering from anxiety and suspense. Some of us are plunged in sorrow for the loss of those we love, cut off, some of them, in the spring-time of their young lives. We will not mourn for them over much. "One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name." [Cheers.] But these gaps have to be filled. The wastage of modern war is relentless and almost inconceivable.
We have—I mean His Majesty's Government have—since the war began, dispatched to the front already considerably over 200,000 men—[cheers]—and the amplest provision has been made for keeping them supplied with all that is necessary in food, in stores, and in equipment. They will very soon be reinforced by Regular troops from India—[cheers]—from Egypt, and the Mediterranean, and in due time by the contingents, which our Dominions are furnishing with such magnificent patriotism and loyalty—[cheers]—and our own gallant Territorials, becoming every day a fitter and a finer force, and eager and anxious to respond to any call, either at home or abroad, that may be made upon them. [Cheers.] But, gentlemen, this is not enough. We must do still more. Already in little more than a month we have half a million recruits for the four new armies which as Lord Kitchener—[cheers]—told the country he means to have ready to bring into the field.
Enlisting as we were last week in a single day as many men as we have been accustomed to enlist in the course of a whole year, it is not, I think, surprising that the machinery has been over-strained, and that there have been many cases of temporary inconvenience and hardship and discomfort. With time and patience and good organization these things will be set right, and the new scale of allowances—[cheers]—which was announced in Parliament yesterday, will do much to mitigate the lot of the wives and children and dependents who are
