ment or discouragement to the Territorial Force. The number of units in that force who have volunteered for foreign service is most satisfactory, and grows every day.
We look to them with confidence to increase their numbers, to perfect their organization and training, and to play efficiently the part which has always been assigned to them, both offensive and defensive, in the military system of the Empire.
But to go back to the expansion of the Regular Army. We want more men—[cheers]—men of the best fighting quality, and if for a moment the number who offer and are accepted should prove to be in excess of those who can at once be adequately trained and equipped, do not let them doubt that prompt provision will be made for the incorporation of all willing and able men in the fighting forces of the King. [Cheers.] We want, first of all, men, and we shall endeavour to secure that men desiring to serve together shall, wherever possible, be allotted to the same regiment or corps. [Cheers.] The raising of battalions by counties and municipalities with this object will be in every way encouraged. But we want not less urgently a larger supply of ex-non-commissioned officers, and the pick of the men with whom in past days they have served, and therefore whom in most cases we shall be asking to give up regular employment and to return to the work of the State which they alone are competent to do. The appeal we make is addressed quite as much to their employers as to the men themselves. [Cheers.] The men ought surely to be assured of reinstatement to their positions at the end of the war.
And, finally, there are numbers of commissioned officers now in retirement who have had large experience in handling troops, who have served their country in the past. Let them come forward too, and show their willingness, if need be, to train bodies of men for whom for the moment no regular cadre or unit can be found.
Of the actual progress of the war I will say nothing except that in my judgment, in whatever direction we look, there is abundant ground for pride and comfort. [Cheers.] I say nothing more, because I think we should bear in mind, all of us, that we are at present watching the fluctuations of fortune only in the early stages of what is going to be a protracted struggle. We must learn to take long views and to cultivate above all other faculties those of patience, endurance, and steadfastness. Meanwhile, let us go, each of us, to do his or her appropriate part in the great common task. Never had
