those dead heroes of the Retreat from Mons—­could they comes back to see it!  We are not satisfied with it yet—­hence the unrest in Parliament and the Press—­we shall never be satisfied—­till Germany has accepted the terms of the Allies.  But those who know England best have no doubt whatever as to the temper of the nation which has so far “improvised the impossible,” in the setting up of this machine, and means, in the end, to get out of it what it wants.

The temper of the nation?  In this last letter let me take some samples of it.  First—­what have the rich been doing?  As to money, the figures of the income-tax, the death-duties, and the various war loans are there to show what they have contributed to the State.  The Joint War Committee of the Red Cross and the St. John’s Ambulance Association have collected—­though not, of course, from the rich only—­close on 4,000,000 sterling (between $18,000,000 and $19,000,000), and the Prince of Wales Fund nearly 6,000,000 ($30,000,000).  The lavishness of English giving, indeed, in all directions during the last two years, could hardly I think have been outdone.  A few weeks ago I walked with the Duke of Bedford through the training and reinforcement camp, about fifteen miles from my own home in the country, which he himself commands and which, at the outbreak of war, he himself built without waiting for public money or War Office contractors, to house and train recruits for the various Bedfordshire regiments.  The camp holds 1,200 men, and is ranged in a park where the oaks—­still standing—­were considered too old by Oliver Cromwell’s Commissioners to furnish timber for the English Navy.  Besides ample barrack accommodation in comfortable huts, planned so as to satisfy every demand whether of health or convenience, all the opportunities that Aldershot offers, on a large scale, are here provided in miniature.  The model trenches with the latest improvements in plan, revetting, gun-emplacements, sally-ports, and the rest, spread through the sandy soil; the musketry ranges, bombing and bayonet schools are of the most recent and efficient type.  And the Duke takes a keen personal interest in every man in training, follows his progress in camp, sees him off to the front, and very often receives him, when wounded, in the perfectly equipped hospital which the Duchess has established in Woburn Abbey itself.  Here the old riding-school, tennis-court, and museum, which form a large building fronting the abbey, have been turned into wards as attractive as bright and simple colour, space, flowers, and exquisite cleanliness can make them.  The Duchess is herself the Matron in charge, under the War Office, keeps all the records, is up at half past five in the morning, and spends her day in the endless doing, thinking, and contriving that such a hospital needs.  Not very far away stands another beautiful country house, rented by Mr. and Mrs. Whitelaw Reid when they were in England.  It also is a hospital, but its owner, Lord Lucas, not