Army’s Glorious Record.

If we turn to our army [cheers] we can say with equal justice and pride that during these weeks it has rivaled 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 afterward. [Cheers,]

But splendid achievements such as these—­equally splendid in retirement and in advance ["Hear, hear!"]—­cannot be won without a heavy expenditure of life and limb, of equipment and supplies.  Even now, at this very 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 springtime of their young lives.  We will not mourn for them overmuch.  One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name. [Cheers.]

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 was necessary in food, in stores, and in equipment.  They will very soon be reinforced by regular troops from India, from Egypt, and the Mediterranean, and in due time by the contingents which our dominions are furnishing with such magnificent patriotism and liberality. [Cheers.]

Eager Territorials.

We have with us here our own gallant territorials, becoming every day a fitter and a finer force, eager and anxious to respond to any call either at home or abroad that may be made upon them. [Cheers.] But that is not enough.  We must do still more.  Already, in little more than a month, we have 500,000 recruits for the four new armies which, as Lord Kitchener told the country yesterday, he means to have ready to bring into the field.  In a single day we have had as many men enlist 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 overstrained, and 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 which was announced in Parliament yesterday [cheers] will do much to mitigate the lot of wives and children and dependents who are left behind. [Cheers.]

We want more men, and, perhaps most of all, the help for training them.  Every one in the whole of this kingdom who has in days gone by, as officer or as non-commissioned officer, served his country never had a greater or more fruitful opportunity for service than is presented to him today. [Cheers.] We appeal to the manhood of the three kingdoms.  To such an appeal I know well, coming from your senior representative in the House of Commons, that Scotland will not turn a deaf ear. [Cheers.]