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6—­The illustrated war news, Nov. 18, 1914.

[Illustration:  The “Niger’s” Captain, who stayed on the bridge to the last though badly wounded:  Lieut.-Commander A.P.  Muir.]

When the “Niger” was torpedoed, Captain Muir was on the bridge and was severely injured by the explosion, but remained at his post till every officer and man had left the ship.  He was taken ashore at Deal in a boat and had to be at once placed in hospital.—­[Photo. by Russell.]

Most bitterly hated, but at the same time most formidable—­as the Germans themselves now generally admit, and hence all those tears of rage—­hinc illae lacrymae.  Even when the Prussian Guards—­not to speak of the vaunted Brandenburgers and Bavarians—­can make no impression on the British lines in Belgium, it should at last break in upon the German General Staff that they are somewhat out in their calculations.  The word “contemptible” is never used now in relation to Sir John French’s army, and it will be used still less when this army shall have been reinforced by the million of men apart altogether from the Territorials which are now under training to supplement it, while a further million has now, in turn, been asked for and will be cheerfully raised, with the help of the additional vote of credit for L250,000,000—­which was just about the cost of the Boer War, and L25,000,000 more than the French indemnity of 1870—­which will be willingly granted by Parliament for the conduct of a war that is said to be costing us about L7,000,000 a week.  When a young man throws all his soul into his training and ardently wants to become a soldier, his progress will be at least three times as quick as that of the dull, driven conscript; and that is why Lord Kitchener has told us that the new million-man’d army which popularly bears his name, though it might just as well be called after the King—­has already been making a wonderful advance towards field-efficiency.

[Illustration:  Sunk by A German submarine in the Downs:  H.M.S.  “Niger.”]

The “Niger,” a torpedo-gunboat of 810 tons, built in 1892, was torpedoed by a German submarine while lying off Deal about noon on the 11th, and foundered.  The Admiralty stated:  “All the officers and 77 of the men were saved; two of the men are severely and two slightly injured.  It is thought there was no loss of life.”—­[Photo. by L.N.A.]