and, since September last, in Belgium and Flanders.  In her capacity as ministrant to wounded soldiers she has gained a unique experience of the horrors of war, and in order to bring home the realities of the situation, at the instigation of Lady Bute, she consented to address a number of meetings in South Wales.

At the meeting on Monday night the Lord Mayor (Alderman J. T. Richards) presided, and in introducing Miss Macnaughtan to the audience announced that for her services in Belgium the honour of the Order of Leopold had been conferred upon her. (Applause.) We were engaged, he said, in fighting a war of right.  We were not fighting only for the interests of England and our Empire, but we were fighting for the interests of humanity at large. ("Hear, hear.”)

Miss Macnaughtan, in the course of her address, referred to the origin of the war, and how suddenly it came upon the people of this nation, who were, for the most part, engaged in summer holidays at the time.  She knew what was going on at the front, and knew what the Welch Regiment had been doing, and “I must tell you,” she added, “of the splendid way in which your regiment has behaved, and how proud Cardiff must be of it.”  We knew very well now that this war had been arranged by Germany for many years.  The Germans used to profess exceeding kindness to us, and were received on excellent terms by our Royal House, but the veil was drawn away from that nation’s face, and we had it revealed as an implacable foe.  The Germans had spoken for years in their own country about “The Day,” and now “The Day” had arrived, and it was for everyone a day of judgment, because it was a test of character.  We had to put ourselves to the test.  We knew that for some time England had not been at her best.  Her great heart was beating true all the time, but there had crept into England a sort of national coldness and selfishness, and a great deal too much seriousness in the matter of money and money-getting.  Although this was discounted in great measure by her generosity, we appeared to the world at large as a greedy and money-getting nation.

However this might be, in all parts of the world the word of an Englishman was still as good as his bond. ("Hear, hear.”) Yet England, with its strikes and quarrels and class hatred, and one thing and another, was not at its best.  It was well to admit that, just as they admitted the faults of those they loved best.

Had any one of them failed to rally round the flag?  Had they kept anything back in this great war?  She hoped not.  The war had tested us more than anything else, and we had responded greatly to it; and the young manhood had come out in a way that was remarkable.  We knew very well that when the war was begun we were quite unprepared for it; but she would tell them this, that our army, although small, was the finest army that ever took the field. (Applause.)