The following lists of maximum retail prices were agreed on by the Advisory Committee:—

The prices of sugar were conditional on supplies being obtainable at the prices submitted by wholesale merchants. Sugar had jumped up from 15s. to 38s. per cwt. owing to the war. Of flour and imported meat there was no shortage. A Special Committee, with Sir Ailwyn Fellowes as chairman, was appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Foodstuffs and held its first meeting on August 10. But there proved to be little for it to do. The harvest, too, was promising, and the weather, except for one short spell of cold and some rain early in August, exceptionally fine.

In one other respect there was, for a long time, a considerable alarm. Many stories had been circulated during recent years as to the presence of an army of German spies in Great Britain, and even of the existence of a host of German reservists, for whom arms were said to be stored in London and elsewhere for immediate use at the outbreak of an Anglo-German War (A.R., 1909, p. 117). Some provision against these dangers was made by the posting of Territorial troops (and in some cases Boy Scouts and Scoutmasters) to guard railways, bridges, and waterworks, and by the formation of a force of special constables within the Metropolitan police area. That there was some ground for fear had been shown by the numerous trials for espionage; and the feeling, intensified by jealousy of the Germans as trade rivals, continued to find expression in a portion of the Press. Owing to the necessity of secrecy imposed by pending trials for espionage, it was not till October that the Home Department could defend itself fully against the charge of inaction. But on the outbreak of war the Aliens Restriction Act enabled the Government both to require all enemy alien residents to register, and to restrict their freedom of movement and residence; and an official statement was published later (Oct. 9) of the steps taken to check espionage. In 1909 a special Intelligence Department had been established for that purpose by the Admiralty and War Office, and had since acted in close touch with the police; the law was amended and extended by the Official Secrets Act, 1911, and the ramifications of the German spy system in England were discovered in 1911-14. Despite immense efforts and lavish expenditure, the German Government had got little information of value. The agents were watched and shadowed, and arrested only when plans or documents of value were about to be sent abroad. On August 4 twenty-one known spies were arrested, and 200 suspects noted and mostly interned. Any fresh organisation was impeded by a postal and cable censorship; certain areas were cleared under the Act above-mentioned; aliens were forbidden to possess wireless or signalling apparatus or homing pigeons; private wireless stations were forbidden, and a special system devised of wireless detection. The Defence of the Realm Act (p. 181) made espionage a military offence. The success of these measures was shown by the ignorance of the German generals on August 21 of the despatch a fortnight earlier of the British Expeditionary Force. The writers of letters to the Press alleging cases of espionage had been unable effectively to assist the police. Owners of homing pigeons had been registered, and the importation of the birds or their conveyance by rail prohibited. No trace had been found of a conspiracy to commit outrage; no bombs, and practically no effective arms had been found after search; and 9,000 Germans and Austrians of military age were held in detention camps as prisoners of war.

The interruption of national intercourse had made itself acutely felt in other ways. Alien enemies not of military age were allowed to leave Great Britain up to August 10 by certain specified ports, but after that date only with special permits; but graver difficulties arose with the hosts of British and American travellers for health or pleasure on the Continent who were cut off by the declaration of war. From Germany and Austria some hurried back at once without much difficulty, others experienced hardships and even brutality from the German officials and populace; those were in worst case who tried to pass from Germany into Belgium after the invasion had begun. But many British subjects, even invalids at health resorts, with their families, were detained in Germany and Austria, while those of military age were treated as prisoners of war. The care of British subjects was confided to the American Embassies and Consulates, but their friends in England were rarely able to communicate with them. By August 8 it appeared that France and Belgium were almost emptied of British tourists. But Switzerland, as usual, contained a host of them, whose letters of credit, cheques, and even British coin, were now refused, and who were unable to return owing to the stoppage of ordinary traffic on the French railways through mobilisation. But the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs was able to state in the Commons on August 11 that funds had been advanced to His Majesty's representatives at Berne, Lausanne, and Paris, to relieve the more pressing necessities of British subjects stranded abroad, and provide for their return. Some of those in Switzerland came by sea from Genoa; most, however, reached England only in the first days of September, by special trains, but after much discomfort and delay. Had war broken out a few days later, however, the numbers would have been far greater.

The case of American tourists for a time seemed even worse. The number in Europe at the outbreak of the war was estimated at 80,000; and they were impeded, not only on their way to England, but by the irregularity of the services across the Atlantic, and by the interruption of the international exchanges between New York and London. A Committee was formed to deal with them; it sat at the Savoy Hotel, and arrangements were made to cash letters of credit. But the liners leaving for the United States were overcrowded; even the steerage was given up to cabin passengers; berths were sold by holders at a huge premium, and a group of Americans even bought a steamer, the Viking, and charged 100l. to 125l. for passages. The Committee, however, did excellent work both in relieving the needs of the stranded passengers and repatriating them, and by the end of August the worst was over.

Meantime the Churches had done their part in impressing on the people the gravity of the situation, the need for endurance and sacrifice, and the righteousness of the British cause. On August 6 a Form of Public Intercession authorised by the Archbishops and Bishops was circulated to all incumbents in England and Wales for use on August 9, the first Sunday of the war; and on that day crowded and reverent congregations filled the places of worship of all denominations throughout the country, and special sermons were preached emphasising the coming trial and the duty of the nation. Friday, August 21, was appointed as a special Day of Intercession for the soldiers and sailors, frequent services were held at the churches and chapels throughout the kingdom; the King and Queen attended the afternoon service at Westminster Abbey; and the day was observed by the Roman Catholic Church and the Free Churches generally. With very rare exceptions, which included neither the Society of Friends nor the great mass of pacifists, the British people had made up its mind that the war was just and righteous, that it must go on at all costs till the arrogance of Prussian militarism was finally humbled, and that no peace would be acceptable which did not secure a general reduction of armaments and a better method of settling national disputes. It must be in short "a war to end war."

Meanwhile public feeling was encouraged by the checks given to the German invaders at Haelen and Liège, by the French advance in Alsace, and by the announcements (Aug. 12, 13) that twenty-four British and some French cruisers were searching for the five German cruisers known to be in the Atlantic, and that that ocean was clear of enemy warships as far south as Trinidad. On the other hand, the Admiralty warned shipowners that the North Sea had been rendered unsafe by the promiscuous strewing of German mines in it; but the Danish steamers were diverted from Harwich to more northern ports, and one at least of the Dutch regular services to London suffered little interruption.

The area of the war also continued to extend. War had been declared on August 12 between Great Britain and Austria-Hungary, not from any direct cause of quarrel, but through the menace of the latter towards France; and the Austrian Embassy was sent home by the British Government in a specially chartered liner to Genoa. The breach with a Power long friendly to Great Britain was generally regretted. On the other hand, the Germans had put themselves in the wrong at starting, and their conduct in Belgium exasperated British feeling more and more. The German feeling was expressed in an alleged proclamation—published in England at the end of September, but issued August 16, though its authenticity was denied at Berlin—in which the Kaiser directed his troops to "annihilate the contemptible little English army."

The arrival in France of the British Expeditionary Force was announced officially in England on August 18, though the French papers had published the news of its arrival ten days earlier on the authority of the French War Office. The delay had given rise to disquieting rumours, and it was officially stated that no casualties had as yet taken place among the troops. The route taken was mainly by way of Southampton to Havre and Boulogne; and it was learnt from the naval despatches (Oct. 23) that two destroyers and the eighth submarine flotilla had watched continuously to attack the German fleet had it interfered. The South-Western Railway Company dealt with the huge traffic admirably. At the same time (Aug. 18) there were published a Message from the King and Instructions from Earl Kitchener. The former, delivered before their departure, was as follows:—

The following instructions were issued by Lord Kitchener to every soldier in the Expeditionary Army, to be kept in his active service pay-book:—

The concentration of the Expeditionary Force in France was completed on August 21; but it was not till some days later that its location was even approximately known. Meanwhile the hopes set up in England by the earlier accounts from France and Belgium gradually gave place to anxiety as the Germans occupied Liège and advanced to Brussels, and the French retired in Alsace; and the sudden and as yet unexplained fall of Namur (Aug. 25) caused dismay. This event, it was announced, necessitated the retirement of a portion of the Allied troops from the line of the Sambre to their original defensive position on the Franco-Belgian frontier; but the British position was not fully revealed till Sir John French's despatch was published (Sept. 10). On August 22, he stated, he had moved the troops to positions for commencing operations in pursuance of General Joffre's plans (apparently to cover the French left on the Sambre). They occupied a line of about twenty-five miles in length from Condé westwards through Mons to Binche, the Second Corps extending from Condé and Mons, the first from Mons to Binche, the 6th cavalry brigade on the extreme right at Binche. After cavalry reconnaissances on August 22 and 23, the actual engagement began at 3 P.M. on the 23rd; but, having believed himself faced only by one or at most two German Army Corps, he learnt at 6 P.M. from General Joffre that there were at least three—a reserve corps and the 4th and 9th Corps, while a fourth was engaged in a turning movement on his left flank, and the French on his right were retiring before the Germans, who on the 22nd had secured the passages of the Sambre between Charleroi and Namur. He therefore began to retire at daybreak to the line Jeulain-Maubeuge, some ten miles farther back, a position previously surveyed, but difficult to hold, and reached it before nightfall. During this retirement the Second Cavalry Brigade, under General De Lisle, attempted a flank attack on the enemy's infantry, but was stopped by a wire entanglement, and the 9th Lancers and 18th Hussars suffered severely. Supported by the 19th Infantry Brigade, the Second Corps, under General Smith-Dorrien effected a retreat, but with two German corps on its front and one threatening the flank, it suffered great loss. From the new position, however, a retreat was necessitated by the efforts of the enemy to outflank the British force and drive it on Maubeuge, and on the 25th a further retirement was effected to a line some sixteen miles to the S.S.W., running from Cambrai by Le Câteau to Landrecies. The 4th Infantry Division now came up to assist; and the First Corps reached Landrecies at about 10 P.M. But the enemy, though much exhausted, came on, and the 4th Guards Brigade in Landrecies were heavily attacked by the 9th German Army Corps, which itself suffered tremendous loss in the narrow streets. Meanwhile the First Corps, under Sir Douglas Haig, was heavily engaged south and east of Maroilles; but, mainly through his skill, and with the assistance of two French reserve divisions, it was extricated in the night and resumed its march at dawn. The next day, August 26th, was the most critical. At daybreak it became apparent that the enemy was throwing his main strength against the left of the position occupied by the Second Corps and the 4th Division; General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien could not continue to retire, and no support could be sent him, nor had there been time properly to entrench the position; but the troops showed a magnificent front to a terrible fire, the Artillery, outnumbered by four to one, making a splendid fight; and at 3.30 a retirement was commenced, of necessity, and heroically covered by the Artillery and protected by the Cavalry. The left wing was saved by General Sir H. Smith-Dorrien's skill, to which Sir John French paid a very high tribute. The retreat was continued till the 28th, when the troops halted on the line Noyon-Chauny-La Fère, along the Oise some twelve to twenty miles south of St. Quentin. The British losses were very serious, but inevitable, inasmuch as the British Army, only two days after a concentration by rail, had had to withstand the attack of five German Army Corps. The enemy, however, was too exhausted by the 26th to pursue effectively. The services of officers and men were acknowledged by the Commander-in-Chief in the highest terms, and special note was taken of the gallantry of the Flying Corps, both in reconnaissance and in aerial combat.

But as yet only part of the truth was allowed to emerge in Great Britain. When Parliament reassembled on August 26th, Earl Kitchener made a statement in the House of Lords—his maiden speech, though he had been a Peer since 1898. As a soldier, he said, he had no politics, and his term as War Secretary was that of the new Army—for the war, but not for longer than three years, a term selected because others would then be ready to replace them. The Expeditionary Force, having advanced to near Mons, had then been for thirty-six hours in contact with a superior German force, and had maintained the traditions of British soldiers and behaved with the utmost gallantry. Since the beginning of active operations rather more than 2,000 had been placed hors de combat. Mobilisation had taken place without a hitch; the Expeditionary Force proved itself wholly efficient, thoroughly well equipped, and immediately ready to take the field. The Press and the public had aided the Government by a discreet and necessary silence, the civilian population by meeting requisitions; the railways had justified the confidence of the War Office, the troops, thanks to the Admiralty, had been conveyed across the Channel without any untoward incident. After laying stress on British moral support to France as "a factor of high military significance," and expressing hearty sympathy with Belgium, he pointed out that Great Britain's military system enabled her still to have a vast reserve from herself and the Dominions. Sixty-nine Territorial battalions had volunteered for service abroad; the hundred thousand recruits asked for had been practically secured; behind these were the Reserves. While the maximum force of the adversary Empires was constantly diminishing, Great Britain's reinforcements would steadily and increasingly flow out till she had an Army in the field not unworthy of the British Empire. The new Field Army might rise in the next six or seven months to a total of thirty divisions, continually maintained in the field. Should the war be protracted and its fortunes varied or adverse, exertions and sacrifices beyond any yet demanded would be required from the whole nation and Empire, and would not be denied by Parliament or the people.

In the Commons that day the chief business was a statement by the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the arrangements for repatriating and assisting British subjects stranded on the Continent, the introduction of much emergency legislation—to be summarised later—and the announcement by the Speaker of the receipt and acknowledgment of a congratulatory message from the Russian Duma. Next day (Aug. 27) the Prime Minister, in reply to a question, declared emphatically, in view of Lord Kitchener's statement, that compulsory military service was unnecessary; the sinking of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was announced, also the engagement of the British force, and the British occupation of Ostend (p. 193); and in the course of a discussion regarding the Moratorium, the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that while bankers, financial houses, and merchants favoured its continuance, manufacturers were two to one in favour of bringing it to an end. But the feature of the day was the speech of the Prime Minister in moving an Address expressing admiration for the heroic resistance offered by Belgium to the invader, and pledging Great Britain's support to her gallant ally. After a reference to the cause of the war he insisted on the binding obligation on Great Britain to intervene. We did so only when confronted with the choice of keeping or breaking solemn obligations, between the discharge of a binding trust and a shameless subservience to naked force. "We do not repent our decision." The issue was one which no great and self-respecting nation, certainly none bred and nurtured like ourselves in this ancient home of liberty, could have declined without undying shame. He recalled the struggles for integrity and national life made by small States, by Athens and Sparta, the Swiss cantons, and the Netherlands; never had the duty of asserting the preservation of that life been more clearly and bravely acknowledged and more strenuously and heroically discharged than by the Belgian King and people. The defence of Liège would always be one of the most inspiring chapters in the annals of liberty. The Belgians had won for themselves the immortal glory that belonged to a people who preferred freedom to ease, to security, and even to life itself. "We are proud of their alliance and their friendship." We were with them heart and soul, because we were defending with them the independence of small States and the sanctity of international covenants, and he assured them, in the name of Great Britain and the whole Empire, that they might count on our unfailing support.

Mr. Bonar Law, in seconding the motion, fully endorsed the Prime Minister's eulogies and promises. The events in Belgium confirmed the view that the war was a struggle of the moral influences of civilisation against brute force. Belgium had deserved well of the world and had placed Great Britain under an obligation, which would best be discharged by realising that for both countries the war was a struggle for life and death, and by employing all British resources to bring it to a successful end. Mr. John Redmond eloquently associated Ireland with the motion, eulogising Belgium, and suggesting that the loan contemplated (p. 216) should rather be a gift. The resolution was agreed to nem. con. In the House of Lords a similar Address was moved by the Marquess of Crewe, who said that Germany would have to make full reparation, and seconded by the Marquess of Lansdowne, who said that to Belgium was due the difference between the existing situation and that at the same time in 1870.

Next day (Aug. 28) a message was read in both Houses from Sir John French, describing the British resistance in the Cambria and Le-Câteau district; and Lord Kitchener, after communicating it to the House of Lords, announced that two divisions and a cavalry division, besides other troops, would be sent from India to France. The Marquess of Crewe added that the wonderful wave of enthusiasm and loyalty passing over India was largely based on the desire of the Indian people that Indian soldiers should stand side by side with their British comrades in repelling the invasion of France and Belgium. It was known in India that French African troops had been assisting in France, and "our loyal Indian fellow-subjects" would be disappointed if Indian troops could not assist British. The Indian frontiers would be fully held, and the popular enthusiasm precluded any internal trouble. It pervaded all classes, and found expression, among the princes, in munificent gifts for the service of the troops.

The British people did not yet know the whole story of the fighting in France, and Lord Kitchener's appeal for another 100,000 men did not excite alarm. The public disquiet might have been greater had the newspapers published particulars of the precautions taken on the East Coast—constant patrolling by destroyers and seaplanes, destruction of houses which might obstruct the line of fire on a hostile fleet or serve the enemy as sea-marks, extinguishing of street lamps on the sea front or in streets visible from it, prohibition or restriction of the lighting of such rooms in private houses as were visible from the sea, and eventually the temporary extinction, for the first time in 100 years, of all lighthouses and lightships. But these things were only revealed in private conversation or correspondence.

Meanwhile the British public was confirmed in its conviction that Great Britain had acted justly by the publication of the despatch from Sir Edward Goschen describing his final interview with the German Foreign Secretary and the Imperial Chancellor.[3] The refusal of the former to refrain from violating Belgian neutrality on the ground that "rapidity of action was the great German asset," and the phrase of the latter, that Great Britain was going to war "just for a scrap of paper," seemed to place Germany hopelessly in the wrong. The naval warfare, too, was encouraging. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had been sunk by H.M.S. Highflyer off the Rio del Oro in West Africa—in neutral waters, according to the German contention; Ostend had been occupied by British marines; and the German cruiser Magdeburg had been blown up in the Gulf of Finland. Still more encouraging news came on the evening of August 28, of a British victory that morning in the Bight of Heligoland. The official account, given in despatches published October 22, was substantially as follows. Information having been received from the submarines patrolling the North Sea of the probable movements of the enemy's ships, an attempt was made to draw them out; on August 26 and 27 the area to be occupied was searched for hostile submarines by the destroyers Lurcher and Firedrake, and, at daylight on August 28, three submarines (E 6, E 7, E 8), followed by these destroyers, headed for Heligoland, the submarines running on the surface, to invite a German attack. Other British submarines were watching, submerged, in the area. Near Heligoland a mist settled on the water, facilitating a German surprise. In rear of these craft was the Arethusa, a new light cruiser just commissioned, with the First and Third Destroyer Flotillas. A German torpedo squadron was sighted making for Heligoland, and was attacked by the Arethusa and the Third Flotilla. Then, at 7.57 A.M. two German cruisers, respectively with four and two funnels, were sighted; the Arethusa engaged the nearest, and was attacked by both, and by several destroyers. All her torpedo tubes were disabled and all but one of her guns, and for a few minutes she was on fire. At 8.25 A.M., however, she shot away the fore bridge of the two-funnelled cruiser, which made off towards Heligoland. The four-funnelled cruiser had meanwhile turned on the Fearless, but the Germans drew off and retreated into the haze. Before their retreat, the British and German destroyers were engaged; the German commodore's destroyer (V 187) was sunk, and the crews of the British destroyers, having launched their boats to save life, had to retreat under a fire from a German cruiser, abandoning two boats. Thereupon the submarine E 4 (Lt. Com. Leir) proceeded to drive off the cruiser, which escaped her, covered the destroyers' retreat, and then took aboard, at great risk of attack, the British crew of one of the boats, with three Germans, leaving the other Germans, for whom, he had no room, and of whom some were badly wounded in the boats, to proceed to Heligoland. He left a German officer and six men to navigate them, and provided water, biscuit and a compass. Having effected temporary repairs and got all her guns but two in working order, the Arethusa, with the Fearless, proceeded in vain to search for the Lurcher and Firedrake (which, however, escaped the German cruisers), and then, though her speed had been reduced by the damage received, went forward again towards Heligoland. At 10.55 A.M. a four-funnelled German cruiser (possibly the Yorck) fired on her; the Fearless and the First Flotilla came up, and the assailant disappeared in the mist. Ten minuter later she returned, but failed to get the range, and was driven off. A few minutes later three British ships sighted the German light cruiser Mainz, and after twenty-five minutes' action she was on fire, disabled and sinking; the Light Cruiser Squadron came up and finished her destruction, but 220 of her crew were saved by the Lurcher, many of them badly wounded. The Battle Cruiser Squadron under Admiral Beatty had been called up, and at 12.30 the Lion drove off and pursued a four-funnelled cruiser, the Köln, which was engaging the Arethusa; the Lion, after firing two salvoes at the German cruiser Ariadne, which disappeared into the mist, on fire and sinking, returned to the chase of the Köln, and sank her with all hands. Soon afterwards the Queen Mary, battle cruiser, and the Lowestoft, light cruiser, were attacked by submarines, but avoided them, the former narrowly and with great skill. The Laurel and Arethusa were towed into Sheerness and Harwich, the latter being taken in tow by the Hague, with no light but two hand lanterns. Two German destroyers at least were sunk and eighteen or twenty badly damaged. The British vessels Goshawk, Laertes, Ferret, Laurel, Laforey, and Liberty were among those specially distinguished.

This news was accompanied by another stimulant to British action—the announcement of the atrocious and deliberate destruction of Louvain, "the Oxford of Belgium." In Great Britain, as elsewhere, it excited the deepest horror and indignation; and it gave additional force to a letter from the Prime Minister to the Lord Mayors of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, and Cardiff—the capitals, so to speak, of the four divisions of the United Kingdom—announcing that the time had come for a combined effort to stimulate and organise public opinion and effort in the greatest conflict in British history, and proposing meetings throughout the country at which the justice of the British cause should be made plain, and the duty of every man to do his part should be enforced. He suggested that these four principal cities should lead the way, and offered to address a meeting in each; and he added that he could count on the co-operation of the leaders "of every section of organised public opinion."

But, while hope was encouraged by this movement (which had been previously suggested in the Press) and by the Russian successes in Galicia, London was horrified on August 30, by accounts of the retreat from Mons published in the Daily Mail and Times, the latter speaking of "a retreating and a broken army," the former of a "pitiful story," and of an incessant German advance, and the gaps left by the Censor's editing suggested that the whole truth might be worse. The Daily Mail telegram closed with an appeal for reinforcements at once. For a few hours this news produced something like a panic; but its diffusion was restricted as the day was Sunday, and in the afternoon the War Secretary issued a report of the four days' battle, showing that since the 26th, apart from cavalry fighting, the British Army had rested, reinforcements covering double the loss suffered had already joined, and that the French armies had that day stopped the German advance. A decisive British victory in France, it was added, would probably be fatal to the enemy; the continuance of Anglo-French resistance "on such a scale as to keep in the closest grip the enemy's best troops, could, if prolonged, lead only to one conclusion." Next day, in Parliament, these alarmist accounts were severely condemned by the Lord Chancellor and the Prime Minister, the latter describing them as a regrettable exception to the patriotic reticence of the Press; but it appeared that the Press Bureau had actually requested their publication, and that the closing paragraph, urging the necessity of reinforcements, was actually due to the head of the Bureau, Mr. F. E. Smith, himself.

This was the last discussion before the House adjourned till September 9. It had been preceded by the rapid passing of another batch of war legislation, and by a somewhat bitter debate on the treatment of the Home Rule and Welsh Church Bills. This instalment of war legislation included, inter alia, Bills authorising the appointment of special constables and making certain provisions regarding them; enabling licensing authorities, and, in London, the Chief Commissioner of Police, to restrict the hours of sale of liquor both in licensed premises and in clubs; empowering the military authorities to exercise control under the Defence of the Realm Act in training areas; extending the list of articles the importation of which might be prohibited; giving powers to seize goods unreasonably withheld (including farm produce and feeding stuffs); giving powers to deal with all patent licences and registered designs where the benefit accrued to an enemy; extending billeting to include the naval as well as the military force; remitting death duties on the property of those killed in the war, or dying within twelve months after it from wounds or disease contracted in the field; giving emergency powers to the courts (for the protection of debtors) in regard to the recovery of debts; and a War Loan Bill, empowering the Government to raise a loan, the amount and the method of raising it being alike left undefined.

On the adjournment, and before the explanations as to the Press Bureau, a discussion arose which showed that political divisions had by no means been healed by the war. The Prime Minister repeated that the Government wished that no party should gain or lose by the suspension of domestic controversy. Their intention was to put the Home Rule and Welsh Church Bills on the Statute Book, but they would regard it as most unfair to resort to a snap prorogation as though the Amending Bill had never been introduced; and with regard to it he hoped for a settlement. As to the Welsh Church Bill, the war had set up special conditions, in view of which the Government made a proposal. Mr. Bonar Law (U.) concurred; Mr. John Redmond (N.) hoped that the Home Rule Bill would not be prejudiced by the adjournment; whereupon Mr. Balfour protested against dealing with subjects of "acute political discussion" under present conditions, while disclaiming any desire to make party gain from the situation. The discussion was stopped after appeals from Mr. Cave (U.) and the Prime Minister, and the House passed on, before its adjournment, to the discussion of the Press Bureau and The Times. But the old passions reappeared later.

For the moment, however, party feeling was stilled by the imperative need of union and of greater preparation for efforts in the field. The flow of recruits, encouraged by the destruction of Louvain and the retreat from Mons, was further stimulated by the preparations in France to resist a siege of Paris, and by the specific accounts (Sept. 1) of German atrocities given by the Belgian Mission which visited London on its way to the United States, and was cordially welcomed at Buckingham Palace by the King. A Joint Parliamentary Committee of all parties was formed to promote recruiting; Sir Edward Carson advised the Ulster Unionist Council (Sept. 3) that all qualified Ulster Volunteers should at once enlist in Kitchener's Army, and, without receding from its ultimate intentions, it endorsed his recommendation; the Parliamentary Committee of the Trade Union Congress issued a manifesto welcoming the response of the Labour members to the appeal to aid in recruiting, announcing that it had given assistance to the Parliamentary Committee for that end; it urged recruits to come forward to avert compulsory service and maintain democracy, and pressed the claims of their dependants on the State.

In the absence of details about the military operations a strange rumour arose, which for about a fortnight seemed better attested than many accepted facts in ancient history. Towards the end of August people told each other (though the newspapers were studiously silent) that trainloads of Russian troops had been landed at Leith from Archangel, presumably to escape the German cruisers and mines in the North Sea, and were being conveyed, with the blinds of the carriages drawn, on Saturday nights and Sundays, to Dover and other south-coast ports, en route for Belgium or France. Specific details gave the story verisimilitude, and independent testimony came in from all parts of the area supposed to be affected, and was accepted by people likely to be well-informed, while corroborative evidence seemed to be provided by the great number of transports taken up by the Admiralty. At last a Daily News correspondent said he had seen the Russians in Belgium, and a Cardiff paper published a statement from a marine engineer that he had travelled with 2,500 of them from Archangel and in the hundred and ninety-third train of them that had passed through York. Hereupon the Press Bureau (Sept. 15) issued an absolute denial of the rumours; and this was officially confirmed in Parliament on November 18. But for a time many people persisted in believing that the troops had indeed been sent, but had gone not to France or Belgium, but to seize the Kiel Canal. How the rumour arose was a mystery.

To return to solid facts, the Prime Minister opened his "educational campaign" at a crowded and eminently representative meeting of the citizens of London at the Guildhall on September 4. Three years earlier, he said (A.R., 1911, p. 92), he had spoken in the Guildhall on support of the Anglo-American arbitration movement, and its supporters were still confident in the rightness of their position, when reluctantly, but with a clear judgment and clear conscience, the whole strength of the Empire was involved in a bloody arbitrament between might and right. But how if they had stood aside? Sooner than be a silent witness—which meant a willing accomplice—of the intolerable wrongs done in Belgium, he would see Great Britain blotted out of the page of history. The cynical violation of Belgian neutrality was only a first step in a campaign against the autonomy of the free States of Europe, whose free self-development was a capital offence in the eyes of those who had made force their divinity. This was not merely a material but a spiritual conflict. The British Government and the Foreign Secretary had made repeated efforts for peace; the responsibility for the refusal of his offers rested with Germany alone. In the spirit which animated Britain in her struggle against Napoleon, they must persevere to the end. After reviewing the resources of the Allies and Great Britain, and laying special stress on the offers of the Dominions and India, he said that the response up to that day to Lord Kitchener's call for recruits was between 250,000 and 300,000, 42,000 having been accepted in London. But they wanted more men, men of the best fighting quality, and they would endeavour that men desiring to serve together should be allotted to the same regiment or corps. He asked also for retired non-commissioned officers and officers, to train men for whom no unit could at once be found; and as regarded the war he thought that in every direction there was abundant ground for pride and comfort, and recalled how England responded to Pitt's dying appeal to save Europe by her example. "Let us go and do likewise."

Mr. Bonar Law followed with a speech of notable force. The key of peace had been in Berlin. The head of the German Government had drawn the sword; "may the accursed system for which he stands perish by the sword." Great Britain was fighting for her national existence, and for the moral forces of humanity. After commenting on the German Chancellor's saying, "You are going to war for a scrap of paper," and on the deliberate German outrages in Belgium, he dwelt eloquently on the answer given by the fight of the past week to the German estimate of Britain as decadent, and appealed to those who remained behind to remember the dependants of those who went. Then Mr. Balfour and the First Lord of the Admiralty each made brief, stirring, and confident speeches, expressing the invincible resolve of the nation to persevere and conquer.

Lord Rosebery, as Lord-Lieutenant of Linlithgowshire, spoke in the same sense next day at Broxburn; and British feeling was further roused by the sinking of H.M.S. Pathfinder and the Wilson liner Runo, which struck mines in the North Sea, and by the capture of fifteen British fishing vessels (Chron., Sept. 5). But the tide seemed to be turning. By a declaration signed in London (Sept. 5) the British, French, and Russian Governments agreed that they would not conclude peace separately, and that when terms came to be discussed, none of them would demand terms without the consent of the other two. Moreover, an official sketch of the operations in France was encouraging. It mentioned great, though merely incidental, rearguard battles, singling out that in which the First British Cavalry Brigade and the Guards Brigade had been engaged near Compiègne. The British left, it stated, was now covered by the Seventh (really Sixth) French Army, which, with the Fifth French Army on the British right, relieved the British force of much of the previous strain. After twelve days' continuous marching and fighting, September 2 had at last been a quiet day. Many men were missing, partly because in the course of the retirement in order on a wide front, they had missed their way and got separated, but a considerable number of them would safely rejoin. The losses were 15,000, not a third of those inflicted on the enemy; but the spirit of the force was not affected, drafts amounting to 19,000 men had arrived or were approaching, and, the interval of quiet since September 1 had been used to fill up the gaps and refit and consolidate the units. The British Army was south of the Marne, in a line with the French forces on its right and left; the enemy was neglecting Paris and marching south-eastwards, having apparently abandoned its flanking movement on the Allies' left. [This change in the German plans was made about Sept. 3.] It was added that the British troops had definitely established their superiority to the Germans alike in rifle fire and in cavalry and artillery work. Striking incidents of the fighting were mentioned; despite the heat, men and horses were in excellent condition; but "we must have more men."

This account must here be supplemented from Sir John French's despatch of September 17, published October 19. On August 28 the British retirement was followed closely by two German cavalry corps, moving south-east from St. Quentin; the Third and Fifth Cavalry Brigades, under General Gough and General Chetwode, respectively repelled the Uhlans of the Guard south of the Somme and routed the eastern German column near Cerizy. Next day the Sixth French Army got into position on the British left; but the German numbers were overwhelming. After a visit from General Joffre, Sir John French agreed to retire towards the line Compiègne-Soissons; and, as his communications with Havre were threatened, the British base was changed to St. Nazaire (on the Atlantic near Nantes) with an advanced base at Le Mans. General Joffre, however, ordered a general retirement to the line of the Marne, until he could reach a position enabling him to assume the offensive. Rearguard actions were frequent, and on September 1 the First Cavalry Brigade, south of Compiègne, were overtaken by German cavalry; they momentarily lost a Horse Artillery battery, but with the help of detachments from the Third Corps they recovered it and captured twelve German guns. The First Corps were also engaged at Villers-Cotterets, the Fourth Guards Brigade suffering considerably. On September 3, when the British forces were in position south of the Marne between Lagny and Signy-Signets, and Sir John French had taken steps to defend the passage of the river, General Joffre invited him to retire twelve miles farther, to a position behind the Seine. The enemy crossed, and there were several outpost actions; on September 5 General Joffre announced his intention of taking the offensive, and, at his request, the British Army changed front to its right, its left coming to rest on the Marne and its right on the Fifth Army. On September 6, the new battle began.

Some further encouragement was given by the announcement (Sept. 10) that the Fleet had swept the North Sea up to and including the Bight of Heligoland without finding any German ships or being troubled by German interference.

The character, now becoming visible, of the contest as a "war of attrition" was fully recognised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer when (Sept. 8) a deputation from the Association of Municipal Corporations invited the Government to raise, as part of the war loan, money to be lent to municipalities at cost price for new works, and to make corporation mortgages and the stock of all boroughs of 20,000 inhabitants or more trustee investments by Act of Parliament. He agreed to their first request, but intimated (in accordance with the declared intention of the deputation) that the money must be spent solely on works undertaken to relieve or avert distress. It was the last few hundred millions, he declared, that would win the war.

In a war of such a character, help was eminently needed from the whole Empire; and when Parliament reassembled (Sept. 9) statements were made in both Houses of the wonderful offers of service and money made from India. In the Commons Mr. Charles Roberts, Under-Secretary for India, read a telegram from the Viceroy telling how the rulers of the Native States, in all nearly seven hundred, had offered their personal services and the resources of their States. A number of Princes and nobles had been selected for active service. The veteran Sir Pertab Singh, Regent of Jodhpur, would not be denied his right to serve the King-Emperor; his nephew, the Maharajah, aged sixteen, accompanied him. Twenty-seven of the Native States maintained Imperial troops, and all these were put at the service of the Government. Contingents had been accepted from twelve States, including a camel corps from Bikaner, and most had already embarked. The Maharajah of Mysore had placed fifty lakhs of rupees (about 330,000l.) at the disposal of the Government for the Expeditionary Force. A hospital ship; thousands of horses for remounts from the Chief of Gwalior and other rulers; camels and drivers from the Punjaub and Baluchistan; large subscriptions to the Indian Relief Fund and Prince of Wales's Fund; loyal messages and offers from the Khyber tribes and Chitral; large donations from the Durbar and Maharajah of Nepaul; and—as a climax—even an offer of 1,000 troops from the Dalai Lama of Tibet, accompanied by a statement that throughout that country thousands of Lamas were praying for British success. The same spirit had prevailed throughout British India; offers of service and money had poured in from religious, political, and social associations of all classes and creeds, Moslem, Hindu, Sikh, or Parsee; meetings had been held to allay panic, keep down prices, and maintain confidence and credit; and generous contributions had poured in from all quarters to the Indian Relief Fund. The message was loudly cheered, and it was promised that it should be circulated throughout the Empire. It was also read in the Upper House by the Marquess of Crewe, together with an account of the demonstration of loyalty and sympathy made by the Legislative Council, and it was welcomed by the Marquess of Lansdowne, who laid stress on the magnitude and value of this loyally offered aid.

A message from the King to the Governments and peoples of his self-governing Dominions (published Sept. 9) was as follows:—