century, and thus only can the British Empire defeat its enemies in the twentieth.
Having the forgoing obligations in mind, it is surely not wrong to say that we require a field army of not less than 500,000 men, or at least the organization by which such an army can be brought into existence rapidly and effectively.
The Creation of a Field Army of 500,000 Men.
The Anglo-Saxon race has declared against conscription upon the European model, and it is impracticable under the conditions now prevailing to expect any change in public feeling. The ingrained and not unnatural dislike of the Anglo-Saxon for standing armies is a factor which must always be borne in mind and cannot be disregarded, and a decrease rather than an increase of our own Regular Army is not unlikely to be demanded by Parliament and by public opinion. It is, at any rate, useless to suppose that by any possible process a regular or standing army can be created or maintained which will provide the troops shown to be necessary.
It is, at the same time, a significant fact that the liability to military service is generally recognised as one of the obligations of citizenship, and a general feeling is showing itself that the solution of the problem will be found in the further development of that ancient and constitutional force the Militia, 'whose theory,' as described by Mr. Cardwell, 'is conscription, but whose practice is voluntary engagement.' A Militia system is common to all the great branches of the Anglo-Saxon people, and is generally acknowledged as being the form of military service at once applicable and sufficient to the requirements of national defence. Evolved from early times, when, under the guiding hand of King Alfred the Great, a system of universal military service first took definite shape, this Anglo-Saxon form of military service has slowly but surely matured with the growth of the race itself. It is to this form, therefore, of military
