cause of Women's Suffrage, alleging as the reasons for his change of mind arguments which were just as cogent before the war but which before the war he scorned. It was an astute manœuvre, because, although it gave one more proof that Mr. Asquith has no convictions, but only provisional hypotheses, on any subject, it enabled him presumably to count upon the votes of many women. Moreover, as the ex-Premier and his friends are well aware, the introduction of the Franchise Bill and the proposals for the unsettlement of Ireland have the inestimable advantage of leading the Government deep into a morass. The Government are going far beyond public opinion in their schemes; they have outrun the definitely limited authority under which alone they hold office; and the consequences which we predicted are already occurring. There are distrust, a renewal of bitter controversies, and the slow anger of people who, desiring nothing but to get on with the war, contemplate the Government embarking upon enterprises which would absorb their whole time and intellect in a period of profound peace. They also perceive a man like Earl Curzon, a member of the War Cabinet, recanting his expressed views one after the other, eating his words, and appearing to enjoy the ration. It used to be considered the mark of a statesman to decide for or against a particular proposal, according to what he conceived to be the good of the country, and, having made his decision, to stick to it. If a new set of circumstances arose, the matter might be judged again. But in the two casesnot to mention others-under review there are no new circumstances except one. That one is the plain justice of giving sailors and soldiers the vote; and it is exactly that which is not given. There is no difficulty in so

The London Post.

doing. The Australian Act of March 19 last is perfectly simple. Men serving outside Australia receive papers entitling them to vote either as electors in the district in which they reside or in the district in which their next-of-kin resides.

The amendment brought forward by Lieutenant-Colonel Sanders proposed the rejection of the Bill for the two very good reasons that in time of war the Government ought not to proceed with such a measure and that it did not confer the franchise upon sailors and soldiers. These are the reasons upon which our own objections are founded. They appear to us unanswerable. At any rate, no one has answered them. The argument urged by Sir John Simon that it was necessary to create the machinery by means of which the "problems" arising after the war could be solved signifies only that the fighting men are to have no part either in setting up the machinery or in its operations. No doubt that arrangement would suit Sir John Simon very well; but it will not suit the country. As the House of Commons has seen fit to approve what is called the principle of the Bill, the appeal lies to the House of Lords. We can only hope that the Upper House will not be influenced by what they were told will be said of their action in "another place." Their business is to resist an unconstitutional and an unjust measure and to enforce the rights of the Service men. As for the Government themselves, they are pursuing the course expressly designed for their destruction by their political enemies, who are both numerous and vindictive. So long as the Prime Minister deals fairly by the country he may disregard his foes. But if they succeed in entangling him in controversial politics his end is already in sight, and his best friends will be unable to save him.

ex

The news that a small Expeditionary Force, amounting to about a division of Regular troops, is to come from the United States as soon as possible to fight in France has been received with unbounded satisfaction in Great Britain. President Wilson, having made up his mind that war was the only way of salvation for the world, seems to be acting as though he had followed and marked all the lessons which the Allies have learned through very painful perience. It is evident that he believes that a method of carrying on war with less than your whole strength is the most unsatisfactory, the most expensive, and the most cruel that can be devised. He wisely means to keep clear of that method. Observers here are impressed by the fact that he is doing nothing slowly, and nothing by halves. This decision to send an Expeditionary Force without delay is probably one of the wisest of his many recent acts of foresight and resolution. The display of the American flag and the American uniform on the Western front will be a pledge and a stimulus of a moral value out of all proportion to the number of the troops sent. There are many possible lines of criticism of the President's decision, but we feel that the proof of his personal enthusiasm, of his anxiety to be "in it up to the neck" at the earliest moment, will turn out to be of vast and determining importance. It has been said that the American Regulars are the only men who can adequately train the New Armies of American recruits, and that therefore they ought all to be kept in the United States till the new soldiers have learned enough to be independent. But we suspect that Mr. Wilson has a much more cogent

argument than that. He probably considers that nothing but the best training is good enough for the New Armies, and that the best training can be given only by those who have taken part in the unprecedented warfare of the Western front. We are writing quite without evidence on this subject, but we hope that the sending of a division of Regulars to France means that the American military authorities recognize that as many of their men as possible must be taught their business in the best of all schools-the school on the spot. It is excellent news that the United States Government will probably send a regiment of Marines with the division of Regulars. Ten thousand engineers are also being recruited to serve in France. Add these to the division of Regulars and the Marines, and the numbers of the Expeditionary Force will amount to nearly thirty-five thousand men. The prospect of this force arriving within a short time after the declaration of war is a magnificent demonstration of American earnestness. The Germans little knew the kind of people they were taking on when they weighed them in the balance against the desperate hope of a "U"-boat victory. It is hoped, as the Washington correspondent of the Times tells us, that before the autumn the American Regular Army will have risen to two hundred and ninety thousand by voluntary recruiting. The Militia or National Guard will raise its strength this summer to three hundred and thirty thousand, also by voluntary recruiting. Behind these there is the enormous mass of human material, liable to compulsory service, out of which fresh Armies can be formed. If conscription be applied only to men of twenty

one to thirty, ten million men will be available. Of these the first halfmillion are to be called up in the autumn after the voluntary recruiting of the Regulars and the Militia is completed. It will be interesting to see what method is adopted of selecting men for service out of the available ten millions. Perhaps the Government will require each district to furnish its quota, and apply compulsion only to those districts which fail to reach the standard. In this way the voluntary spirit would be preserved within the borders of compulsion, just as Lincoln made volunteering real by his imposition of the Draft.

The appointment of General Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Force has been received with as much pleasure here as in America. He is an experienced and trusted soldier. He was educated at West Point, which provides one of the best military educations in the world, and joined the cavalry in 1886. He took part in the expedition to Cuba in the Spanish-American War in 1898, and in the campaign against the Philippine rebels which followed that war. He very quickly made a great reputation for himself in the Philippines as a man of patience and judgment in dealing with the natives as well as a hard-hitting soldier. On

in the world. This description of the American Regular Army may surprise some of our readers, who perhaps think that as the Americans have never taken military affairs very seriously their Regular Army can hardly be compared favorably with the Armies of more military nations. But the American Regular Army is indeed a remarkable body. Although it has seen little service on a grand scale, it has been in another sense on continual active service. One might compare its activities with those of our Navy. It has performed the office of policing the United States against Indian marauders and lawless communities. It goes about its work quietly and competently. It has never been the darling of fashion. Soldier pets in the luxurious life of the great cities have been chosen from among crack regiments of the Militia. The Regulars are too busy, and too often away at their remote posts, to force themselves on public attention. The present writer had the privilege of accompanying a Regular regiment of American infantry in the war of 1898, and he has never forgotten the impression those cool and skilful officers and men made upon him. The officers were highly intelligent, and their handiness and resourcefulness -the result of their Indian experiences -made a delightful combination with their exceptional mental equipment. In a journey by train through almost the entire length of the United States the men were allowed freely to roam about the railway stations when the train stopped, as it frequently did, yet there was not a single case of drunkenness, though the regiment had just said "Good-bye" to its friends and was under the excitement of the approaching campaign. The train passed. through "dry" States and "wet" States, but the wet States were just as dry as the dry so far as that

regiment was concerned. The present writer remarked on the exemplary behavior of the men under so little control to him an astonishing phenomenon-and one of the officers said to him: "Our Army is only about twenty-five thousand strong, but you must remember that it is chosen from the best. The men are decently paid and well treated, and they are expected to produce. references when they offer themselves to show that they are worthy of being in the Army. Why, I expect you would find that you could take any man out of this regiment and safely make him a cashier in a bank!" Of course in the Cuban Campaign there was a great deal of muddle; the commissariat services broke down; the Army was ill equipped; the medical The Spectator.

service was inadequate; the artillery was armed with poor guns and oldfashioned black powder, which at once obscured the vision and revealed the position of the batteries with clouds of smoke. But the greater part of the failure was due to entrusting the improvisation of machinery to men with a political "pull." The American Regulars were in themselves splendid types of professional soldiers, keen, modest, and brave. When they come over anyone here or in France who expects to see a kind of Wild West circus will receive the surprise of his life. And surprise will change to gratitude and admiration when the Allies have experienced the genius of the American Regular for good-fellowship and loyalty in the field.

"Has anything special," I said, "been happening during my absence?" "We are up to our chins in work," said Francesca.

"But is it real work?"

"Of course it is. We've formed a General Committee, of which everybody's a member, including you, and we've formed an Executive Committee, of which there are about a dozen members. And then there are some Sub-Committees."

"Yes, I know. The Executive Committee thinks it's going to do all the work, but it's got to report to the General Committee, and it'll be a great piece of luck if the General Committee doesn't insist on asserting itself by upsetting all the decisions of the Executive Committee."

"Oh, but our General Committee isn't going to be like that at all. There won't be any petty jealousy about our General Committee. Be

sides, the Executive Committee has power to act, and it doesn't need to report till the Annual Meeting of the General Committee, which is to be held a year from now. When that time comes lots of things will have happened."

"That," I said, "is one of the truest things you've ever said. Even the War may be over by that time."

"But if it isn't we shall all be living on swedes or pea-soup, or rice-bread or all three together; and we shall have a food controller in every village, and our Committees won't be wanted."

"I beg your pardon; they'll be more wanted than ever to keep the controller straight and act as a buffer between him and the population."

"But they won't know they're a buffer, and they won't like it when some tactless person tells them. Anyhow, that's a long way off, and in the meantime we've got the land."

"Who've got what land?"

“Our Committee," said Francesca, "have got two acres of land from Mr. Carberry, and we're going to grow a crop of peas on it so that everybody may have pea-soup in case of a pinch."

"But what about the peas?" I said. "Have you made sure of those?”

"We had a good deal of trouble about them, but we've got a firm promise of six bushels."

"Capital! But are you quite sure you know how to bring the land and the peas together?"

"Well, I'm not so much of an expert as I should like to be, but Mr. Bolton's a practical farmer, and he's going to do all he can for us."

"Will he plough it?"

"It's been ploughed twice, so he's undertaken to harrow it and scarify it doesn't it sound awful?—and then something else is going to happen to it, but I forget what it's called."

"Wouldn't it be a good thing, at some stage or other, to plant the peas?"

"Yes, it would; but you can't do it as simply as all that, can you? Isn't there something highly agricultural that you must do first?"

"I should chuck 'em in and chance it."

"A nice farmer you'd make," she said scornfully. "I'm remembering it

Punch.

"Yes, we thought you'd like to be one, so I gave your name in."

"I think a man must pledge his own honor. He can't have it done for him." "There's no public ceremony. You can just pledge yourself in your mind, and then put a pledge card in one of the windows."

"I'll have tea first," I said, "and then I'll choose the window, and then I'll pledge myself in my mind."

"No, you can do the pledging now." "I've done it, while you were talking."

"And after all it's only the old rations according to Lord Devonport and we've been working under them for some time now."

"So we have," I said; "but of course the card in the window makes all the difference."

R. C. Lehmann.

Thine eyes survey the earth, Thine

eyes

The surging spaces of the deep;
At Thy command the billows rise,
At Thy command they sink to sleep;
Trusting in Thee the sailor strains
Across the storm, across the sea;
Trusting in Thee, O Lord, he gains
The haven where he fain would be.

Winds are Thy messengers, O God,
Clouds are the chariot of Thy path;
The tempest rages at Thy nod,
The lightnings gleam, when Thou art
wrath;

And if to scale Thy heav'ns above,
Trusting in Thee, Thy creatures dare,
Shield them with Thy protecting love,
Who ride upon the viewless air.