Lord Roberts, who spoke at Liverpool on Saturday last, de-
clared that it was a very distinct duty of every man to fit himself voluntarily for the defence of his country. The Auxiliary troops should be sufficiently trained to justify the country's confidence in them, and though it was said that too arduous duties were being imposed on the Volunteers, the conditions were the mini- mum which he and his colleagues considered could be imposed with due regard to efficiency. No one admired more than he did the Volunteers' patriotic spirit, or could better appreciate the difficulties they had to contend with in reconciling their civil and military duties. It should be the business of the military authorities to ascertain the circumstances and requirements of the various Volunteer corps, so as to interfere as little as possible with this civil work. But they must above all make sure that they were not entrusting the defence of the country to an insufficiently trained force. It is painful to us to differ from Lord Roberts, and seems almost sacrilegious on a military question, but, nevertheless, we feel convinced that Lord Roberts has unwittingly done the nation a great injury in sanctioning changes in our Volunteer system which seem destined, if not repealed, to lead to its ruin.
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