The military preparations we have just named will not be
enough. Since we have neglected to make the nation abso- lutely safe by the training of our whole population to arms, we must, as on previous occasions, have recourse to a rapid improvisation of extra troops. Happily this work of improvisa- tion will be much less difficult and unsatisfactory than formerly, owing to the existence of the National Reserve. Not only has that body provided us with the names and addresses of a quarter of a million of trained men, but it has a rough but still comprehensive and serviceable organization of its own. By the use of this organization we can, if prompt and intelli- gent action is taken, supplement our fighting forces at home by some three hundred thousand men of high quality, a very large proportion, indeed, being men who have seen war service. When the sample battalion of the Surrey National Reserve was put under canvas at Newlands Corner last Whitsuntide it was agreed by all the military critics who saw them, including the expert critic of the Times, not only that the men were individually war-worthy, bat that useful corps could very rapidly be created out of such fine material. The men who went into camp on the North Downs on the Saturday evening were by the Monday morning a genuine military unit.
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