Though we think Lord Roberts is too pessimistic about the
Territorials, we are at one with the general tone .of his letter. We are mad, in view of the condition of Europe, not to take the precautions which the Swiss take of training their whole population to arms. If we did that we venture to say that no foreign Power would ever contemplate the invasion of these islands. That in itself would be of no small gain. In the first place, it would, as Lord Roberts says, set the Navy abso- lutely free. Next, it would give us an enormously large reservoir on which to draw for voluntary recruits for an over- sea war. When the country is at war there are always plenty of willing hands ready to grasp the rifle, but unfortunately they are hands so utterly untrained that their services are of no immediate use. If every youth in the kingdom had had four months' training between the ages of 18 and 21, and three years' service in the Territorials, the offers of national service at a time of peril would be a very different thing from what they are now. The men would know the rudiments of their job.
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