MILITARY TRAINING AND MILITARY SERVICE. [To vas EDITOR OP THE
"spacraroz."]
Srn,—Your issue of December 23rd contains a letter signed Henry Laurence which would surprise me if I had not already come across the same extraordinary notion in the mind of a local politician. I feel perfectly certain that the British working classes do not care about the distinction he draws between compulsory training and compulsory service ; or that if they do, it is the former they object to rather than the latter. Not only do I feel sure that they are patriotic at heart, and certainly are not deterred by personal cowardice from serving their country, but I know from experience that if they are unwilling to serve it is because they lack the imagination to realize how necessary their service is to their country, and because they are apt to despise mere playing at soldiers ; while if they are willing to serve, but unable to spare the time from their civil a-vocations, this difficulty applies to compulsory training only. When active service in defence of their country is required of them, there will be little enough civil employment to attract them away from I am, Sir, &c., EDWARD T. Dixon.
The Hard, Hgthe, Southampton.
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