The annual meeting and dinner of the National Service League,
which were held in London on Wednesday, gave proof of the growing strength and popularity of the movement for universal training. Not only were the gatherings in both cases large, but they were conspicuous for the number of influential men who attended them. At the dinner Mr. George Wyndham, who was the chief speaker, made some excellent points, including a fine quotation from Scott : "My only ambition is to be remembered, if remembered at all, as one who knew and valued national independence, and would maintain it in the present struggle to the last man and the last guinea, though the last guinea were my own property and the last man my own son." Lord Roberts in his speech dealt conclusively with the allegation that the proposals of the League would interfere with recruiting for the Regular Army. They had, he declared, proof that this would not be so in the experience of the Spectator Experi- mental Company. At the end of their six months' training thirty-six out of the hundred Spectator men entered the Regular Army. "It was the absence of knowledge of the advantages of soldiering which kept many men out of the Army. It was not dislike of the Army."
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