and possibly fatal to all the vital interests which depend upon a solvent and powerful British Commonwealth. A thousand years scarce serve to form a state; An hour may lay it in the dust. IX. Whether or not there was lack of vigilance or failure in preparation by Great Britain, there is nothing more remarkable in human history than the achievements of the British people in the war. Few doubted that the navy would be vigilant and invincible. It was not feared that the old historic regiments would fail in valor or endurance. But there is nothing even in British annals so wonderful as the voluntary enlistment of an army of four millions. If only as a measure of the danger which threatened the Empire the figures are impressive. Men would not have recruited in hundreds of thousands if they had not felt that the institutions they cherished, even their very households, stood in the shadow of death. No doubt a flame of wrath swept over England as the revolting story of German brutality in Belgium was unfolded, but a living, conscious sense of actual danger to the Empire was the moving impulse to British action. The tremendous voluntary enlistment is only rivalled as a phenomenon in British history by the final adoption of the principle of compulsory service. It was not only in Canada that this method of recruiting was regarded with disfavor. For generations compulsion for military service has been repugnant to the genius of British institutions. It was held to be the essential basis of the militarism of continental countries. The conviction or prejudice which obtained in England was as deeply rooted in the United States. A great standing army was treated in both countries as incompatible with the ideals of a free people. X.