As a dose of soothing-syrup administered in Mr. McKenna's "best bedside manner" this is inimitable; as a contribution to the solution of a very serious problem, it lacks finality. I wonder whether it has ever occurred to the Home Secretary, or the sleepy Department over which he presides, that, up to the present moment, there has not been the slightest necessity for any alien to commit an outrage of any description, and that to have done so before the time was ripe would merely have meant rousing such an outburst here that, when the time did come, there would probably not have been an alien left at liberty to give help at the psychological moment? What, in the name of Johnson, would it profit a German, or Germany, to blow up at the present moment a tube station or one or two bridges on our main lines? The time for that was when we were moving the Expeditionary Force, if at all, under present conditions. But the movement of the Expeditionary Force was carried out with such speed and secrecy that hardly anyone knew what was going on, and in any case a slight delay to a few units of that Force would not have been a vital matter. Now whether it is possible or not, whether it has a faint chance of success or whether it is foredoomed to hopeless failure, an invasion of England is at the present moment the dearest dream of every German heart. To compass that, they are prepared to make any and every sacrifice. Personally, I have no fear that to-day such an invasion would have the remotest chance of success, but that is not the belief of Germans, military or civilian. They believe that it is not only possible, but that it must succeed, and we know that plans for carrying it out have been carefully elaborated for years past. Suppose the Germans come. Troops will be instantly hurried towards the scene of their landing by every railway in England. What, then, I ask, would be the value of a few skilfully placed charges of explosive? What, then, would be the value of a successful attempt to cut the trunk telephone or telegraph wires running along one of our main lines of communication? What would it mean to us if an important bridge on a main line were shattered, and many trainloads of troops delayed for hours? Remember that in the unlikely event of invasion time will be calculated by minutes, for the Germans must rely upon the effects of a desperate dash to strike us in a vital spot before we could overwhelm them by accumulated reinforcements. But Mr. McKenna tells us "there is no evidence of a conspiracy to commit outrages." Let us fold our arms and sleep! I wonder what the War Office would tell him if he hinted that there was no evidence that the Germans were planning to invade us, and that they had better cease the arrangements they are very properly making to deal with such a contingency, however remote or unlikely it may appear!