Let us look at the plain facts which in other days than these would have caused a storm of anger that Parliament could not have ignored. Canada has followed the King; arming herself with her full powers, flinging herself upon her enemies with her utmost strength, she has swept drink out of Canada almost from sea to sea. But even before she did this Canada saw that alcohol must go from her camps if her men were to be fit to fight for England, and long before the Prohibition wave swept across the country, the Canadian Government removed all alcohol from the training camps. It was the deliberate choice of a Government and its people, and from that day to this there has been no reason for regret. So the young manhood of Canada, rallying to the flag, was guarded from alcohol. She poured out her men in hundreds of thousands; they came to us from Prohibition camps; they came in Prohibition ships, and even here this trade that has us in its grip was not allowed at first in the Canadian camps; the only condition that Canada made—a condition implied but clearly understood—was properly regarded and obeyed. We respected the desire of Canada, and kept her soldiers free from drink in their own camps. But a soldier cannot keep in camp, and in the villages around the Drink Trade waits in every street. The military authorities were willing for the Canadian Government to have their way inside the camps, but drink was free outside, and in these public-houses there was sown the seed that may one day break this Empire. The Drink Trade was so rampant outside the Canadian camps that Prohibition inside was almost in vain. We had to decide between breaking the word of the Canadian Government to its people or dealing with this trade as Canada herself has done; as Russia has done; as France and America are doing. It was the Empire or the drink traffic, and the drink traffic won, as it always wins with us. It came about in October, down on Salisbury Plain. During one week-end a number of Canadian troops gave way to drinking in villages around the camps, and it was then that the grave decision was come to that the drink trade should be allowed to set up its horrible canteens in every Canadian camp. The change was made at the request of a British General, and we have the assurance of the Prime Minister of Canada that the approval of the Canadian Government was neither obtained nor asked. In handing the Canadian Army over to the drink canteens, in deliberately reversing the policy of the Canadian Government and its people, there was no consultation with Canada. It is important to remember that this decision, fraught with tragic and far-reaching consequences for the Empire, was a pure and simple English act. We may imagine the Canadian view from the remark of a Canadian General, who said, “I know drink is a hindrance, but I can do very little, because in military circles in this country drunkenness is not considered a very serious offense.”