emblem of our national unity and independence. I know that it is unnecessary to emphasize the responsibilities which will rest upon you as you lead the men under your command. To their officers they will look for guidance and example not only in the battle line, but in the camp and on the march. Your responsibilities are great. As you meet them so will your services be measured by your country.

It is in the toil and danger of so great an adventure as you are soon to experience that a man's true character will become manifest. He will be brought face to face with the realities. The little things which once engrossed his thought and called forth his energies will be forgotten in the stern events of his new life. The sternness of it all will not deprive him of the satisfaction which comes from doing his best. As he found gratification and joy in the peaceful pursuits of the old life, so will he find a deeper gratification and greater joy in serving his country loyally and doing his part in molding the future aright.

And, when your task is completed, when the grim days of battle are over and you return once more to the quiet life of your profession or occupation, which you have so generously abandoned at your country's call, you will find in the grati

tude of your countrymen an ample reward for the great sacrifice which you have made.

If enthusiasm and ardor can make success sure, then we, Americans, have no cause for anxiety, no reason to doubt the outcome of the conflict. But enthusiasm and ardor are not all. They must be founded on a profound conviction of the righteousness of our cause and on an implicit faith that the God of Battles will strengthen the arm of him who fights for the right. In the time of stress and peril, when a man stands face to face with death and its most terrible forms, God will not desert him who puts his trust in Him. It is at such a time that the eternal verities will be disclosed. It is then, when you realize that existence is more than this life and that over our destinies watches an all-powerful and compassionate God, you will stand amidst the storm of battle unflinching and unafraid.

There is no higher praise that can be bestowed upon a soldier of the Republic than to say that he served his country faithfully, and trusted in his God. Such I hope will be the praise which each one of you will be entitled to when peace returns to this suffering earth, and mankind rejoices that the world is made safe for democracy.

A TRIBUTE TO AMERICA

Hon. Herbert Henry Asquith, Formerly Prime Minister of Great Britain

Delivered in House of Parliament,

April 17th, 1917

HERBERT HENRY ASQUITH

It is only right and fitting that this House, the chief representative body of the British Empire, should at the earliest possible opportunity give definite and emphatic expression to the feelings which throughout the length and breadth of the Empire have grown day by day in volume and fervor since the memorable decision of the President and Congress of the United States.

I doubt whether, even now, the world realizes the full significance of the step America has taken. I do not use language of flattery or exaggeration when I say it is one of the most disinterested acts in history. For more than 100 years it has been the cardinal principle of American policy to keep clear of foreign entanglements. A war such as this must necessarily dislocate international commerce and finance, but on the balance it was doing little appreciable harm to the material fortunes and prosperity of the American people.

What, then, has enabled the President-after waiting with the patience which Pitt described as the first virtue of statesmanship-to carry with him a united nation into the hazards and horrors of the greatest war in history?

Not calculation of material gain, not hope of