G.N.  COUNT PLUNKETT. 
    JANET ROSS. 
    ROBERT ROSS. 
    M.E.  SADLER. 
    MARION SPIELMANN. 
    A.J.  SULLEY. 
    D. CROAL THOMSON. 
    T. HUMPHRY WARD. 
    W.H.  JAMES WEALE. 
    FREDERICK A. WHITE. 
    R.C.  WITT.

To Arms!

By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Is it possible that there are still some of our people who do not understand the causes of this war, and are ignorant of the great stakes at issue which will speedily have so important a bearing upon the lives of each and all of them?  It is hard to believe it, and yet it is so stated by some who profess to know.  Let me try, in the shortest space and in the clearest words that I can command, to lay before them both the causes and the possible effects, and to implore them now, now, at this very moment, before it is too late, to make those efforts and sacrifices which the occasion demands.  In Germany, every man from the ages of sixteen to fifty-five is with the colors.  The last man has been called up.  And yet we hear—­we could not bear to see—­that young athletic men in this country are playing football or cricket, while our streets are full of those who should be in our camps.  All our lives have been but a preparation for this supreme moment.  All our future lives will be determined by how we bear ourselves in these few months to come.  Shame, shame on the man who fails his country in this its hour of need!  I would not force him to serve.  I could not think that the service of such a man was of any avail.  Let the country be served by free men, and let them deal with the coward or the sluggard who flinches.

The causes of the war are only of moment to us, at this stage, in that we gain more strength in our arms and more iron in our souls by a knowledge that it is for all that is honorable and sacred for which we fight.  What really concerns us is that we are in a fight for our national life, that we must fight through to the end, and that each and all of us must help, in his own fashion, to the last ounce of his strength, that this end may be victory.  That is the essence of the situation.  It is not words and phrases that we need, but men, men—­and always more men.  If words can bring the men then they are of avail.  If not they may well wait for the times to mend.  But if there is a doubt in the mind of any man as to the justice of his country’s quarrel, then even a writer may find work ready to his hand.

* * * * *

Let us cast our minds back upon the events which have led up to this conflict.  They may be divided into two separate classes, those which prepared the general situation, and those which caused the special quarrel.  Each of these I will treat in its turn.

Teuton Intoxication.