The Spectator at war: The first battle

‘News of the Week’ in The Spectator, 29 August 1914:

THERE is cause for manly anxiety, there is cause for stern determination; above all, there is cause for unflagging energy in military preparation; but there is no cause for despair, or even for despondency. If the effort of will is maintained by the nation, and if good sense, courage, and the calmness not of fatalism but of resolution strung to the very last point remain ours, we must win. We say this in no boasting spirit; but because time is with us and against our enemies. Those who fight with the sense that all is lost unless they can win quickly may get a certain superficial advantage from their desperation, but let us never forget that “if Tear-’em is a good dog, Holdfast is a better.” If time is for us, only weakness of purpose, irresolution, and apathy can undo us.