The Spectator

From 'The End of the First Year', The Spectator, 7 August 1915: What of the future? Shall we be able to make as good a show in the second year of the war as we have in the first? We believe we shall make a far better show. The willingness to make sacrifices in order that we may win the war is far greater than it was a year ago, because the need for such sacrifices is far better understood. Next, though our preparation is not as great or as successful as it ought to be, it is infinitely more advanced than it was a year ago. We have not only a far stronger and bigger fleet than we had, but we have some three million more men under arms or in training than we had a year ago.

From ‘Apology’, The Spectator, 7 August 1915: Does any public body ever apologize to the world? Such a concerted effort has never, we think, been made through any authorized mouthpiece. The effect of such an experiment might be colossal. Suppose, if the supposition be not too absurd, that a Pope should apologize in the name of the larger half of Christendom for all the more glaring lapses of the Roman Church—for all the great persecutions, for all the great mistakes. Such action is not unthinkable, No Church has ever claimed to be infallible except in dogma and theoretic morality. The present Pontiff in his recent refusal to condemn the atrocities of the German troops has pointedly emphasized his own practical fallibility.

From 'News of the Week', The Spectator, 7 August 1915: A YEAR has elapsed since the first war issue of The Spectator. We have tried elsewhere to say something in answer to the question. "How do we stand?" Here we only reply very shortly. If we cannot say all is well, we can at any rate say that no man whose mind is not blinded by panic or prejudice can fail to admit that the position is on the whole satisfactory. It is true that we are still in peril, and that, unless we strain every nerve to carry the war to a successful issue, that peril may at any moment assume the most deadly proportions. But though this has been the prevailing condition ever since the war began, we can say truthfully that the peril is far less now than it was a year ago.

From 'Sim-sam the Mink', The Spectator, 31 July 1915: Sim-sam's bath was the spectacle that revealed him at his very best. Watching him glide and twist and loop the loop under water with the utter ease of a fish made you see the reason for the webbed toes, the powerful short, double-jointed legs that bent in any direction indifferently, and for the slim, lithe body with its rippling muscles. Sim-sam, you perceived, was built expressly for quick movement under water—movement far different from the clumsy-looking bopping gallop that was his best gait on land. A bath was his supreme enjoyment. It filled him with the highest spirits.

From 'News of the Week', The Spectator, 31 July 1915: The debate on compulsory service in the Commons on Wednesday night was remarkable for the speeches in its support made by Liberal Members. Captain Guest, who raised the question, declared that if we were to win in the present war, and to win quickly, compulsory service was the only way. Mr. Wedgwood, like Captain Guest fresh from active service in the field, vigorously supported the demand, and claimed to represent the views of all the fighting spirit of the Labour movement. What the country wanted more than money, shells, or men was a leader who could lead without fearing the consequences. Mr. Amery emphasized the dangers of our "dogged irresolution." Mr. Tennant, replying for the Government, demurred to the statement of Mr. J. H.