he French and British
Commanders in the field, to begin that offensive only at their own time
and place, when the initiative was theirs, and everything was ready.

But the scene has greatly altered. Let me take Munitions first. In
February, it will be remembered by those who have read the preceding
Letters, I was a visitor, by the kindness of the Ministry of Munitions,
then in Mr. Lloyd George's hands, to a portion of the munitions field--in
the Midlands, on the Tyne, and on the Clyde. At that moment, Great
Britain, as far as armament was concerned, was in the mid-stream of a
gigantic movement which had begun in the summer of 1915, set going by the
kindling energy of Mr. Lloyd George, and seconded by the roused strength
of a nation which was not the industrial pioneer of the whole modern world
for nothing, however keenly others, during the last half-century, have
pressed upon--or in some regions passed--her. Everywhere I found new
workshops already filled with workers, a large proportion of them women,
already turning out a mass of shell which would have seemed incredible to
soldiers and civilians alike during the first months of the war; while the
tale of howitzers, trench-mortars, machine-guns, and the rest, was running
up week by week, in the vast extensions already added to the other works.
But everywhere, too, I saw huge, empty workshops, waiting for their
machines, or just setting them up; and everywhere the air was full of
rumours of the new industrial forces--above all, of the armies of
women--that were to be brought to bear. New towns were being built for
them; their workplaces and their tools were being got ready for them, as
in that vast filling factory--or rather town--on the Clyde which I
described in my third Letter. But in many quarters they were not yet
there; only one heard, as it were, the tramp of their advancing feet.

But to-day! Those great empty workshops that I saw in February, in the
making, or the furnishing, are now full of workers and machines; and
thousands like them all over the country. Last night (Aug. 15), the new
Minister of Munitions, Mr. Montagu, who, a few weeks ago, succeeded Mr.
Lloyd George, now Minister for War, rendered an account of his department
up to date, which amazed even the House of Commons, and will surely stir
the minds of men throughout the British Empire with a just and reasonable
pride. The "effete" and "degenerate" nation has roused herself indeed!

Here is the ba