the outbreak of war. Born, August 26th, 1895. Killed, May
25th, 1915.]

_October 15th, 1915._

The Balkan business is a startling knockout for those enthusiasts
who see in the development of small States salvation for the
world! If people would only accept the fact that this is a
material world they would not be surprised at the situation.
Myself, I consider that our diplomacy has failed, probably
because it did not offer tempting enough bribes to Bulgaria and
Greece. No matter; what is the fate of a few tuppenny-ha'penny
Balkan States, who have never done a thing worth doing, beside
that of the British Empire! Why should we always play the
philanthropic idiot towards all these wretched little nations? As
if any of them--or anyone else, for that matter, in international
politics--knows the meaning of the word gratitude! However
righteous our policy may have been, it doesn't seem to have
worked in South-East Europe, and the Boches appear to have got
home first there. I don't think it is so much a triumph for their
diplomacy as a judgment on the blundering stupidity of ours. But
when all's said and done, the alliance or hostility of a few
Bulgars, Greeks or Roumanians doesn't count for so much, anyhow.
"Come the three corners of the world in arms, and we shall shock
them. Naught shall make us rue, if England to herself do rest but
true."

Have you seen the obituary notices of Captain Osmond Williams,[4]
of the Welsh Guards? His funeral took place not half a mile from
the spot where we were at the time. The 19th Hussars was once his
old regiment, and as he was simply idolised by the men, crowds of
them went to the burial. He had a most romantic career--a career
that might have stepped out of the pages of Scott or Dumas.

[Footnote 4: Son of Sir Osmond Williams, Bart., formerly M.P.
for Montgomeryshire. Served in the South African War, and in
his day was regarded as the most brilliant cavalry subaltern
in the British Army. A severe accident in the hunting-field
compelled him to leave the Army. When war broke out in 1914
he offered his services to the War Office, but was rejected
because physically unfit. He then enlisted as a private
soldier, and by repea