Representation Act.
At the time there were not wanting critics who held that a short reign
of peace would bring opposition to legislation born of a state of war;
but if I remember rightly we heard the last of that particular order of
criticism within twelve months of the peace, it being realized once and
for all then, that the maintenance of an adequate defence system was to
be regarded, not so much as a preparation for possible war, as the one
and only means of preventing war.

Constance Grey worked steadily throughout the progress of the war, and
it was owing almost entirely to her efforts that the Volunteer Nursing
Corps, which she had organized under _Citizens'_ auspices, was placed on
a permanent footing. Admirable though this organization was as a nursing
corps, its actual value to the nation went far beyond the limits of its
nominal scope. By her tireless activity, and as a result of her own
personal enthusiasm, Constance was able before the end of the war to
establish branches of her corps in every part of the country, with a
committee and headquarters in all large centres. Meetings were held
regularly at all these headquarters, every one of which was visited in
turn by Constance herself; and in the end _The Citizens' Nursing Corps_,
as this great league of Englishwomen was always called, became a very
potent force, an inexhaustible spring of what the Prime Minister called
"the domestic patriotism of Britain."

In the earliest stage of this work of hers Constance had to cope with a
certain inertia on the part of her supporters, due to the fact that no
active service offered to maintain their enthusiasm. But Constance's
watchword was, "Win mothers and sisters, and the fathers and brothers
cannot fail you." It was in that belief that she acted, and before long
the Nursing Corps might with equal justice have been called _The Women
Citizens_. It became a great league of domestic patriots, and it would
not be easy to overstate the value of its influence upon the rising
generation of our race.

War has always been associated in men's minds with distress and want,
and that with some reason. But after the first few months of the
Anglo-German war it became more and more clearly apparent that this war,
combined with the outworking of the first legislation of the Imperial
Parliament, was to produce the greatest commercial revival, the greatest
access of working prosperity, Britain had ever known. Two main causes
were at