s unfolding of
the Government's proposals for meeting the supreme ordeal of the war.

What was the reason? It was because Ireland, the greater part of which
had till now successfully shirked its share of privation and sacrifice,
was at last to be asked to take up its corner of the burden. The need
for men to replace casualties at the front was pressing, urgent,
imperative. Many indeed blamed the Government for having delayed too
long in filling the depleted ranks of our splendid armies in France; the
moment had come when another day's delay would have been criminal. As
Mr. Lloyd George pointed out, the battle that was being waged in front
of Amiens "proves that the enemy has definitely decided to seek a
military decision this year, whatever the consequences to himself." The
Germans had just called up a fresh class of recruits calculated to place
more than half a million of efficient young men in the line. The
collapse of Russia had released the vast German armies of the East for
use against England and France. It was under such circumstances that the
Prime Minister proposed

"to submit to Parliament to-day certain recommendations in order to
assist this country and the Allies to weather the storm. They will
involve," continued Mr. Lloyd George, "extreme sacrifices on the
part of large classes of the population, and nothing would justify
them but the most extreme necessity, and the fact that we are
fighting for all that is essential and most sacred in the national
life."

The age limit for compulsory military service was to be raised from
forty-two to fifty, and Ireland was to be included under the new
Military Service Bill now introduced. England, Scotland, and Wales had
cheerfully submitted to conscription when first enacted by Mr. Asquith
in 1916, and to all the additional combings of industry and extension of
obligation that had been required in the past two years. Agriculture and
other essential industries were being starved for want of labour, and
men had actually been brought back from the sorely pressed armies to
produce supplies imperatively needed at home.

But from all this Ireland had hitherto been exempt. To escape the call
of the country a man had only to prove that he was "ordinarily resident
in Ireland"; for conscription did not cross the Irish Sea. From most of
the privations cheerfully borne in Great Britain the Irishman had been
equally free. Food rationing did no