of thankful relief from the constant pre-occupation of the war is
over, we may expect to see it in full blast. It would have been easy
here to repeat some of the current discontents of the day, all of
which will have their legitimate hearing in future discussion. But
this is not the moment, nor is mine the pen. We are but just emerging
from the shadow of that peril from which the British and Imperial
Armies--bone of our bone and flesh or our flesh--have saved us. Let us
now, if ever, praise the "famous men" of the war, and gather into our
hearts the daily efforts, the countless sacrifices of countless
thousands, in virtue of which we now live our quiet lives.

Nor have I dwelt much upon the terrible background of the whole scene,
the physical horror, the anguish and suffering of war. Our noblest
dead, to judge from the most impassioned and inspired utterances of
the men who have suffered for us, would bid us indeed remember these
things,--remember them with all the intensity of which we are
capable--but with few words. They never counted the cost, though they
knew it well; and what they set out to do, they have done.

Let us then, at this particular moment, dwell, above all, on _the
thing achieved_. To that end, a few colossal figures must still be
added to those already given. Since the beginning of the war, the
total forces employed by the British Empire in the various theatres of
war, have amounted to a total of _eight million, six hundred and
fifty-four thousand_ (24 per cent of the total white male population),
of which the United Kingdom supplied 5,704,416 (25.36 per cent), and
the Dominions, and Colonies, 1,425,864. The Indian and Coloured troops
amounted to 1,524,000. If the Navy, the Merchant Service, and the men
and women employed in various auxiliary military services at home are
added, the total recruiting effort of the Empire reaches to much more
than _ten millions_.

As to the financial part of this country in the war, by March 22nd,
1919, the war expenditure of Great Britain had reached a total of
L9,482,442,482, of which rather more than _two thousand five hundred
millions_ have been raised by taxation. Included in this total are
sums amounting to L1,683,500,000, lent to our Allies and Dominions.
For the total casualties of the war, in an earlier chapter I have
given the approximate figures so far as they can as yet be
ascertained, amounting to at least some _twenty millions_. At such
appalling cost t