But the nation has not spent in vain!

"Compare the first twenty-four days of the fighting on the Somme last
year,"--said Mr. Bonar Law in a recent speech--"with the first
twenty-four days of the operations of this spring. Four times as much
territory had been taken from the enemy in this offensive as was taken
in the Somme, against the resistance of double the number of German
divisions. And of those divisions just one-half have had to be
withdrawn--shattered--from the fighting line while the British
casualties in the offensive have been from 50 to 75 per cent, less than
the casualties in the Somme fighting."

Consider, too, the news which is still fresh as I finish this
letter--(June 11th)--of the victory of Messines; perhaps the most
complete, the most rounded success--so far--that has fallen to the
British armies in the war! Last year, in three months' fighting on the
Somme, we took the strongly fortified Albert ridge, and forced the
German retreat of last February. On April 8th of this year began the
battle of Arras which gave us the Vimy Ridge, and a free outlook over
the Douai plain. And finally, on June 7th, four days ago, the Messines
ridge, which I saw last year on March 2nd--apparently impregnable and
inaccessible!--from a neighbouring hill, with the German trenches scored
along its slopes, was captured by General Plumer and his splendid army
in a few hours, after more than twelve months' preparation, with lighter
casualties than have ever fallen to a British attack before, with heavy
losses to the enemy, large captures of guns, and 7,000 prisoners. Our
troops have since moved steadily forward; and the strategic future is
rich in possibilities. The Germans have regained nothing; and the German
press has not yet dared to tell the German people of the defeat. Let us
remember also the victorious campaign of this year in Mesopotamia; and