May I ask that you will come back with me in memory to the year 1890, when our struggle against Ottoman aggression, later on so successfully brought to a close, was begun.

We were then in a desperate condition.

Our finances had run so low that we could not purchase even the bread which we required.

Nay, more, we could not procure through the National Exchequer what we wanted more than bread--arms of modern effectiveness; for men may endure hunger and yet fight well, as the glorious past of our country has proved again and again and again.

But when our foes are better armed than we are, the penalty is dreadful to a nation small as our own is in number, no matter how brave their hearts.