All these events and more seem to prove to my mind the rather dismal failure the Liberal Government made--a failure really to grasp the problem.

It was a dead failure.

Of course they are waking up now, when they are faced with a certain dread lest many soldiers prefer frankly to die rather than spend another winter in practically the same trenches.

You hear rumours, too, of great impending military scandals--God knows whether there be any truth in them or not.
In a word, while no Englishman gives up or will ever give up--that's all rot--the job he has in hand is not going well.

He's got to spit on his hands and buckle up his belt two holes tighter yet.