From ‘The Great Improvisation’, The Spectator, 2 January 1915:
Though we fully recognize that praise is dangerous, we must at Christmastide indulge ourselves with a little praise of the British people, or rather of the British Army, for that part of the British nation which really deserves praise is in the Army. Once again, what we are doing, and doing exceedingly well, though in a sense it is a disgrace for any nation to have to do it, either well or ill, is improvisation. We are improvising an Army in a way that probably no other nation in the world, except the American, which, after all, is only the other side of the same medal, could accomplish. We are proving that, though we are bad organizers, we have an extraordinary gift for rapidly making something out of nothing, and converting chaos into order. The way in which the regiments, battalions, batteries, and other units of the New Army and of the Territorials have been developing into efficient military units during the past four months can only be described as amazing.