Greater forces could be conciliated for war purposes by reconciliation with Ireland--by bringing Ireland heart and soul into the war--than the equivalent of many regiments.

Yet even from the narrower aspect of finding men, he regarded the same policy as essential.

He assumed that recruiting in Ireland must always be voluntary--at any rate a matter for Ireland's own decision: the question was how to get most troops.

Knowing Ireland, he recognized how complete was the estrangement of its population from the idea of ordinary enlistment.

The bulk of the population were on the land, and in Ireland, as in Great Britain, "gone for a soldier" was a word of disgrace for a farmer's son.