ABSTRACT
On April 29th, the Cabinet adopted the principle of National Military Service. Asquith introduced the Bill on May 2nd. She heard him make the speech. He did not much like the job and was not at his best. The House was astonishingly cold. The Cabinet crisis was for the moment averted. He received the warm thanks of the Prime Minister for my efforts, and to this day he have a cigarette case which Mrs Asquith gave him to commemorate the occasion. The inquiry continued without intermission for a month, during which the Committee met nearly every day and sometimes twice a day. The President and officials of the Board of Trade also made a tremendous effort of conciliation and eventually saw their way to a revision of their original estimates and agreed to release a larger number of men.
