_Englishman_. The soldiers who died there (_gestures to the ditch_) and
their like did that also. They tied the nations together with a bond of
common gratitude, common suffering, common glory.

_American_. You say well that there was common gratitude. England and
France had fought our battle for three years at the time we entered the
war. We had nestled behind the English fleet. Those grim gray ships of
yours stood between us and the barbarians very literally.

_Englishman_. Without doubt Germany would have been happy to invade the
only country on earth rich enough to pay her war debt. And you were
astonishingly open to invasion. It is one of the historical facts that a
student of history of this twenty-first century finds difficult to
realize.

_American_. The Great War made revolutionary changes. That condition of
unpreparedness was one. That there will never be another war is the
belief of all governments. But if all governments should be mistaken,
not again would my country, or yours, be caught unprepared. A general
staff built of soldiers and free of civilians hampering is one advantage
we have drawn from our ordeal of 1917.

_Englishman_. Your army is magnificently efficient.

_American_. And yours. Heaven grant neither may ever be needed! Our
military efficiency is the pride of an unmilitary nation. One Congress,
since the Great War and its lessons, has vied with another to keep our
high place.