THE WAR MEMORIAL. NATIONAL MUSEUM.

“Their glory shall not be blotted out.” In the confidence and determination expressed by that familiar test we are fighting the fourth year of the war and looking forward to the reorganisation of the world. The men under arms, the civilians who are maintaining those armed forces in the field, are passionately resolved that the work and sacrifice of those who have given their lives for the cause of their country and civilisation shall not be made fruitless or forgotten. We see this spirit expressed, in the construction of those little wayside shrines, a new sight in England, sacred to the memory of a few men, neighbours, friends or members of the same church. It is essentially the same feeling which calls for the provision of memorials or museums in honour of the achievements of the regiments enlisted from the different districts. But if we do well to commemorate individuals and the patriotic efforts and the honours won by this county and that, by one borough and another, it is far more important to establish a memorial to the titanic effort made and the epoch-making work which has been and is being accomplished by the nation as a whole. We stand too near to the stupendous events of the war to appreciate their significance. Two years ago the Government resolved to create a National War Museum. As soon as we consider what such a museum must be, and what it must include, it will be seen that it will be not a mere exhibition, but a tribute to, the men who have fought and fallen. If it is to illustrate the retreat from Mons, for example, or the first battle of Ypres, it must pay some honour to the heroes of those desperate hours. A war museum, therefore, must in the nature of things be a war memorial, it must pay that debt of honour which has been commonly entrusted to some monument or group of statuary. However highly we may value the potentiality of art in that kind, it will hardly be disputed that a well-planned and adequatelyendowed museum will make an appeal to thought and emotion understood by far greater numbers, and in itself far more significant, than any which could spring from monumental sculpture or architecture. We must recognise, therefore, as a fundamental principle of an adequate scheme that the museum must constitute at once the national record and the national memorial of the war. A HALL OF HONOUR The committee appointed to organise the museum, of which Sir Alfred Mond is the chairman and Sir Martin Conway the directorgeneral, have, we understand, adopted this opinion in the plans which they have formulated and submitted to the War Cabinet. As the effects of the war are limited only by the bounds of the world and by the occupations of humanity, the committee contemplate a museum upon a vast scale. Unless the museum is comprehensive and complete it can only be an insult to the nation. Consider what this means. We have not only to illustrate and provide a visible history of years of gigantic battles by earth and sea and air, of long campaigns in every quarter of the world. Our museum must tell of the enrolling of armies millions strong, of their training and equipment, and of their transport. But if only the fighting services found a place, the tale would be half told. This is a war not only of armies and navies, but of nations. The committee wisely make provision for according due honour to the service of those who never put on uniform, and for recounting those great transformations of civil life which the war has brought about. The miracles of munition manufacture and the work of women in the places of men who have gone to fight must find a place beside the trophies of battle. But the first and highest purpose of the museum must be to enshrine the memory of great deeds. If it does not bring back to us and to those who come after us the men who fought and fell, it is but a collection of curiosities. So the committee have resolved that the museum should have as its centre and heart a room of commemoration, a Hall of Honour. What they suggest to realise this ideal is that artists should be called in to create a hall of all the beauty and splendour which they can imagine, around which should be set portraits and statues of such men as the nation may delight to honour. From this Hall we might pass to a Memorial Gallery, in which the name of every man who gave his life to the war should be engraved on bronze, while the achievements of ships, regiments, and contingents might be honoured by inscriptions or other devices. A COMPREHENSIVE SCHEME Such a scheme is ambitious, but in this matter to limit our ambitions is a disgrace. In addition to the hall and gallery described, the committee consider that not less than, two large glass-covered courts will be necessary to house and display heavy artillery, tanks, and such things. What would a War Museum be which did not contain a tank or a big gun? But modern artillery, since we have passed from the bronze age into the age of steel, and, indeed, most of the munitions of modern war, cannot be exhibited out of doors. So large courts on ground level are necessary. It is of course, too soon to draw detailed plans of the museum, but we may perhaps anticipate that round these courts and the central hall and gallery, buildings on two or three floors will be arranged to house smaller exhibits and library. This obviously means a structure of great size and heavy cost, but if we cannot face this prospect we had better not attempt the formation of a National War Museum. That the people will demand its construction upon an adequate scale, and that money thus spent will not be grudged, we have no doubt. The different departments of Government are all taking steps to ensure that the museum shall have every desirable object at its disposal. The Admiralty and the War Office have decided that on the conclusion of the war the museum shall have its choice of all material and trophies captured from the enemy. Official photographs proclamations and Government printing and portraits the fallen and those with distinction are being assembled. Records of women’s work are accumulating. The committee also invite gifts and war souvenirs. If to us and to our enemies alike this is a war for the fate of our posterity, it is supremely necessary to leave behind a full and ample record of what we have done and tried to do.