On Thursday Major Seely moved to reduce the vote for
204,100 men on the Home and Colonial establishments of the Empire, exclusive of those serving in India, by 10,000 men. Profoundly as we disagree with Major Seely's Motion, we are glad that it was made and pressed to a division, for it showed that even in a House of Commons so Radical as the present only fifty-six Members could be induced to vote for the reduc- tion, and that the majority against, in a House in which not many more than half the Members were present, was two hundred and forty. Mr. Balfour, who spoke, made on the whole an excellent speech, but it was marked by one curious slip. He declared that "in India alone" we have a great dependency with a land frontier, thus forgetting Egypt. We are far too apt to think that the sands which surround Egypt make her into an island. We must never forget that these sands have been again and again crossed by armies. It is time that sea-power would probably enable us to prevent an invasion by the El Arish route. The construction by the Turks of the Pilgrimage Railway, which runs inland, has, however, altered the problem, and it is by no means incon- ceivable that the Turks, in conjunction with a European Power, might attempt a land invasion of Egypt, pushing their railway through the Sinai Desert, as we have shown in the Soudan that such railways can be pushed. Mr. Balfour, we note with satisfaction, made use of a caution which has been so often given in these columns, and adopted our formula, that though you can improvise soldiers you cannot improvise officers.
Previous page
