On Thursday the Duke of Bedford delivered an excellent address
on Army reorganisation and reform to the Tavi- stock Liberal Unionist Association, of which he is president. Taking for his standpoint the fact that not less than one hundred thousand men were already overdue to leave the colours and the Reserve, the Duke of Bedford observed that it was for the Government to tell the public how, in face of the unsatisfactory Report of the Inspector-General of Recruit- ing, they were going to make good that deficit, adding: " I hope they 'will tell us the means they propose to employ, because if
they do not, I fail to see how they can expect to retain the con- . fidence of the country." Personally, he was opposed to con-
scription in any form. Even in its modified form, as repre- sented by the Militia Ballot, it was liable to the overwhelming objection that the plinciple of the Ballot was pure hazard, which might spare the idler and penalise the hard-working artisan. Conscription could only be established by an appeal to the court- try, and he could not conceive any Government successfully appealing to the country on such an issue.
Previous page
