THE RING AND THE NATIONAL RESERVE.
MICE King is in one sense the most heavily censored 1. man in the nation. When we say this it must not be supposed that we are finding another cause of complaint against the Censorship. All reasonable people must agree that it ia right that the King's movements should not be known in war time. And for this very clear reason. The work which the King has been doing ever since the war began is closely concerned with military movements, and we are all agreed that military movements must be hidden under a veil of secrecy. The King has made it his business not only to see every corps in the kingdom, old and new, and to share as it were in every new military development, but he has taken upon himself the duty of saying words of farewell and encouragement to the various units of the Army before they leave the country for foreign service. Hence if the King's movements had been chronicled the enemy would have become cognisant of military facts which it is essential to conceal from them. Secrecy, then, was inevitable, although from many points of view it was a great pity, and has to a very considerable extent prevented the British people from realizing how readily and how generously the King has spent himself in encouraging his troops, and how cheerfully he has been content to work for his country and his subjects, not in that atmosphere of public applause which so many Sovereigns regard as their rightful prerogative, but in almost complete silence. Happily King George is not, and never will be, a popularity-hunter, a self-advertiser, or a limelight monarch. We are sure that the obligation of self-effacement during the war has not troubled him for an instant. He has seen quite clearly from the beginning where his duty lay, and he has done it without the slightest thought as to whether the country would or would not understand in the end that, though people have heard so little about him, he has been one of the hardest-worked of men in a hard-worked epoch.
Though it is the duty of every loyal subject and good patriot to acquiesce heartily in maintaining the veil of secrecy which is spread over the King's doings, we are going to take upon ourselves the responsibility of lifting a tiny portion of that veil from a part of the King's doings on Saturday last. We are sure that in this case our apparent indiscretion will do no harm and will not convey any dangerous information. It will at the same time give a great deal of sincere pleasure to a very large body of men who deserve well of their country. The Court Circular tells us that on Saturday the King went down to Aldershot. What it does not tell us is that on his way down he inspected a body of Surrey National Reservists engaged in guarding a certain "vulnerable point" which had better remain nameless. The Guard is quite a small one, but it has to discharge a very arduous duty, for this, like many other vulnerable points, is vulnerable not merely to an attack by an enemy, but to storm and shower and all the winds of heaven. The little party of men in question, quite invisible to the general public, have for the last four or five months been performing a task which all soldiers know is apt to cause loss of military efficiency, if not actual military demoralization. Picture an officer and fifty men isolated from their fellows, and under the ultimate orders of a superior commander who by the nature of things can only communicate with them through the poet. The superior officer is hard-worked and under- staffed, and lives sixty or seventy miles away. Add that these men are engaged in work which is not only exceedingly trying physically owing to exposure to the weather, but is exceedingly monotonous, and yet so im- portant that the utmost vigilance is necessary. While all is well nothing happens or seems ever capable of happening.
If anything were to go wrong there would be a real disaster.
But this is not all. Owing to the very proper desire of the military authorities not to waste forces which are
so urgently needed elsewhere, the Guard has only just enough men to enable it to perform its necessary duties. This fact translated into plain English means
that if there is any illness—and there is bound to he a certain amount—the men not only cannot get leave, but in many cases cannot get enough sleep. Finally, it must be remembered that the men who are doing this work are doing it out of pure patriotism, and not in the least because they were out of work when the war began or dreaded being out of work. In most cases they gave up good billets and left comfortable homes to guard their "vulnerable point," and to guard it entirely forgotten by their fellow-countrymen, and often apparently forgotten by the military authorities. We do not hesitate to say that with the vast majority of Englishmen a National Reserve Guard on a railway line or at a vulnerable point disappears almost as completely from human ken as if it were posted in the Antarctic. The men at the front have. for all their hardships, the consolation that they are doing great things in a great way. The men at the training camps who are straining at the leash for orders for the front, whether Regulars or Territorials. are preparing for great things, and have all the encouragement that is given by the bustling life of great camps, shaken day and night by the tramp of men and by the movements of the guns and limbers and all the pomp and circumstance of military life. The Guard at a vulnerable point, "the world for- getting, by the world forgot," shares none of these excite- ments. The public occasionally sees a man in khaki against a bit of sky-line, and perhaps wonders what that soldier is doing up there." Or possibly some one is annoyed at not being able to pass along a path where he used to pass, and grumbles at all these "ridiculous precautions."
In those circumstances of isolation, of nerve strain and hard work, let our readers conceive the effect of a message overnight to the guard of a vulnerable point that the King would inspect them at — o'clock next morning, and that as ninny men as could be spared front duty were to parade at a point indicated near the high road. Delight aud gratitude are very cold words with which to express the feeling of officers and men. Though, like good English- men, they have never grumbled—perhaps, in one sense, have never realized their isolation or their hardships or the strain of which we have spoken—the message thrilled them. "The King knows about us and the King cares. and he has taken the trouble to show that he cares." That was the dominant thought as the King passed down the little party of thirty men or so drawn up in two ranks at the roadside with the Major and Captain in front and the non-commissioned officers behind. The King had a word for practically every man, and noted the medal, and the smart appearance and soldierly bearing of the Guard. An impressive feature of the inspection was that there was no suggestion of hurry or of a per- functory act, or that the King was merely showing geniality and kindness of heart. On the contrary, the King made it quite clear that he was performing a serious piece of military work oven though on a small scale— the finest compliment he could possibly have paid to the Reservists. It was real business and not sympathetic soldiering. In addition the men were quick to note that the Queen and her daughter also watched the whole pro- ceedings with the keenest interest. The inspection over, the King expressed his satisfaction to the officer in command, and be and his staff entered their cars and went as quietly as they came, save for the heartiest cheers ever given by so small a group of soldiers. The composition of the Guard was thoroughly characteristic of the National Reserve. About sixty per cent, of the men were old Regulars and forty per cent. old Volunteers. Most of the old soldiers had war medals. Amongst the Regulars were two Marines—for, happily, Marines and Bluejackets, if not belonging to any Admiralty Reserve, are allowed to be members of the National Reserve, and have added through- out the country some six thousand or seven thousand most efficient men to the force. Of the officers, the Major was an ex-officer of Canadian Artillery and had done his ten or twelve years' service in Montreal. The Captain was an ex-officer of Volunteers. (Readers may ask Low me
small a Guard came to have a Major and a Captain. We shall not supply the answer to the question, because to do No might reveal the position of the Guard. Suffice it to say that the explanation would be a perfectly obvious one could all the circumstances he disclosed.) As we have said, we have lifted a tiny corner of the veil that Anomie the King's movements in order to show not only how comprehensive is his military activity, but also—and it is a matter of no small importance—that he at any rate realizes, as indeed he has done from the very beginning, the great value of the National Reserve. Ile has always been its friend and well-wisher, The National Reserve may be said to have begun with the King's reign, for its first public appearance—the parade of the Surrey National Reserve on the Horse Guards Parade—took place within six weeks of the King's accession. Indeed, we believe we are correct in saying that the first cheers ever given for King George by a body of soldiers were the cheers given at that parade on Waterloo Day in 1910. But though we have spoken of the Surrey National Reserve, it must not he supposed for a moment that there is anything peculiar about the Reserve of that county, or that the King has only seen Surrey National Reservists. He has seen plenty from other counties. Just as good work is being done by the National Reserve from Hampshire to Inverness as is being done by what is for National Reserve purposes the premier county. Throughout the length and breadth of the land there are National Reservists at work on Guard duties. The National Reserve need not fear the consequences of its self-effacement. It may rest assured that when the country has time to examine its record, that record will show that it rendered services of incalculable value.
A word as to one of the special benefits conferred upon the nation by the National Reserve before we leave the subject. The mobilization of the Expeditionary Force could not have been the success it was unless the Special Reserve bad been raised to its full strength. When war broke out the Special Reserve was, we believe we are right in saying, about thirty thousand short. That shortage was more than made up by the instant inclusion in the Special Reserve of Class I. of the National Reserve. The exact figures have never been given, but we believe that some thirty thousand to forty thousand National Reservists entered the Special Reserve. We know that from the county of Surrey—for there the figures have been published—close on one thousand men entered the Special Reserve. Taking that as a basis of calculation, the total of men entering the Special Reserve should be forty thousand. If the National Reserve had only done that it would have been well worth having, but it has done a great deal more. In Surrey, again, there are close on two thousand men in isolated National Reserve units doing guard work, and some five hundred in the Territorials in various capacities. How many men who were members of the National Reserve when war broke out are now with the colours it is difficult to say, but in the case of Surrey it is safe to presume another five hundred. In fact, the Surrey National Reserve in one way or another has sent nearly four thousand men to the colours. Multiply this by fifty—Surrey's population is about one-fiftieth of the population of Great Britain—and one can make a guess at the total contribution of the National Reserve.
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