THE SAFETY OF THE REALM.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOH."1
SIR,—Most of your readers I imagine are prepared to echo in no uncertain way the generous tribute you pay to Lord Roberts in your leading article under the above heading, April 8th. Most of your readers, too (and I count myself among them), look forward, no doubt, with hope to the day when some modified form of compulsory universal training will not only improve the physique of the race, but unques- tionably render this "prize" of the seas absolutely fire-proof against the raiding attacks of all her enemies. The end, then, which most of us desire to attain may be the same. By what methods that consummation may best be reached may divide us somewhat. It must never be forgotten that the present (Viscount Haldane's) system cannot be swept away and replaced by a better in a year.
For the moment, too, we who advocate that better system cannot reasonably hope to see it become generally popular with- out infinitely harder spade-work in literature and lectures. To the masses the National Service League dish remains caviare That being the case, surely no good purpose is gained by belittling in so wholesale a manner the present Auxiliary Forces of the Crown. We must have something to carry on with Many of us who judge more leniently than the too militant section of the National Service League think that we have got it. Heaping scorn and derision upon the heads of the unhappy Territorials, or, put in another way, lauding them as hard-working followers of Sisyphus for ever striving to roll up the stone of efficiency, utterly beyond them—that, surely, is the certain way to a long fast, during which, in our military storehouses we may find neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring. Your "Ambitions Foreign Statesman," whilst hugging to his heart the many good points you make in your leading article, would almost certainly put against them (with his, at any rate, equal knowledge ! ) serious chances of failure for his own side.
Come what might to our fleet, though we of the Blue-water School look to that fleet to make things most unpleasant still—
even after two long years of war—for any surviving enemy's fleet, come what might to the Regular Forces of the Crown, by then, no doubt, upholding our flag and that of our allies upon the Continent, he would be aware, and fully aware, of the reception which would still await him here.
He would argue that the untrained Boer held the British army at bay; that the Moors gave considerable trouble to the Spanish regulars ; that, at this moment, the Albanians very greatly annoy the (German-trained) Turkish regulars. He would argue that our country is enclosed and ill-suited to an advance—aye even to a " footing." He would remember that as 7,000 men of all arms take (roughly) twenty-one hours to disembark, his army of 100,000 would take—well, considerably longer. He would not forget that our country is well supplied with railways, and well suited to the sending up of reinforcements. He would recollect that, even if mobilised (as stated) in twenty-four hours, the collection of transports for the shipment of his force would long since have been reported to us. (I trespass here, though, on the article of a distinguished naval officer lately published in The Navy.) Last, but not least, he has to meet in this country forces at any rate intelligent, and, as far as the Special Reserve is concerned, trained on the lines of Colonel Pollock's Spectator Experimental Company. These forces are armed with the best rifle, charged with a great patriotism, and, for purposes of defence only, are at least as dangerous to the enemy as were the untrained Boers.
Is it quite fair to say we are an " unarmed sheep-like popu- lation" P Thousands since the South African War are now trained to arms. The Territorial and Veteran Reserves alone cannot honestly be ranked as mere ciphers. The units of the Special Reserve and of the Territorials proper each have their appointed stations upon mobilization. Our plans are now laid—chapter and verse—for defence of all our vulnerable points. Our coasts are always patrolled. In times of danger they would be doubly patrolled. The idea that " enemy's posts could be entrenched before the British were even aware they had started " is, to put it mildly, an insult to the intelligence of our General Staff Officers.
That the present Auxiliary forces are just " sheep without shepherds "—men without methods—these are grave state- ments on the one side, but are they necessarily correct?
I think not. A small landing party rather than a large is the most likely danger. Some of us are bold enough to think that our present forces could ably deal with such a raid.
Things have improved in the last two years. It may be the mission of some to sweep our Auxiliaries " like a flock of sheep " off the face of this island. This can easily be attained from within. From without, should the case be tested, I humbly submit it would not be done without some staggering losses to the enemy. It is well, too, that he should know this fact. A little more American confidence would better become us than the perpetual display of childish fear advertised by us so assiduously to the world at large. For the present, too, surely we should concentrate our entire energies upon obtain- ing and maintaining an adequate Navy. Incidentally, we might accord to our present Auxiliary Forces the encourage ment they rightly deserve.—I am, Sir, &c.,
away the Territorial system, but to make it effective by enlarging it and giving every man before he enters it a minimum training of four months. Our correspondent seems to suggest that the members of the National Service League and the advocates of Universal Training have worked against the Territorial Army. The exact reverse is the truth. It is not too much to say that when you find a man devoting his time and energy to the Territorials, either as a Regi- mental Officer of that force or as a member of a Territorial Association, he is almost certain to be an advocate of Universal Training, and most probably a member of the National Service League. The majority of the men who rail at the supporters of Compulsion for injuring the Territorials are men who themselves have done little or nothing for that force. There are, of course, brilliant exceptions, but the rule is as we have stated it. Take the case of the Veteran Reserve. It is recognised as a God-send by the opponents of Universal Training on the Swiss Model (i.e. the system advocated by the National Service League). Yet the men who started it, and are working it, are almost all advocates of Compulsion. When Colonel Seely spoke the other day to 300 Officers of the London Veteran Reserve, the word Compulsion was cheered by them to the echo. The allegation that the friends of Compulsion have failed to do their best for the Territorial System is grossly unfair.—ED. Spectator.]
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