In the house of Lords on Tuesday Lord Roberts again
insisted on the unpreparedness of the nation for war• The defence of the Empire should take precedence over every other question. The Regular Army was only just numerically strong enough to permit of its policing the Empire in times of peace. To enable the Regular Army to hold its own we must have a properly constituted, well-organised, and efficiently trained potential Reserve. Such a Reserve " can never exist unless it is composed of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, men who will consider it not only a duty, but an honour and a privilege, to hold them- selves in readiness to take their. part in the defence of the Empire." Lord Portsmouth, who spoke on behalf of the Government, condemned Lord Roberts's view that every man of military age should compulsorily undergo a certain military training. The burden, he declared, on the taxpayer would be too great, nearly twenty-six millions a year, and in addition the compulsory training would be admitting the principle of conscription. Lord Milner protested against evading the question by setting up the bogey of conscription and putting forth fantastic calculations as to its cost. If conscription meant that it was one of the primary duties of citizenship to defend the Empire, and, as a corollary of that duty, that the citizen should be trained, then be was in favour of it. The experience of South Africa showed, not that they could not find men to fight, but that they could not find men who knew anything about fighting. Lord Lansdowne, who admitted that we could not rely upon the Navy alone, denied Lord Roberts's statement that the country was indifferent to Army matters. The nation was puzzled, not indifferent, owing to the large number of schemes and Commissions of Inquiry.
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