THE NATIONAL RESERVE.
BY far the most striking passage in Colonel Seely's somewhat pessimistic stocktaking of the Army was his account of the growth of the National Reserve. The National Reserve on January let numbered 217,000 men, and we have little doubt that by the end of June it will have reached a quarter of a million. Of these 217,000 a good many are, as Colonel Seely noted, men well advanced in years—men who, though they could do very useful work in case of invasion, ought not for the most part to rank as regular combatants. These veterans probably number something like 70,000 men, and bring the active portion of the force down to, say, 150,000. To these 150,000 men the Secretary of State—for it is to his good sense and power of initiative that this new move is due, and to him must belong the credit—lately made a specific appeal. National Reservists who were under forty-two years of age were asked to undertake a purely voluntary obligation in ease of war to serve their native land oversea as soldiers— that is, to fight in any part of the world. Men over forty- two and under fifty were asked to undertake a definite obligation to share in the military defence of these islands in case of invasion or imminent national peril. No bounty of any sort was offered to the men who undertook either of these grave duties. They were simply told that, in case of their services being used, they would have what we may venture to call the "most-favoured-soldier" treatment in regard to pay, pensions, &c.; and it was further arranged that, in the case of the men undertaking the oversee obli- gation, a small sum would be given them in order to meet the sudden emergency of leaving home—i.e., to enable their wives to carry on in the absence of the
bread-winner. The response made to this appeal we can only describe as magnificent. It affords a proof of what we have again and again stated in these columns—namely, that the Army is a school of patriotism, and that the private soldier illustrates that patriotism, not only by his original enlistment, but still more by his attitude towards the nation and national defence after he has actually left the colours. Instead of the old soldier being determined, as the cynics are wont to declare, never to put his neck into the military noose again when once he has got it out, he is pathetically willing to do so if he thinks his country calls him. Though we gladly acknowledge that the military authorities never discouraged the National Reserve, it must be owned that they showed a distinct sense of helplessness at the beginning of the movement. The National Reserve was started outside the Army, and during the first two or three years of its existence it grew by itself and practically 'without any War Office patronage. It is no doubt the foster-child of the Territorial Associations and of public opinion, but it is the own son of the patriotic spirit of the ex-soldier and ex-volunteer.
Up till a week or so ago no fewer than 13,000 men in the National Reserve had undertaken the oversee obligation, and there is good reason to believe that by the end of the year the figures will have reached 20,000, for as yet practically no men have responded from the London Reserve. This, we need hardly say, is not due to any want of patriotism or any want of strength in the London Reserve, for in many ways that section of the National Reserve is the best organized and the most remarkable in the country. Owing, however, partly to special circumstances not unconnected with the vast size of the Reserve in London—there are nearly 40,000 men in it—and partly to the fact that the War Office unfortunately gave the impression at the beginning that it only wanted three men from the London National Reserve—it sounds incredible, but is never- theless a fact—the two obligations have not yet been put properly and systematically before the London battalions. We have little doubt, however, that when they are so put, the response will be proportionate ; indeed, we should not at all wonder if it exceeded the proportion of the rest of the kingdom. We will hazard a guess, then, that ultimately Class I.—i.e., those who undertake the oversee obligation— in London will number at least 3,000. The Surrey National Reserve, the first county Reserve to be raised, has sent 400 out of about 5,000 men into Class I. At that rate, the London figure should amount to that we have just named.
Though we feel certain that we shall get 20,000 men by the end of the year, we will not adopt that hypothesis, but take the existing fact—namely, that 13,000 men have already given in their names for oversee service. The first thing to note in this connexion is that the annnal cost to the nation is only 10s. per man—the small sum which is paid to the Territorial Association in which he is registered. The National Reserve causes a great deal of work in the Territorial offices, and a payment of 10s. per man per year practically does little more than cover the extra expenses to which the Association is put in grading the Reserve and dividing it into classes, &c. These 13,000 men thus cost the nation £6,500 a year. Never was such splendid material obtained so cheaply. The men are in the prime of life, and a very large proportion of them have seen active service and have war medals on their coats. Without exaggeration, they are probably the finest and best trained ex-soldiers that the world can show. Even if they were not urgently needed to fill a gap which, if not filled, would cause the ruin of our whole system of mobilization, they would be well worth having. As it is, they are literally invaluable. Our mili- tary readers will remember that in Lord Haldane's scheme for the mobilization of the Expeditionary Force the Special Reserve plays a very great part. Without its aid, indeed, and its aid in full numbers, the Expeditionary Force
cannot be completed. But in spite of every effort that has been made to recruit it and keep its ranks full, the Special Reserve has never been up to its establishment. At the present moment, by a curious coincidence, it is 13,000 men short. The 13,000 men who have undertaken theoversea obligation in the National Reserve have thus come in at a
most fortunate hour. They supply a want the greatness of which can only be realized by those who understand the details of the mobilization scheme. Moreover, this deficiency is filled, not by a makeshift crew, but by very much better material than could possibly have been supplied by the Special Reserve. We have nothing to say in depreciation of the Special Reserve. It is a body both for officers and men which will never be spoken of by us except with respect. Admittedly, however, the rank-and-file are boys—many of them too young in years and too small in stature to be able to find their place in the Line. No one, then, can doubt that the National Reserve men who will take the place of the men wanted, but not obtained, by the Special Reserve are worth, man for man, a great deal more from the military point of view than the juvenile Special Reservists. Curiously enough, they are also worth a great deal more from the taxpayer's point of view. The 13,000 men by whom the Special Reserve is short would, if we could have got them, have cost the country £26 10s. per man, or close upon £350,000 a year. Lest the element of the ludicrous should be lacking, it is rumoured that the Treasury were at one time very much alarmed by the number of men who were joining Class L of the National Reserve at 10s. a year, thereby making good the deficiency in the men at £26 10s. a year, and. were anxious to restrict their numbers ! Happily, however, this strange form of saving was not insisted upon.
A. word must now be said as to the men who have signed on in Class IL—the men who have undertaken the obliga- tion to serve within these islands in case of invasion. These men now number 45,000, but we may feel certain that in the end they will reach at least 100,000 in peace time. In case of actual war both classes would be very largely swelled. There are a great many men who, through caution or procrastination or want of being asked, have not undertaken either obligation, though in reality they are not unwilling to do so. These men would flock in the moment there was imminent national peril. Under these conditions we should expect during war time to see the National Reserve, as a whole, raised to half a million, the men with the oversee obligation to 40,000, and the men willing to join Class II. doubled. No doubt a patriotic movement of this kind would always have taken place amongst the trained men, but before the foundation of the National Reserve very little use could have been made of their goodwill. Now there will be a definite organization and a definite place found for every trained man who puts his services at the disposal of his country. That is the difference between having a National Reserve, especially a National Reserve graded as Colonel Seely has graded it, and a patriotic but unorganized crowd of applicants willing to do something somewhere for the good of the Motherland.
When we began to advocate in the Spectator the registering of trained men and the formation of a Reserve, we described our ideal as the creation of a great reservoir, filled by the trained men in the country, into which the War Office could dip for various purposes. Naturally, perhaps inevitably, our proposal was scouted as ridiculous, and we were told that it was useless to organize such a force unless we could indicate specifically the exact ways in which the men in the reservoir would be used. Our reply was, in effect, that we had not the gift of prophecy, but we felt sure that, if the reservoir were created, plenty of buckets would be let down into it with the best possible results. That is exactly what has happened. Colonel Seely has come along with two buckets, one marked "Oversee. Service Obligation" and the other marked "Home Defence Obligation." With one he has already dipped out 13,000 men and with the other 45,000 men, and has used them for what we can only describe as
the relief of certain harassing needs—needs which were giving the greatest possible anxiety to the military authorities. The bucket marked "Oversell Service Obliga- tion " has saved the situation, as regards mobilization, by making good the deficiency caused by the shortness of the Special Reserve. The bucket marked "Home Defence Obligation," if properly used, will supply the Territorial Army with that reserve force which has become its prime need. Without such a reserve the Territorial Force would, on embodiment and in case of actual invasion, have been a maimed thing. The official Territorial Reserve has, be it noted, been a complete failure.
Before we leave the subject we may take note of an interesting experiment which is to be tried in Surrey next Whitsuntide. The Sheriff of Surrey has invited 800 of
the men in the Surrey National Reserve, who have signed _
one or other of the obligations, to be his guests under canvas from the afternoon of Saturday, May 30th, to the afternoon of Whit-Monday, June 1st. The force will be inspected by the Secretary of State for War. There will be a church parade on the afternoon of Whit-Sunday and a field exercise on the Monday morning. The camp will be at Nee lasds Corner, on the top of the North Downs, some four miles from Guildford. The Sheriff, as host, and the Surrey Territorial Association, as the body responsible for all the military arrangements, believe that they will be able to show the nation a body of men of whom it will be proud, and one which will be a proof, not merely of the value of the Surrey force, but of the force throughout the counties of England.
Colonel Seely deserves the thanks of the nation for having given a definite place to the National Reserve in our military organization and in the scheme of national defence. He has shown us that in this Reservoir of Trained Men we have a great national asset.
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