SIGNS OF WAR, 1914,
[To sus Eprron OP TEE "SPECTATOR."1 Sre,—With what assurance does the Premier, speaking of the late War at a luncheon given in his honour, ask the represen- tatives of the Free Church Council "How many men were there in August eight years ago this week who thought that the most terrible war in the world was just about to start? How many were there? How many who were supposed to be in the know thought so?" 1 Has Mr. Lloyd George forgotten Lord Roberts's constant warnings? Does his experience of war, of which he says he has some, teach him that war is invariably predicated by any bellicose nation which knows the value of sudden surprise in war? Does he forget that the Navy and Army knew that war was imminent, and did the British Ambassadors, Secret Service and Consuls on the Continent give the Government no indications? What did Lard Haldane see when he was sent to visit the Raiser?
You cannot "foot all the people all the fine." Here is an extract from a letter sent to me on June 25th, 1913, by an honest soldier, who fell at the head of his battalion
on the Mons retreat : " I was talking to last week in London; he told me that the peace of Europe was at the mercy of any asseident that might crop up, even though no Government desired war this year. . . . The Bourses on the Continent and our own Stock Exchange are very nervous and jumpy : and I am told that the Austrian mobilization of last winter was a very great dis- appointment to the Triple Alliance; that very serious faults were discovered by their effort: that the Italians were also a disappointment to their allies; and that the Germans therefore reckoned that the whole brunt of a war would fall on them: they then decided to increase their army."
If soldiers and sailors can read signs, is it impossible for the Government so to do? I was passing through Paris on August and, 1914 (the first day of French mobilization), and met there an Englishman freshly returned from southern Russia. He mid : "England thinks mobilization has only just started in Germany, Austria, and Russia. I have seen it going on for several weeks past." Did our Government really know none
of these things P—I am, Sir, &e., A STUDENT OF WAR.
Previous page
