CORRESPONDENCE.
THE TASK BEFORE US.
rTe ens EDISOS Or en ••Sesorms."]
Sin,—With the New Year Englishmen are hoping that the great effort of preparation which the country is making will shortly produce a perceptible result upon the operations in the field. It seems, therefore, a good time to attempt to look forward. For this purpose we must imitate the navigator, who marks out his course on the chart, or the architect, who as he watches the work keeps in mind the design. Every great war has its inevitable chart or design, which is the consequence of the conditions of its origin. The statesman's first task and his first difficulty are to recognize clearly the scope and out- lines of a war• beginning, and if he has accomplished that his second difficulty is to inspire with the idea present to his own insight the minds of those upon whose co-operation he depends for its accomplishment, who are, at any rate in this country, all the citizens, more especially those whose intelligence and power qualify them to contribute by their own spontaneous efforts to the realization of the design. A nation of men merely doing what they are told can never be as strong as the same nation will be when every man is inspired by a grip of the purpose in hand.
The German nation has by long and hard preparation turned itself into an army for the object, avowed in August last, of imposing its will upon Europe. Thus Germany has chal- lenged Europe to crush her or be crushed. Accordingly the design of the war on the part of France, Russia, and England, explicitly recognized by all their statesmen, is to overthrow the military power of Germany. Besides her own sixty-five millions of people, with the most businesslike organization
in the world for war as for peace, Germany has secured the help of Austria-Hungary, with a population of fifty millions, as well as of the Turkish Empire. She makes war with unqualified ruthlessness, encouraging her soldiers to kill, burn, and destroy in modes which the self-respect of her adversaries forbids them to adopt. This is national war in its extreme form. The first principle of national war is the concentration of effort in time and space. The centre of gravity of the enemy's combination must be found, and, if possible, the whole force of our combination must be directed against that centre of gravity, and most strike blow after blow without pause or delay till the whole adverse system is upset. The centre of gravity of the hostile combination is in Germany, for if Germany is crushed Austria and Turkey eau easily be dealt with, while if Turkey and Austria were both shattered Germany would remain formidable. Germany's power resides in her Army, to which her Navy is but a strong auxiliary. That Army, therefore, has to be reduced to helplessness by the process of fighting. The German Navy at first evidently believed that in an early general action with the British Navy it would be defeated, if not destroyed. Nothing but that belief could have prevented its seeking a decision by battle before now. The inference is that it will postpone such a decision unless or until ita com- mander sees the opportunity of meeting a part of the British Fleet with the whole of his own, or until his own Fleet has been enlarged by great exertions in the German building yards. If therefore the destruction of the German Navy in a necessary part of the programme of the Allies, it may ultimately become needful for their armies to attack and capture the fortified harbours in which the German Navy finds shelter. Meanwhile the Austrian and Turkish Armies must be prevented from inflicting serious or irreparable injury on the Allies, and if they can be weakened or detached from the hostile combination by operations which would not divert the main energies of the Allies from their chief objective, so much the better. Such is in the abstract the measure of the effort which the Allies have to make. Whether Germany will continue her resistance to the point of the complete destruction of her forces can hardly be foreseen; but the Allies can take no other measure, in advance, of the exertions which lie before them. Not only our statesmen, but the popular instinct, have divined the magnitude of the task before us. "It's a long, long way to Tipperary," sings the soldier, and he adds "But my heart's right there."
It would be helpful if we could divine what the adversary will do. Germany must go the way along which she is impelled by her heart and mind. We know them both. Her ruling passion is hatred of England ; her chief thought is that England has made the coalition against her. The British Navy is held to be the chief obstacle to Germany's expansion. Take away the British Navy and the coalition goes to pieces, for the British Navy is its connecting link. In 1864 the Danish Navy was too strong for those of Prussia and Austria. Yet in spite of that Navy the Prussian Army landed on the island of Alsen, and was preparing, when the war ended, to land in Finer' also. If the Army with no naval assistance worth speaking of could cross the straits that separated the mainland from the Danish islands, could it not, with the aid of mines and submarines, cross the Straits of Dover f Hardly until the French shore is in German bands. The German design, as we know, was to annex not only Belgium, but France as far as the Somme, or at any rate as far as the Caliche. The battles on the Year and in front of Ypres show how much stress the German strategists lay upon the possession of the coast of the narrow ChanneL The penetration of the Germans to La Bass6e reveals the design of separating the English from the French. While these attempts were made the German Generals seem to have been content to keep the French centre and right busy without delivering against them any great concentrated attack, for the advance against St Mildel was not sustained nor pressed beyond that point. The Germans well know that the English grow stronger day by day. Time runs against the offensive, and for the German offensive in the West it must shortly have run out The German cue would there- fore seem to be an early attack with concentrated tome either against the left of the allied line, held by the British, or against its right, held by the French, or against its centre, the point of junction between the two. Thus both sides are driven to strengthen themselves as quickly as is consistent with the nature and the quality of the reinforcements. In this process the advantage is with the defensive, that is, up to now, with the Allies. The difficult question to decide is whether the German offensive has not already passed its cul- mination. In that case its momentum would be at an end, the principle being that, if the culminating point of the attack comes before the overthrow of the adversary, his over- throw can probably never be accomplished. This principle suggests the right course for the Allies. They should not undertake the offensive, the concentrated attack on the right, the left, or the centre, intended to break the enemy and to lead to a crushing victory, until they are strong enough to carry it on without interruption, not only until the decision has been reached, but until its fruits have been gathered in.
Tardily, but we may hope not too late, England is awaken- ing to the realization of her true self and her great purpose in the world. She is exerting herself to fulfil the laws of her being. She comprehends the law of insularity—that an island State must command the sea or perish. if Europe were a single nation, as Germany dreams that she might make it, these islands could not long maintain a navy equal to that of the united Continent. Europe, however, is not the home of one nation, but of many, and, as freedom, nationhood, independence are dear to them all, they have from time to time been compelled to combine to resist the attempt of any one of their number to reduce them to subjection or to establish an overlordahip among them. In those struggles England has always taken part, contributing to the cause of European freedom the efforts of her navy and those of such army as she possessed. Thus she has been the embodiment of that balance of power in Europe which is the fundamental condition of human freedom, and in the maintenance of which the British Navy has been the decisive inetrument. It is the natural law of the balance of power that the island State can command the sea only on condition that she uses her navy on behalf of the freedom of Europe. The counterpart of this law is that of Empire—that so long as England does her work of fighting for her own freedom and that of Europe it will be her privilege to be the pioneer of Europe in the lands beyond the sea. These are principles not merely of strategy but of right, and they are bound together by one last funds- mental law, the law of service—that England and the British Empire can subsist only so long as they are useful agents in the cause of humanity, of the welfare of all mankind. In the spirit of these laws, in which are contained the essence of our nation's history, England is now acting, not at the sugges- tion of one man or of one party, not by the will of the majority over a dissentient minority, but by the instinct of all her people, thinking, feeling, and acting in one accord. This spirit is shared by the great Dominions, which feel them- selves one with us, as all who knew them foresaw that they would. It animates also the Princes and peoples of India with a strength that could not be foreseen, but which fulfils the hopes of those of our countrymen who for generations have given themselves for India's welfare. May we not all alike, those of us who are lighting in the field, those who are facing the perils of the sea, those who are giving their eons to the cause—as who is not that has sons P—and those, too, who have nothing to give but their hearts, take courage for the trials that are before us as we dimly perceive the grandeur of England's task and the sincerity with which she has set about it? The world sees that England is herself again, and as that glorious truth dawns upon us can we not feel that England, old England, ever young, is worth our lives P—I am, Sir, &c.,
SPENSER WIIdUsSON.