LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL AND THE WAR.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SEE,—T so seldom find myself in disagreement with the views of the Spectator that I feel the more moved to register
my protest against your endorsement (October 26th) of the dangerous advice tendered by Mr. Winston Churchill iu his recent speech at Leicester. With much of that speech I am in hearty accord, nor do I quarrel with his contention that the Government must bear the full responsibility of the con- duct of the war. At the same time, I am not aware that they have shown any desire to shirk this responsibility, so that the implication in his speech was scarcely a fair one. But when I come to his, and your, advocacy cf a policy of interference with our generals in the field
by civilian politicians at home, I must confess to a sense of amazed disappointment. Does the Spectator seriously
believe that an Advisory Council of amateur Von Moltkes in Pall Mall or Downing Street would assist our " mobile " columns to capture Botha and De Wet, or would bring the war any nearer to its much desired conclusion ?
One had hoped that this pernicious doctrine had died a natural death soon after the introduction of telegraphy had emphasised its perils. My experience with the American Army during the Spanish-American War convinced me afresh that the "lines of communication" which cause a general the most worry and trouble are the cables con- necting him with his Government, and it is certain that the American Commander-in-Chief's masterly sur- prise of the Spanish in Puerto Rico would never have taken place had he not been able to keep the Washington Government in the dark as to his intentions and whereabouts.
Sooner than see a system of "civilian control" over our generals in the field, I would prefer that every cable between this country and South Africa should be severed during the continuance of the war, and I believe that this view would be endorsed by almost every military authority. If the Govern- ment will more clearly recognise its paramount duty of appointing the best men, and none but the best men, to positions of high command, whether at home or in the field, and will then give those men a free hand and unstinting
support as long as they prove themselves worthy, it will have discharged all the military responsibilities that it can assume without danger to the State.—I am, Sir, &c., [Mr. Lee has not, we think, quite understood our view as to the relative positions of the Government and the soldiers as regards military policy. What that view is we have set forth at length elsewhere in our issue of to-day.---En. Spectator.]
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