ALARMING STATEMENT ABOUT THE ARMY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1736, 10 January 1888, Page 3

ALARMING STATEMENT ABOUT THE ARMY

The November number of the " For'nfgbtly Keview " or,eas with the first of s aeries ot aitlolea on "The British Army.'' The artiole contains the followlDg alarming summary of oar unprepared* ness : — We shall, I fear, find that we are not prepared m time of peace ; that the result of oar want of preparation would be that we should have to incur frightful and wasteful expenditure In time of war •• that our flaet is too weak for its dalles, and 1b »t the mercy of the inventors, who are busily at work upon the methods of dealicg with high explosives which may prove to be lte destruction : while we are behindhand m great gone afloat, behind hand In great guns ashore, m disappear* ing guns, m cupolas and shields, and io eobmartne mining. We are, I fear, open j to invasion, open to bombardment and ransom of oar commercial ports, open to J bombardment of arsenals, exposed to the loss of some of oar coaling stations, and the consequent destruction of our trade. We are trusting to the Navy to do the work both of fortifioatlona and of fluid 1 armies. We possesß no organisation for home defence, our reserves of men aro not ral reserves, we have altogether insufficient field artillery, we possess as yet no rererve of horses, we could not even mobilise our tiro expeditionary corps for want of a reserve of horses, and should be unable therefore, to deliver a counter attack. I may have to show that the Jubilee review, so far from indicating oar possession of two real army corps, proved that we have not one, and that onr military position Is Europe la growing year by year les3 strong relatively to that of France and the other powers. We shall have to tike note of the ad iusions of Mr Smith and Mr Stanhope with regard to our deficiency m stores, of the Government admissions as to the atcck of rifles and of amunition, both here and m Canada, which great dependency is, indeed, I fear, defensively considered, as badly off as we are In England ; and we may have to remark., m passing, opon the foreign opinion ss to the defects m our attack formations and as to the weakneea of oar garrison artillery. If we look to tho Colonies ire sh»il dtaoover that they can obt&in heavy ordonuco ard ammunition alone through England, and that their needs will add to the sudden pressure under which our centralised administration is likely to break down m the event of war. Turning to India we shall find that the British troops are needed for the garrisons, while the native army is oc fitted to face the Hessians m the field ; that the recommendations of the Indian Commission having been vetoed by Lord Hartington and Lord I^'mberley, there 1b a terrible division of responsibility ; and that while we have deluded ourselves with the belief that we have come m Afghanistan to a settlement with Russia, which is m fact no settle* *nenfc at all, we are losing ground year by year relatively to Russia, who is steadily inoreasirg her power of attack. As re* gards finance, we snail find that jast as English defence has been sacrificed to India, India leaving us mere depots for home service, so India Is being ruined by the monetary calls made npon her by a system which Is unsuUed to her require* , ments, India needing long service, and Englapd, m Europe, needing short servipe and large reserves, a compromise has been arrived at which suits neither,