NAVAL SUPREMACY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 14

NAVAL SUPREMACY.

LORD CHARLES BERESFORD'S VIEWS. THE NEEDS OF THE NAVY. Lord Charles Beresford, who was received with continuous cheering, expressed tho pleasure he had in being present that night, because he knew ho was only fulfilling a very old standing engagement, which ho had made over five or six years ago — (laughter) — with Lord Sudeley. Hitherto circumstances had .prevented him. Last year he was in the throes of a by-election at Portsmouth, hut whatever happened 011 the occasion of this dinner, of.'any sort, kind, or description, iie had been determined to get there that night, even if lie had. to be carried into the room., (Laughter and applause.) Now, , as their noble chairman had aptly put before them,' that was not in any sense a party gathering. Thank goodness it was not. He had been through a great variety of party gatherings; but 11 they wauted tho real thing they should go to his country. (Laughter.) • In one sentence they could get into hot water, then the second which would be intended to explain the first, would put them into boiling water, and at tho third sentence, .which also was intended as an explanation, tliev would have their , features scattered. They had'met there that night for the very important business of giving prizes to' those members of the Ham and Petersham Miniature Rifle Club who' bad won them. ' It was particularly lnterestingi for him to be there, as he lived in that locality, for some years, and. lie happened to know a good -number of people '5 ho were present. . Ho saw opposite to ■him the nucleus of,that force (tho Boy Scouts) which ,was going to save,the Old Country in the . times to come. .(Hear, hear.) He had got a company of his own at Portsmouth, and they wero all proud of the body to which they belonged, and regarded , him as an idiot whenever he suggested to them that they might like to leave. (Laughter.) As long as they had got that enthusiasm, that energy which was inseparable from youth, boys would join the Scouts, and. learning comradeship and discipline, learning to be cheery to those below them and respectful to these above them, they- would constitute, the. nucleus of a force which, as he said before, would save the country by and'by.Schoolboys.apd Shooting., . ' It was perfectly true lie liad wished to introduce an amendment to an Education Bill: to provide that .every- school with a public grant should, bo made to tcaeh physical nnd military education.. By military education lie meant discipline, marching, boys falling out to dulLcnch other;: and particularly shooting with a small rifle.,. But; the Government; of t e ' day, although it was the. Government lie supported,';would not hoar' of'it.' A'most extraordinary thing was, however, that afterwards, his letter-box contained of letters from all , parts;of. tho countiy, stating that ho was .not a .worthy. or proper • person.-to '.sit 111 Par lament, as he ' wanted: to : introduce militarism. lhat was the last 'thing,-he wanted to see. : Thev would never, hare militarism in out country, because the soldiers and sailor* knew-perfectly well they were U,o servants of the people, and they would faithfully obev the commands of whatever Government was in power. There was no move 'chance ; of-so drilling boys-wen, or women, for that matter (laughter)so -that Great Britain might- become a military, country, as there was:any chanco of—well, - lie would not.give the companson. that was in his mind. • Lord Charles then referred to elub matters, and remarked' that the 'Ham and Petersham Club, was five years old. and had about 500 members, of which .30 were actual shooting members. .Mr. iiartin Holland, whilst deputy-chairman of the Society of .Miniature Rifle Clubs, gave the highest praise t.o everything that was done in the club. There ore the highest praise was due to Lord Sudelej (applau-.O knid'to all ,thosOiWha-:hnd supported that . : oii'ib:' And -hero-Be gallant speaker perpetrated -a delightful bull by remarking that the most difficult part of sprung anything was at the beginning, lo his old friend, Mr.. Warner, the of the club,- and other officers, was also due the greatest credit for the efficiency of the cluK, which Lord Roberts - who knew all about it, said was one of the best, if not the best, in tho country. (Applause.) Notable Lady Shots. , The committee of the club also gave much time to training til® boys to shoot, and in that respect they were all to unteers.-\ And it-had to 1 be. remembered in shooting that they could make a lad, who had a natural gift .for shooting, a brilliant shot, and a lad, who was ordinarily endowed' in that respect, a 'better, shot; but thev could never make a lad a good shot unless he backed up tho men w.io were trying to instruct him. that was just what-tho lads, did in' that club, however. If those scouts who were present that night would only back up the lads trving to teach them, they would bo proud of themselves by and by, when they might be called upon-and they did not know .how. soon that might be. Many members of the Ham and Petersham Club wero ladies, and there were two of tho ladies who were known all over tho Jimpire—{hear, hear)—for what they had done. Miss Seaton-he knew perfectly well 'that she was married, but lie was going to call her Miss Seaton, and lie hoped' Mr. Alton, lier husband, would not hit him on the point of tho no so for doing so—(laughter)—Miss Seaton only started shooting with a rifle in April, 1909. Yet at the London, Surrey Count j, and Middlesex meetings she had won priws at long distances and short, and had won the Ladies' Championship at fifty yards. In addition she had finished tho season by recording seven centuries for the bro "?® jewel of the S.M.R:C. at 200 up to 1000 yards: They heard a great deal about tho ladies in these days, but he wanted to see the man'who could beat Miss beaton, because 110 must bo a .very;worthy person. There was no doubt to his mind or to th© minds of all present that Miss Seaton's performance was a most remarkable olio, and tlie Ham and Petersham Club must bq proud to have Sirs. Alton as a member. • .'Mrs. Chapman was famous on the long ranges and was wellknown at Bisley-among.the. great, shots who attended'that meeting. A Brave Act Recalled. Continuing, Lord Charles sad ho could not pass over the names of the people sitting at that hospitable board without referring to ;ono of whom_ tho Navy was proud—Admiral Charles Lucas, -C. It was 011 June 21.-1554, that, when a shell with its fuso alight came on board the Hecla,' Lucas, tho mate as he then was, took up the shell and throw it overboard. The Victoria Cross was founded 111 1856, and Admiral Lucas was the first naval officer'.to receive that decoration. (Loud al ßeturmng to matters affecting the club, Lord Charles said it had the'best equip-, ped range; Lord Roberts confirmed that statement. ■ There wero ranges at 25, 50, 100: and 200'yM'ds:' "There ,wero very few ' clubs' 'who"had' -a,( '200 ■ yards '."range, or a pistol' range*: either,' of '.which the club boasted.' last year fifty competitions had been decided, and 150 prizes, were competed for. Many of the prl7.es were won in open competition with other rifle clubs in the country. There were about 2500 clubs in the country, and about «00,000 members. • . JIo ! believed every boy and , man in tho countiy should bo taught now to handle a rifle. It took a little time lo ■ teach, but what a lad was taught lie never forgot, and once, ho had 'bwm instructed in the various points of shooting lie would be a useful man, to his country if ever he were called upon. Our Naval Supremacy Challenged. • Proceeding, tho gallant Admiral said the country never had better men, but there was such 011 enormous number of untrained men. They heard it said that patriotism was dead. It was not dead; it was there/ but latent. Why they did not sec so much patriotism, particularly at a moment like tho present, so far 'as safety 011 the water was concerned, was becauso it had never been called upon. Tho manhood of the country was just as prepared to go and lay down their lives in defending home, country, and women and children as ever they were. _ But they had never had a chn.nco of stirring up that latent feelii.g because for so Inn" a time they had been in 110 danger. Thev had forgotten what a threat to their supremacy at sea meant, and what that threat put into action would cost. Untrained men,, however patriotic, would be merely like a mob if called upon to fight. Rifle clubs were most excellent

things, hot for war, not lor militarism, but to keep the peace. The stronger wo were the less chance thcro was of vi ar. As ho went about tho country and heard peoplo talking about tho Naval Loan he was trying to get—and would get—(clieers) —and making statements which were so illogical, ho carried his mind hack to tho South African war. When we wore then at war, people were running over each other crying, "I'ay money, get money, borrow money, no matter what yon pay interest, get money to end the. war." Millions—2so millions sterling—that war cost us, because wo were not prepared, and tried to prepare during the war. Whcu ho asked for a few millions, infinitesimal, as,a loan to'put the Navy right, to prevent wnr. lie was called a criminal fool, an idiot. But lie would get his money all right. (Laughter and cheers.) 'While speaking of thnt question, lie would point out that they saw a great number of their very best men, men who know what they were talking about—not tho so-called , self-constituted military aucl naval experts from whom they were suffering so terribly.at the present moment—ill favour, as ho was, of tho National Service League. If ho might sav so, tliero wero as good men in tho country as ever there were, but, without making any party reference, lio did not think the best lot were, on top.' (Laughter.); There would be no Radical in the room who could take the slightest exception to that; it was a mere matter of opinion.' (Laughter.)- The, National, Service League was intended to prevent war and ensure peace. It must not bo understood that conscription was necessary for the Army. The Army and Navy, he hoped, would remain volunteer, because, as tlioy used to say, in the latter service, one volunteer was worth three pressed men. The Army must be volunteer for a good reason. Conscript armies were not compelled to serve oversea.

Training Absolutely Essential. Tho speaker then .referred to the Kiaou Chow expedition, where the 4000 German troops were volunteers and were highly paid. When Germany wanted to relieve those 4000 men they could not get fresh volunteers, and in consequence that great military force came home. Our vohuiteer Army was not very highly paid, but the men were glad to go into the ranks and proud of-being in.the service, because they were now treated like men, and not, as was the cas.e many years ago, like beasts. The country had seen to that The National Service League was intended to promote and perfect home defence by encouraging a man to take tho trouble to train himself. Look at the position now Tho,Territorials-had don.o thenlevel best; but how. could , they be effective when'the-.Minister-who provided, the Bill for the Territorial? told. them that they would have tor.be trained for six. months' after war had- been declared, (Hear, hear,) If that statement were seen in a comic paper ten'minutes' would bo allowed for laughing. (Laughter.) Has anything so ludicrous? Thcro people who did their very best, and whoso purposo it was to repel invasion, had to be trained for a further period of six months. It would be criminal, it would be slaughter, to place these men, untrained men, against the best liion of ail invading army-it had to be remembered that best men would ho sent—if such a terrible affair as the, 1117 vasion of this country ever took place. Well, tho National Service League wanted to give everybody a chanco of doing what ho would be proud to do if war were declared, and there was ail invasion—go out and take liis- place in the front rank. The. National Service League programmo was a verv wise thing for a Government, of whatever party, to encourage. The rifle I clubs, too, shouTd ,be more encouraged ; the Government should be" mote -liberal with ammunition and instructors.-: If they .turned to other nations which formed - tho Empire—Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa—they found the principles of tho National Service League in force, .and young men and boys were trained to defend their country. He sincerely liopfld the question would be taken up,-because it , was hard, practical commonFcnse. If they got that into the people's minds we should eventually have a proper force to defend our shores., If we had that force we should never be liy vaded. 1 ••• . 5.. ;

Land-Lubber Naval Experts. It was exactly the same with the fleet, he continued. If they liad a fleet equal to their needs no country 'would attack it; it was only when it was not organised for war that it would he attacked. The Navy was a ser.vice upon which their whole existence depended. One thing tho nation was suffering from at that moment was. that it was being _ misled by tho extraordinary and ovasive statements of those in authority. And here ho was not speaking of party, because he blamed both Governments equally for that. We had self-constituted naval experts, who got wrong 'information and' unsound ideas, telling the country that wo were preeminent, that w'e wero .ready, that we were verv strong, and other things. A naval expert 'was generally a man who had - never been to sefl, who did not know tho bow from tho stern of a cruiser, and many of these experts had not even been to Brighton. (Great laughter.)those were the people who. instructed tho country.! We were not - ready now; we were 'not organised for-war. Tho Navy was most dangerously short of men- If wo had fully to man a ship at that moment tho complements of other ships would have to bo reduced. He made that- statement at Portsmouth, but lie was told by the Opposition press and tlie naval experts that be was quito wrong. He demurred, and his- language was nbt so strorig'ns his thoughts. But his statement was true. Directly Parliament, met. tho Navy was said by tho people of tbo opposite side to be unassailable; but in tlio interval from January to March, within twelve weeks, a sum. of six millions was wadded, to the' estimates, without anything occurring to alter tho naval situation within the (previous five years, now could we possibly be prepared for war if we bad no .-War Staff ? How could we have stratgetic plans if we; had not . got the ships';to carry those; plans out? Vie wero very sliort of cruisers. Lven in • the lost manoeuvres the fleet representi;ng the British was metaphorically knocked into a cocked hat by the ' foreign fleet because it had not got its proper complement of cruisers. . Wo were also short of torpedo-destroyers, short, of men. Wo ijiight get what ships, what guns, and what machinery wo liked, but without the human element we could not -win. o A Navy Loan Necessary. Tho Prime Minister bad told tliem that tliero would bo a margin of four in heavy ships in 1913 or 1914. A margin of four heavy ships! Why, if the public knew what that margin was worth there would bo n panic. When he commanded a squadron of eight battleships in tho Mediterranean thero were at one time, lie remembered, six ships of the eight laid up for five or six weeks by reason of contingencies of machinery, through peaco accidents. Why, in a sudden war we might lose a whole division before getting properly into action at all. Then tho Austria-Hungarian squadron of four battleships which had been called a paper squadron bad materialised, and wero not considered in relation to the margin at all. The margin of four was in regard to only one Power. When tho public woko up they.would-see that- the nation must have a new Naval Defenco Act. If there was not time to-carry through that Act out of current revenue, then wo should have to get a loan, and tho sooner wo had it the .better. Wo wero shortening tho time in which we bad to do it. If wo had a panic, that would irritate a neighbouring Power, who was perfectly right and: quite within i her powers in building one hundred Dreadnoughts if she liked. * ... • , Lonl Charles Beresford then criticised what lie termed tho undignified action of going hat in hand to that Power and asking her not to build so many ships, as it was most inconvenient, tho money being wanted for social purposes. That Power preserved a calm, dignified attitude, and said, "Thanks very much, but sho would look after her own business and do what she liked." Then wo built tho Dreadnought in'reply, but directly we buitt her wo held her up to Gorlnany and other nations as , a ship which could easily knock their fleets into a cockcd hat. _Wo insulted all nations, not by building her, but by flaunting lnfr in front of them. As long as-wo wero the wardens of the seas, and kept the supremacy of the seas while wa left -the freedom of tbo seas open to everybody no one minded, becauso they knew the supremacy on the seas was our very existence; but directly wo became the bully of tho seas and threatened other nations,' those nations did what they had a right to do, build up to us. Didn't Mind Being Called a Scaremonger. Then followed an. extraordinary pieco of insanity which no one realised. We. do-. creased our shipbuilding enormously .while

neighbouring countries wero incrcariiig tlieira enormously. .After the reaction following upon'the building of tho Dreadnought wo were two and a half years behind, and he did liis duty in endeavouring io wake up the country lo the fact's, lie was very proud to bo called a scaremonger or a'scarecrow—daughter)—or anything else if it was because ho did what lie conceived to bo his duty. (Cheers.) Tlie Prime Minister—pnd 110. was not going into party mailers—(laughter)—and the Si-cretary of State for Foreign Ail'airs liad said wo were perfectly ready, but the Admiralty discovered in Jlay, liiOO, that tho Germans, . quite within their rights, had made the machinery further to accelerate their navy, but we did not commence to meet that acceleration until November, 1908, or two and a half years after. We wero suffering from that delay now, and he was determined to find out why the Admiralty for two and a half years never told tho Cabinet what they knew. lie was determined that the country should, know sooner - or "later. Now tho greatest danger we were in by far was the question of trade routes and food supply. We have taken tho policemen olr the beat, the small cruisers off the trade routes, and have not filled their places.- Five-sixths of our food supply was wat?r-borne, and yet we took the policemen oil the heat. It seemed criminal on 'the part of some person or persons, wlio were so ignorant of. their work and their responsibility that they ought to bo locked up. .. A "Rotten Declaration."

The gallant-Admiral then turned to tjie Declaration of London, which he hoped every Chamber of Commerce in the country would take up and look into. -. He knew his brother member of Parliament, Mr, Cave, would take it up. (Hear, hear.) Tho Declaration of London made it possible for neutral ships which carried our food supply to bo destroyed. Under the Declaration of Paris the neutral flag protected a ship. It liad to' be remembered that there were no neutral ports' that were any good to us. Foreign countries could procure food supplies from neutral ports and then have tliem transported overland; but we could not. Under the Declaration of Loudon neutral ships carrying food for.:this, country could be sunlc and destroyed by tho enemy. They had also put into that rotten declaration :a clause to the elfect that the enemy liad : the right of turning merchant ships into privateers or men-of-war. So a merchant ship could go to the trade routes, then turn herself into a man-of-war, and, having sunk five or six'ships, turn back into a merchantman. .., When he saw a grent .lcgal luminary like the Lord Chancellor 'stating- that wo ought to acccpt the Declaration of London because other'countries wanted us to, he could not see where tho•'ability of-that clover/man came in. lOf .course other .countries wanted us to 1 accept .it,.'becauso it was against us in every possible way.

Our Trade Routes Unguarded. Let him tell tliem another point. If those privateers took ono of our ships by mistake the owner of tho ship would not only bo expected to meet the cost of the litigation and depreciation, but ho would have to pay tho captor's expenses as well. It was very pretty, for us. It was not tlie stopping of food for tho' first week or fortnight that was the great danger. We might, get over that. But the danger came from the shippors, : not sn much the shipowners. A visit to Lloyd's showed how nervous the shippers were. They would not ship supplies.:when neutral ships were liable to capture and not sufficient security was afforded, those ■ships. It was most, dangerous for this country first to take eft* the trado routes the.,cruisers, .which would!have stopped tho ; nrmed merchantmen, nnd secondly to entertain .'for one moment 'that Declaration of London, in which th'ero were such clauses as to make it possible to change merchantmen into men-of-war whenever the enemy liked. ■ No, we were not ready, or nearly ready, and we were going to face a crisis which we bad never had in our history before. People told us that our fleet was stronger than it ever ivas before'. Of couvr-e it was, but nothing like it ought to bo in comparison with increased responsibilities and our greater dependence on the transit of materials -and food supply over tlie water. If they took the l-ato of insurance per ton of material and shipping, they would find this country insured at the rate of £2 against Germany's «£5 16s. Why did Germany want thnt high rata'of insurance? Of course Germany liad a perfect right to insurance at the rate of .£lO 16s. if slie. desired. It was nothing to do with this country. But sho did not live upon tho sea; sho might leso her wholo shipping on the morrow ;tlid then get her food supplies, by land transit. But wo could not; wo should bo done. He had bandied all sorts of men, including his own countrymen, who wero'difficult, and lie could say from experience of tho Englisli if- their stomachs wore filled they could be managed; if not, it would bo red riot and revolution. Tho working- men of tho country would turn against those who allowed such a thing, and lio was not sure that they would not be right.

What If.We Lost Sea Supremacy? If wo lost tho'supremacy of the sea'it would be absolutely the end of tho British Empire. Ho was not talking for war; he liad always wished for peace. It we went to war, and won, it would cost us fourteen millions; and if w-e lost it would bo tho end of the British Empire. We had got many faults, but the British Empire, had done mora for liberty and freedom than all tho rest of the woidd .put together. Ho,did not want to say anything arrogant or irritating to other nations. but he did want to sec his countrymen backing him up in saying what wo had wo would hold, especially our Supremacy at sea, because on that depended our lives and existence. (Cheers.)