MILITARY NOTES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1144, 3 June 1911, Page 9

MILITARY NOTES.

[Edited Bt Ecmaos.l "FACTS AND FALLACIES." LOED ROBERTS V. LAN lIAJIILTOW, It is safe lo say (hat few books in re. cent years have given riso (o such controversy mill public comment as General Sir Inn Hamilton's contribution (o llio literature of the compulsory training question, eulillcd "Compulsory Service— A Study of the Question in the Light of Experieneo." Tho general tenor of the views expressed in this book went so far in support of tho Haldanc system of military organisation as to suggest the probaliililv—and (lie suggestion was openly and publicly discussed—that Mr. Hnldano had instigated the publication of tho hook. Mr. Haldane, of course, denied this, but a good many military gcntlomen of mature experience and ao.tito percoption coughed discreetly when Mr. Haldane protested his innocence. _ Tho sensation created by Hie publication of General Hamilton's book had scarcely subsided when Lord Roberts unmasked his guns, so to speak, and shelled the Haldane defences with telling clTect. "Facts and Fallacies" is (he significant title of the book wherein lie look General Hamilton's arguments seriatim, and smashed them. Both books have already received considerable publicity va Ncw > Zealand, in press reviews and special articles. A recent review of "Facts and Fallacies," from tho pen of Maior-General T. Bland Strange, late R.A.. and published in t.h« "Cambcrlev News" (England), is of interest from idle fact (lint the writer has selected from Part 1 of Lord .Roberts's, book, the most glaring inconsistencies and contradictory statements which the flighty Sir lan has committed himself to, and sot thorn out, like so many silhouettes, ill a damning array of cold, hard, brutal facts. The Betrayal of a Cause, Major-General Strange 'writes:— "In briefly reviewing (he first part of this worlc, the reader is struck with tho lcical roasoniiia, and power of expression by the pen, that does not often fall to the wielder of the sword. Tho temperate statements of (his chivalrous gentleman, who treats with almost pathetic gentleness the betrayal of a great cause by i\ gallant young soldier, 'his own familiar friend, , whose career he has watched with almost fatherly interest, is a groat contrast to the often contradictory assertions of Sir lan Hamilton. To quote Lord Roberts, "This is the same soldier who, after being a witness to the awful fighting in Manchuria onlv six short years ago, wrote to the late irr. Arnold-Forster, then Secretary of State for ."War, from Japan: This war has burnt into my mind m a way nothing else could have done that the condition of our Army constitutes a tcrriblo danger to tho cxistenco of our Empire. ' "This is the same soldier who wrote in his book, "A Start Officer's Scrap-book, 1 describing an incident, in the linsso-Jap. anese War: 'It would be difficult to describe a stronger argument in favour or tome kind of universal training.' The sumo soldier who answered before Lord Elgin's Commission a question, concerning the offensive tactics developed by tins Boers in the late period of (lie war, by saying, 'I think they came mi more gallantly towards the end of the campaign, first because they were becoming veterans and acquiring a regular sort of disciplinein fact, I am sure of it; and secondly, because our mounted troops which they were (ben encountering, the Second Yeomanry and so en, shot so badly that they could gallop in and probably not be hit.' This same "soldier stated before the se.mo Commis'don: 'Given men like the City Imperial Volunteers, you could reckon on making them good infantry in six months, working hard.' And this same Soldier now attempts to persuade his countrymen that the mere fact of joining the Territorial Force of their own free will counts for nioro on the battlefield than Hie. continuous period of six months' training which' he acknowledges to be neccsary for even (he best class of man, and which he knows full well—as does Mr. Haldane-can never 'be obtained in peace from.a national amy .raised on anything but; a compulsory basis! A Mistaken Sentiment. "Lord Roberts, who has passed (he greater part of his- brilliant career in the East,' has perhaps overlooked the peril which faces us in (ho West. When he alludes (o the possibility arising of trouble in (ho Mediterranean Sea or in the Persian Gulf, ho ignores the assistance we should have lo give a handful of Canadians defending 4000 miles of their frontier, unless we are base enough to betray t hem Tfc listening to tho puerile platitudes of Ilia 'Peace at any price' party who, talking of tho unthinkableiiess of war between Great Britain and the United Stales, aliko in blood, language, religion, and law, ignore the fact that the North and South States of the Union carried on a fracticidal war for nearly four years, with imnienso los's of life and treasure; as also the fact that the completion of the Panama Canal will double the strategic valun of the United States Navy, who can con« centra to at will cither in tho Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, especially if wo allow' Jamaica and tha Bahama Islands, which command tho exit and entrance of tho canal, to (Iron from our feeble grasp, because Lord T?ishar has 'vithdrswi. our (lag from both (he Atlantic and the Pacific to tie our Fleet to our shores, that a degenerate people, who refuse personal service, 'may sleep peacefully in their beds.' "We must consider a twoPower standard Fleet not onlv against Germany, but against tho United States., Tho Peril of Voluntarism, "But Lord Roberts is mainly concerned-: with our peril from the absence of ado-, quale land forces, and he quotes that 'Towards the end of tho Franco-German War, 35,000 German soldiers in tho Southeast of France were opposed by French levies numbering over HO,OOO men. Theso' latter had lx»n under a certain military training for the past four mouths.' With, in a month nearly 00,000 of them worn killed, wounded, prisoners, or missing, while the remaining fcO.OOO were driven across tho Swiss frontier, and there interned,' surrendering to tho Swiss Militia, -the force tho National Service Leagueproposes for our imitation. Commenting on this and other similar incidents during tho war, General von Hcinleith writes: "In these days the utmost was accomplish, ed that can bo expected from a popular rising of men who havo received no military training. The road by which tho result was arrived at was strewn with a hideous number of victims, who paid ivith their lives for (ho lack of political foresight on tho part of the rulers of Francs and to their own opposition to universal military training in time of peace.'—German oliicial account of tho Franco-Ger-man War. And his quotations from Mr. Fortescuo's 'History of (ho British Army' are: 'England cannot, any more thou any other nation, fill the ranks of her jinny in a great war without compulsion.' 'Compulsion cannot in peace be applied outside tho British Isles.' In advocating voluntarism, Sir lan Hamilton totally ignores tho history of Napoleon's conscript army. 1 'doubt if any troops ever hated service, more than tho French hated tho war in tho Peninsula. They had a very hard time, much privation, some loot, it is true, but no glory. Officers and men, from marshal to private, loathed it. Yet they marched for ever, and fought most gallantly, though their pay was always in arrears. Moreover, there was less desertion of born French (as apart from foreign contingents in the French service) than of born British, lo the enemy—not very creditable to the voluntary British soldier,' who, brave as he was, indelibly stained bis laurels by drunken ojitrapos at Badajos. "As regards the balance _ of power in Europe, Lord Roberts reminds us of our ignoble reliance on huge subsidies and on contingents of .foreign mercenary troops in our pay, and that wars are uo longer decided by subsidised troops, but by armed nations. The principal effect of Lord ITaldano's association with professional soldiers is that he has acquired the'worst feature of military pedantry. In quoting the maxim that 'the best defence is 'otfence,' he'ignores the fact that 'circumstances alter cases.' "An attempt at handling tho handful of his oversea expeditionary aimy with an idea of making Potsdam an objective, resembles an unarmed man treading on tho toes of a burglar armed with an automatic pistol.' People, tnlkin.-T glibly of amphibious wars, forget the blunders Ino great. Pitt made in his numerous futile expeditions with inadequate military forces which, wo were led iuto by our supposed command cf the sea—such as our wars in the Lew Countries, Sir John Moore's expedition to Sweden, to Sardinia, and eventually lo Spain, and others .too nu'meious to mention,".