HOW ENGLAND SAVED EUROPE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1311, 14 December 1911, Page 5

HOW ENGLAND SAVED EUROPE.

JULY WAR CRISIS. ARMY READY TO DEFEND BELGIAN FRONTIER. STATEMENT BY COL. MAUDE. By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyrißbt London, December 12. Colonel Xatusch Maude, C.8., speaking at the Authors' Club, said that during the recent crisis between Trance and Germany, General Langlois, the Trench Generalibiiinroo, came to London privately, and afterwards informed the Trench General Staff that England wonld be able to fulfil her promise to send six divisions of her army across tho Channel. ; This alone preserved peace in July. Other sources indicate that tho British troops were intended to defend the Belgian frontier in the event of war between Trance and Germany. . THE NEW NAVAL POLICY, ' RIDICULED BY LORD CHARLES ■ BERESTORD. London, December 12. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, Uuidnist M.P., speaking at Leicester, ridiculed tho recent changes in the Admiralty. Ho asserted that officers had been dismissed at less notice than was given to domestic servants. The country ought to know the reason for tho dismissal of men in their prime, with experience behind them. Mr. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, started badly with a mad blunder. He needed much watching. "Wo ought, , '' continued Lord Charles, "to be able to come, to an agreement with Germany, while fearlessly stating our intention to maintain command of the sea."

A REMARKABLE MAN. SKETCH OF COLONEL MAUDE. More than ordinary interest attaches to any statement mado by LieutenantColonel Maude. Apart from his wellknown honesty of purpose in everything ho writes, he is. probably one of the foremost military writers in tho world, ami certainly far ahead of any of tlie very few military writers of England. His insight into military science is thought by many to be as great as that of any member of any Continental general staff. '

He ha-s been the only English student of war who has made an independent analysis of the major strategy of the Franco-Prussian war, and "His Evolution of Modern Strategy,' brushed aside the moonshine 'which (founded on the writings of Ilamley and others of the "geometric" school) had previously found a ready acceptance everywhere. He saw clearly that, after making his first deployment—from Treves to Mayence— Moltko did not waste time in sparring for tho advantage which was naturally conferred by the re-entrant bend of the German frontier in that quarter, but merely held the view that, as the German hosts were individually and collectively superior, every concentration for battle—however brought about—must (with duo co-operation on the part of the corps commanders) inevitably lead to disaster to tho French. This sacrifice of strategic sparring, in order to give full play to tactical superiority was never appreciated, or even seen in England until Lieutenant-Colonel Maude pointed it out.

He has been equally;'-trenchant <>4h<l successful in analysing other branches' ; of tho military art, his conclusions beiug embodied in a series of works, "Tho Evolution of Modern "Strategy," "Evolution of Modern-Tactics," ■■■"Evolution' of Modern Infantry," etc. Ho and tho late' Colonel Hendorson are, in fact, the only two English writers of tho lust twenty years who have handled military matters in a way calculated to command respect on the Continent.

On the philosophy of war, Colonel Aiaude has also written much. About six years ago ho contributed a remarkable article to the "Monthly Review," entitled "The Place of War in the Life °',. a Nation. It was an answer to anti-military agitators which has never been answered. And, in fact, he demonstrated that war is at once tho corollary and the cure for tho inevitably corroding influences of prolonged peace. He traced the genesis and evolution of the soldier, and then summed up the theory of a soldier with the words: "Greater love hath no man than this, that be lav down his life for a friend."

Over and above his insight and brilliance, he is probably even better as a controversialist. He has frequently belaboured such writers as Sir \rthiir Conan Doyle, and when I. S. de Bloch's famous six volumes—"ls War Now Possible ?"-appeared, he'knocked the Polish bankers theory to pieces in about half a page of really brilliant writing. He is also responsible for the annihilation of many heresies wheh were set afoot bv the Boer war, espccally as to the alleged "impenetrability" of the fire zone created by modern weapons. The events of the Japanese war, which came later, proved absolutely ,that he was right.