LORD DERBY ON NATIONAL DEFENCES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 81, 11 April 1871, Page 3

LORD DERBY ON NATIONAL DEFENCES.

The following speech, as reported in The Times, ivas made by Lord Derby, on the occasion of a distribution of prizes to Preston Volunteers, on January 7 : — Lord Derby, who was received with cheers, said, — I need scarcely tell you that to Lady Derby and 10 myself it. lias been a great pleasure to lake part in the proceed inirs of this evening ; the more so because our eyes, unpractised as they are in military matters, have shown us that, whatever may be the cuse with other corps nnd in other parts of the coin try, with yon, at least, knowledge and love of j-our work have b en the rule and not the exception. . All popular movements in a free country have a t- ndein-y to pass through various stages, in no one of which do they receive exactly a strict measure of" justice. First, they are pooh-poohed ; then, when they are lakm up enthusiastically, by a large number of people, a great deal more is expected of them than in the nature of things can bo realised. Lastly, these expectations being in a certain measure disappointed, there is a reaction of feeling, ' aud the real good they h-«vo done, and. are doing, is scarcely rated at its true value. Now, (he Volunteer movement has not been altogether exempt from tlin operations of that general law. It has not had, indeed, much neglect to complain of, or much opposition to encounter. When it hit exactly the popular feeling of the moment — and its success was greater Mfnd more rapid, than any one could have Hprseen — even the most reasonable and criticism of the Volunteer For remainder oj news see fourth page.

organisation was resented as unpatriotic. We can remember when an officer of high rank in the regular army was denounced in the most violent terms for expressing, in rather imprudently plain language, his doubts as to the efficiency of the Volunteer force. And now lam afraid the cold fit has succeeded the to hot fit. There is a tendency rather to pick holes than to oppose it; and instead of admiring the zeal and public spirit which If ads 150,000 men to give up to unpaid national duty a great part of that leisure of which many of them have not too much, public opinion is quick and ready to note and to enlarge upon those deficiencies, the existence of which, to some extent, is not to be denied, but which are more or less inseparable from the constitution of a Voluuteer force. Well, the moral I draw from that is — Don't set too much value on the casual criticism of the moment — whether it chance to be favorable or unfavorable. No mau and no institution that is much before the public ever receives strict justice. Sometimes they get a good deal more than their due, sometimes a good deal less. And we can only strike an average and look at the matter from the point of view of that lawyer who, taking a retrospect of his professional life, is said to have consoled his conscience by the reflection that if he had, on the one hand, lost a good many verdicts which he ought to have got, he had, on the other hand, got a good many which he ought to have lost. Well, we are going to have a very military session. I won't say a warlike one, because I believe the outcry for war is confined to an exceedingly small section of the public. But there is no doubt that military organisation will be the subject of the day, and the arrangements which concern the Volunteer army will be overhauled as well as others. I am quite sure that whatever may be required of them iv the way of stricter discipline and increased efficiency, that demand on their time and energy they ■will meet with hearty good will; but I sincerely hope, whatever may be done or left undone, that the Volunteers will be allowed to remain as they are in two respects; first, in regard to the absence of any compulsion, direct or indirect, to enter their ranks ; and next, as to the practically gratuitous character of the service wlrch they give. I say practically, gratuitous ; the mere refunding of expenses incurred is, on the face of it, something quite different from payment for services rendered. As to the more general subject which will shortly be occupying the attention of Parliament — the question of military defence — I will not abuse your patience by entering upon it. All I hope is — and it seems a modest expectation — that before we, the Legislature, go into that discussion, our masters, the public may know their own mind. A distinguished friend of mine said in the House of Commons years ago, that armaments depend upon policy; and I will venture to expand his words, and to add that, before you can reasonably make up your minds as to what sort of navy and army you are to have, you must first have formed some definite idea as to what you wish or expect them to do. I am not going into any disputed question; I may have my own ideas on that matter, but this is not the place to enforce them. What Ido urge upon you aud upon the public is that ■we should know clearly what we are about. Everybody is agreed that national defence ought to be made thoroughly effective. There is no question about that; but if we mean only defence, let us say so, and stick to that ; if we mean something more, as some of us do, let those who do so acknowledge the fact to themselves and to all whom it may concern. The one sure way of coming to grief is not to be agreed or certain as to what we mean, but to be looking one way and pulling another. One thing more, and I think it is an observation that will not hurt anybody's sensibilities. We are going, no doubt, into an increased expenditure; the public expects it and wishes it, including, to the credit of their patriotism, that part of the public which pays income tax, and on which, of course, the tax will fall; but let -us recollect that though in this country, with its highly- paid labor, we cannot have efficiency without expense, still, the converse of that rule does not hold good, and as our unfortunate Prench friends have seen during the last six months, it is possible to have a great deal of expense •with very little efficiency. And I say it hot as a mere complaint to you, the expense which, of all outlay for military purposes, the rational and thinking part of the public least grudges is that which is required to bring up to the highest standard the scientific branches of: the service. The one redeeming feature about war, as now carried on, when compared with the wars of earlier ages, is the great part which mechanical and scientific appliances play in it. Never has that fact come out more clearly than in the last six months. Never, I believe, has artillery been more largely employed,

whether indfieges or in the Afield, or with most effect. And in that state of things, as applied to modern war generally, we have the best security for %he triumph of civilization over mere barbaric force. I do not undervalue moral agencies, or think that civilization consists in the perfecting of mechanism ; but ihe fact remains that courage — physical courage — belongs to more northern races, at-d is displayed in all stages of society ; while mechanical skill isXthe slow growth of successive generations, and scientific resources are the exclusive possession of an educated community. \I have sai I nothing to you on any question of military detail, because I am thoroughly aware how liable civilians are to make themselves sibsurd when they talk of what they liave not professionally studied. But there can be no barm in putting one or two suggestions into the form o( queries — not as propositions, but to be answered by those who are better able to judge than I am. I would ask whether anybody has*., considered how far this new arm, which "has not yet got an English 'name — the mitrailleur — is suitable to Volunteer practice. It is light to handle, simple in construction, and peculiarly suited for defence. Another question. In the Navy there is a system of using field guns for the service on shoi^\which is excellently described by Admiral Paynter, a very distinguished naval officer, in words which I will read. He says, " These guns, which are Armstrong six and nine pounders, weighing from 3 to 6 cwt, are worked on alight fieldcarriage, -carry iug about 20 rounds of ammunition, and are drawn and worked with great facility by the men themselves, no horses being ever used, and can be carried, if necessary, across the hedges and ditches, and thus be placed in positions which it would be impossible, from the natural obstacles of the ground, for artillery moved by horses to approach. " And he goes on, in an ably-written paper, to recommend the adoption of a similar system for Volunteer artillery — not intended to supersede, but to supplement the Volunteer artillery now existing. Now, I don't venture to give an opinion on this scheme further than to say that, on the face of it, it appears to be simple, cheap, and likely to be efficient. There may, of course, be a little objection to it which I don't see. I would only ask whether it is not worth the attention of our military authorities and of the public. And lastly, we have heard a great deal, and shall hear a great deal more, about strengthening the Militia, and opinions are divided as to making service in that force compulsory. Now, the difficulty of the question lies in this : If you make service obligatory upon every one, you have an enormous waste of power ; if you take only a few, and admit substitutes, the hardship falls exclusively on the poor. If, again, you take only a limited number, say, by lot, and admit no substitutes, the burden is <3istriV buted in the most arbitrary and capricious manner. Evu-y way the difficulty you have to deal with is a serious one. Now, I would just ask whether it has occured to anybody that a scheme of the following kind might work : — Assess every district in the country — take it by parishes if you please — callit-g on each, ar-cording to its means, to contribute so many men to the Militia or Volunteers ; or, in default of making up the number, to pay » certain sum of money for each man deficient. In that way you avoid the hardship of driving any individual into the ranks, while you put upon every local community a strong pressure to encourase recruiting for the defensive service of the country. Probably, any nian willing to serve would have a purse made up for him by his neighbors. I don't throw out that hint as supposing it to be better than five hundred other similar schemes that might be devised, but it strikes me that, by adopting some such principle, you might get over a difficulty which will be more and more felt the more this subject is considered with a view to action,.** •\, _ . .