The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1911. IF ENGLAND FIGHTS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 32, 1 August 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 1911. IF ENGLAND FIGHTS.

There exists a fear in watery souls, and j unquestionably in the breasts..of "con-1 scientious objectors," that the first boom of a German big gun heralds the death of the British Empire . (which does not • exist according to several pedantic Little Britishers). Apart from any circumstances that might bring the cOUsitt empire to "holts" (which Providence prevent) it is interesting to speculate on the reasotis for the acceptance by a minority of the belief that We must be inevitably befttett by the new German machint, Its havy or the old but recently untried machine, the German army. The question of the rights and wrongs of armed conflict need not enter here. It is sufficient that unprecedented means of destroying men and property are in the hands of both Britain and Germany, and are made for use, not ornament. Little Britishers base their conclusions about the inevitability of a sound licking for Britain on the fact that German has military conscription and Britain has not. Britain has not yet taken to military conscription because she is insular. It is necessary in the first place that the British navy be beaten. The German navy is new,, it's sailors arc new, its sentiment is new, its handling of ships is new—it is new from keel to pennant, from gunner to admiral, from A to Z. The nation which is going to lower the flag of an enemy nation is not necessarily the nation that has the greatest weight of ironmongery, the longest-range guns, or the most destructive explosives. The nation that has the latter-day Nelson is the nation that will continue to dominate the sea. The spirit, not the ironmongery; the men, rather than the guns; the leader, rather than any other consideration will determine victory. "God give us the man!" said Admiral Charles Beresford. The terrible power of the German army is assured because it is, as far as one knows, as perfect a machine for its purpose as any existing. 'lts embodied units are vastly more numerous than our own. But it has never yet been proved that this great machine, because it consists of compulsorily enlisted soldiers, is a better machine, man for man, than the shore-fighting machine of any other Power. The fact that forlorn hopes that have made history have been won by recruits emphasises the point that leadership is par excellence the greatest qualification required. War nowadays is more a matter of tactics and strategy than individual '"soldiering." People who get hold of the fact that Germany can mobilise a million trained men at a given point in Germany within twentyfour hours see in this simple fact the inevitability of her smashing a British army of 300,000 embodied troops. It is not to be forgotten that, barring the "specialists," the rank and file of an army is not "trained" in any extraordinary sense. There is, indeed, nothing to prevent an intelligent N and able-bodied recruit of throe months' service being as useful to an army as a veteran private with a quarter of a century's service. If we allow that Britain has 300,000 embodied regular troops prepared to take the field immediately we are apt—not knowing Britain—to assume that the rest of the population of Britain is wholly incapable of striking a blow for freedom. The majority of British regular soldiers are young men —very young men. Short, service (three years) makes this inevitable. Timeexpired men are constantly leaving the colors for the reserve, but they are not lost to the army. During the currency of their service on the reserve they may be embodied at any time compulsorily. Britain contains hundreds of thousands of soldiers who are not serving with the colors and whose service in the reserve is completed. When Britain calls she does not beg these men to help her. They simply gallop to

lljo colors. For every man in the em-1 bodied army there are ten who would I bo very angry to be left out when the call came. Most people do not realise the fact, "once a soldier, always a soldier." The British army, whatever its weaknesses are, is to the man who criticises it from his lack of knowledge of it, an organisation every file of which is imbued for the whole of his life with its sentiment and discipline. | The "old soldier," whether he be a ! time-expired boy of 23 or a "veteran" whose service ended 40 years ago, is instantly amenable to discipline, and that is the whole utility of the vast majority of trained soldiers. It is the undying pride in the service that will help Britain in her time of need. One of the differences between the British army and the other European armies 'is that the first advertises less. There is no flamboyance and exaggeration either in the navy or army. All the "skite" about either emanates from outside both services. Britain does not indulge in ."spread-eagleism" when she is doing successful work. There are no party politics in Britain when the guns begin to shoot. The people, Unionist or Liberal, are just Britishers —that's all. We sincerely believe in the day of her peril even the Labor Party will show it is not afraid to help in the saving of an empire. ■ The opening shot of a European war would settle the "conscientious objectors" that are so curious a feature of the life of this country. The first skirmish would send more boys to the enlistment officers than all the red tape that ever was unwound. It would awaken the spirit that is not dead, but dormant. The red corpuscles in the bodies of the " 'ands-uppere" would get to work, and innumerable dear souls would begin to think the Empire was worth holding after all. Insensibly at the moment the mind turns to the noble and inspiring words of George Borrow, written long ago, but still instinct with the splendor of courage, patriotism and hope:—

"0, England; long, long may it be ore the sun of thy glory sink beneath the wave of darkness! Though gloomy and portentous clouds are now gathering rapidly around thee, still, still may it please the Almighty to disperse them, and to grant thee a futuiity longer in duration and ssiill brighter in renown than thy n<ut! Or it thy doom beat hard, may that doom he a noble one, and worthy of her who has been styled 'The old Queen of the Water'! May thou slhk, it" MIOU dost sink, iuuidsc blood and flame, causing more than one nation to participate; in thy downfall! Of all fates, may it please the Lord to preserve thee from a disgraceful and s,low decay; becoming ere extinct a scorn and a mockery for those self- j same foes who now, though they envy ■ and abhor .thee, still fear thee; nay, even against their will, honor and respect ihee! Arouse thee, whilst there is yet time, and prepare thee for the combat of life and death! Cast from thee the four scurf which now encrusts thy robust limbs, which deadens tkeir force and makes them leavy and powerless! Cast from thee the false philosophers,' who would fain decry what, .next to the love of God, lm£ hitherto been deemed most sacred, the love of the Mother Land! Cast from thee thy false patriots, who j under the pretence of redressing the i wrongs of the poor and weak, seek to promote internal discord, so that thou' mayest only become terrible to thy-1 self! And remove from thee the false! prophets who have seen vanity and I divined lies; who have daubed thy j wall with untenipered mortar, that it may fall, who have strengthened the hands of the wicked', and made the hearts of the righteous sad. 0, do this, and fear not the result, for e'tner shall thy end be a majestic and an triable one, or God shall perpetuate thy reign upon the water, thou old j Qiuon!"