CONFIDENT OF THE END.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 October 1917, Page 7

CONFIDENT OF THE END.

INTERVIEW WITH SIR W. ROBERTBON. The following is a portion of an interview with General Sir William Roberston, chief of the Imperial General Staff which appeared in the New iTork "Times on August s: "You are confident of the end?" "Who could doubt it and live? But, 1 still say that the righteousness of the cause cannot decide this titanic conflict. It is the fibre, the stuff, the grit, the nerve of the civilian people which will decide it. And bo mire of this: the side which lasts longest, the side which endures, is tho side which will give its character to the future of civilisation. The quality of national fibre will decide this war, and decide the future of the world. Do not let us underrate the Germans because their cause is bad, because they are guilty of provoking the war, and because their material resources are less than ours. The whole German nation is as disciplined as an army. It is an army. The Germans have discipline in their Mood. Discipline fine-drawn to the thinness of docility is a had thing In peace, making for sjavishness, but it provides a people with certain advantages in war. Germany is strong be-, cause she is undemocratic; and she is undemocratic because she has been drilled in an iron discipline. All those millions of people have been forged into a bword for the hand of a king. Terrible ,as this discipline is and formidable, there's a discipline more formidable still. I mean tho self-imposed, self-accepted discipline of a free people. What could be inore magnificent than tho spectack which America now presents to mankind? She has liberty in her blood; she loathes despotism; she could no more bend her neck to the yoke of an autocracy than she could turn her broad rivers into puddles and her great lakes' Into ponds; but look at her now. submitting herself to the discipline of war, freely, of her own will, for the sake of a moral Usue. It is not for me to phophesy. It is not for me even to. pronounce an opinion on America's preparations. But I should say throughout the world that Freedom breathes more freely and Democracy is more confident for' the mere spectacle of that vast nation imposing upon itself the restraints and rigors of discipline. It means now as much to the spirit of this struggle in later its effects will mean to the final grip." THE SECRET OF FITNESS. Sir William Robertson is greater than his words. .He gives one the feeling of a strength that is unbreakable, and of a confidence that no disaster could cloud. He is a man who could never be rattled. He fed the British Armies on the retreat from Mons in a way that astonished the world. In the midst of that tumult and confusion he was there with imperturbable faith in the valor of British soldiers, seeing that no man hungered or went athirst, mothering the whole Army, keeping tho heart in it. And he is still imperturbable with the direction of five or nix enormous campaigns in his hands. He lias the American conviction that, "the man on top should never;be busy." He is always ready to decide a question. He never loses his head or gets Hurried. He appears to be without a care in the world. He is one of those men who do their hard thinking over a pipe, with their feet on the fender, and with not ( a line in their foreheads. I asked him how Jie managed to stand the enormous strain of his office.

He replied: "It is a. soldier's duty to keep fit." ; "But how do y '.i, keep fit in 1 , London '("

"I generally ride twice a day; sometimes I get a game of golf; and, thanks to the kindness of the Archbishop, of Canterbury, I can go whenever I like and play tennis, at Lambeth Palace. This helps me. And then, I keep a clear table. (Ho pointed to his big table, on which there was not a single document). That is a great secret of health—a clear table. I don't let things accumulate. You see, I am served by a splendid stall'. We've got the General Staff into working order now. We've been trying to get it into that state since 1906. We've got it now. It is a good General Staff. And I believe the General Staff is very largely what it is because we all feel it a part of our duty, a part of our morality, to keep lit. A .soldier know'sj it's a part of

his training, that"he cannot do his duty, as ho ought to tin it unless he's physically ..fit. .He owes, it to the men whose live- are in his- hands that he should have a sound mind in a sound body. I sometimes think that statesmen and men .of business might lo'rn from the soldier in this respect. Exorcise in the open air is essential to health. And the more, responsible a man is the less he should be occupied. Keep a clear tabic. | Keep the mind free of all unnecessary [ details. Don't let the small man fuss [ you. Try to see the main thing only, j and in its true perspective. As for myj self, I hardly ever dine out, see no documents at night except those of the very greatest importance, go to bed early, get up early, go for a ride, and then come to my table ready for anything." LORD KITCHENER'S PROPIIECI'. We spoke of Lord Kitchener's prophecy about the duration of the war. "Kitchener," he said, "had a most extraordinary instinct in military matters. He never thought things out; he seemed to know them. This faculty of his amounted to genius. People who criticise him for mistakes forget that he was seldom wrong in tho big things. Some infallible instinct guided him in matters of life and death, His services to the freedom of the world at the outset of this terrible encounter can neverbe exaggerated. He was a genius. And this must be said of him, too. He knew that he could trust his countrymentrust in their gsit, their loyalty, their good, sound, wholesome British stuff. How could he have fared the crisis of three years ago without that faith in tho stuff of British character? Kitchener believed in the British nation, believed in British character. That was his strength."

America's entry into the war would hayo heartened him, wouldn't it? ''Well/' said Sir William, with a twinkle, "he wouldn't have said that it Was an advantage to the other side." . What is your message to America? "Mine?"

Let me send a word from you to the States at the end of three years' fighting. . , ■

"You flatter me." Give them a word of counsel, after there years of experience. "If 1 may presume to do that, I would simply say this: Gentlemen of the United States, put your backs into it. But I cannot think of America not ipuK ting her back into anything she takes up with a wilL We who are fighting now are in the grim business up to our boughs; we've stuck together through bad days; we're undaunted, and we're confident. With America coming in, all of us feel that our tusk will not take so long. Peace will return to the earth, the peace of freo people. If America hastens that peace by a day she will earn the gratitude of history. The world must be made safe for democracy."

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