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Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3535, 24 April 1880, Page 2

Univjebsai. military service has many staunch advocates in the old and new world. The example has been shown in this matter by the little islands of Jersey and Guernsey in the British Channel, and Sir Henry Havelock has suggested that the same system could with safety be introduced in many Colonial British possessions. By the law of Jersey every male from the age of sixteen to sixty is compelled to serve in the Boyal Militia; in time of peace no lees than in time of war. There is no exception of class, the only relief being that afforded by a board of medical officers. Bumpkin and aristocrat stand shoulder to shoulder in the ranks, and the employee wearing the Queen's uniform may become the commanding officer of his employer; or the father may be the subaltern of his sou. The outcome

of this system in Jersej and Guernsey is an auxilary force of no mean character, Guernsey, the smaller island of the two. with a population of 30,000 souls, in time of peace oould bring between 2000 and 3000 bayonets, with a field battery of 16 guns into service. With such a force, Sir John Doyle — during the French revolutionary war defended the island against the enemy. In later times when the attitude of the French again led to apprehensions of war, Sir William Napier> (the Peninsula historian), volunteered to lead the same militia breast high into the sea, to contest the edvance of an invading force. The service is not simply universal—it is at the same time entirely honorary.'VThe recruit is subjected to preliminary drill once a week at evening time, for one year; after which aa soon as the squad has been inspected by the gpneral in command, he is passed into the ranks to undergo instruction at regular intervals. In this way every man is brought under arms something like a score of times during each year, the duty ob each occasion not extending beyond a period of a few days. A portion of the cost of maintaining the militia is defrayed by a Parliamentary grant. Those who have hitherto failed to realise what is meant by universal service —the key stone of national defence—may apprehend its nature and effect from the foregoing brief outline. The system has been practically tested in the Channel Islands, and the yoke has been cheerfully borne by a portion of Her Majesty's subjects, who rejoice in the exercise of Home rule in its most extended sense. It follows that what is sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander j and if we must in Australasia come—as we are told by the home military authorities—to universal service in defence of our hearths and homes, it is well that we should know by comparison what such service involves. With no nation does the army in all its aspects depend so much upon public opinion as with the British, a fact which has prevented the adoption of universal service. The strength of the Army, Militia, aud Volunteers depends upon public opinion. At the same time the British nation will never care to go to war but as a first class power, which however it can scarcely be considered to have done since the days of Marlborough. We have always in recent times appeared in Continental war as an alley of other nations, thus Lord Chatham dissipated the strength of the army in many distant parts of the world—lndia* the West Indies, North America, and during Pitt's time Britain was a firstclass power only upon the sea. It is a fact now well established that a war must be short. For increasing the national strength for war much has been done by the volunteer movement. In naval affairs where we lead, other nations follow, but in military matters our policy is invariably initiative. The motto of Britain has ever been —" The fewer men the greater share of honor."