DISTRUST OF THE SOLDIER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9083, 7 May 1908, Page 3

DISTRUST OF THE SOLDIER.

' WARNING BY LORD ROBERTS,

With the following touching personal note, Lord Roberts concluded in the House of Lords, recently, a remarkable little speech on England's unpreparednes3 to repel an invasion:— "It is difficult," said Lord Roberts, "to understand why the soldier always seems to be distrusted when he ventures to give an opinion on the •subject he has made his life-study. Whatover undue military ardour I may bB credited with, it must, I think, be acknowledged, at my time of life, and after all I have seen of war, that I may be ac quitted of any undue ardour, and that the one-and-sixty year« that have passed since I had the honour of putting on the uniform as a cadet may have brought to iii 9 some measure of judgment with regard to the exigencies of war. "My ona.desire is to use my exper~fßnce for the benefit of my country, and my hope that I may be able to persuade the people, of the country of tfa necessity of its being sufficiently garrisoned to protect it from the invader. I have no axe to grind, and all I desire is ' to save the country from a disaster which will inevitably befall it if it refuses to be warned by what has happened in the past to nations very similarly situated, and to take the most ordinary precautions for the future." Delivered with all the modesty of the great soldier, it is remarked that the speech made a deep impression ©:> the House. The debute was initiated by Lord Middleton, who urged the inadequacy of our Home defences. Lord Roberts tllen continued: "If ever this country'is invaded, it is almost certain to be done by surprise. This points to the supreme importance 4 of the Home defence army being in a thorough state of preparedness. . The value of the territorial ar.ny depends on whether it can always be in such a condition as to enable it to deal effectively with a surprise invasion. An inavsion of the country by surprise is a danger wj have to reckon with, and must be p.'apareJ for. , "Lord Portsmouth has pooh-poohed ;the suggestion, and said that any action would be brigandage. ,- action might be called by any name, but this is certain—that no fear of the action being so designated will ever deter any nation from quietly making all necessary preparations to gain her object on the first favourable opportunity. As no one could say whether the warning we may receive Will be long or short, we surely cannot run the risk of dpferring to train the territorial army until some kind of warning is given."