NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 211, 14 June 1940, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

"NEGLECT NO MEANS.” "What we British want is more inspiration. Given that, the physical mechanism of speedier victory will bo created with relative ease, writes Mi' J. L. Garvin. The power of democratic leadership is to excite the self-activity of free will. Oliver Cromwell knew the essence of that business, as he showed in the greatest of his earlier letters, as follows: “Out instantly all you can. . . . J. beseech you spare not, but be expeditious and industrious . . . You must act lively; do it without distraction. Neglect no means. I am, your faithful servant, Oliver Cromwell.” In relation to the conduct of war, there is nothing equal to this in the English language. For the pith of everlasting instruction it is not equalled by any single letter in Napoleon’s magnificent fecundity.

SUPPORTING THE. FORCES. “Up to the jn-esent we' see on the Western Front the fulfilment of the military experts’ prophecies of comparative stalemate,” said Mr A. Y. Alexander, M.P., the British Labour leader and First Lord of the Admiralty, in a recent speech. “There, two great forces face each other over a wide continuous front in heavily fortified positions of an unprecedented strength. These defences are vital, but remember that while the Allied armies can keep and defend what they are supplied with, they cannot at the same time produce what they need. They can only fulfil their task with the moral, material and physical resources their countries provide for them. The clearest expression of this was perhaps given by General Ludendorff, who pointed out in his “War Memories” that the last war was different from all others in the manner in which populations supported and reinforced their armed forces, and with all the resources at their disposal. ‘The fighting efficiency of the forces,’ said this German General, ‘depended absolutely on that of the people at home.’ ”