HOME DEFENCE AND THE EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 12

HOME DEFENCE AND THE EMPIRE

A DANGEROUS SITUATION. . First placo in "The Nineteenth. Century and After" for August is given to'an article by Colonel Lonsdale .-Hale, deploring what he believes to bo the ; dangerous, situation created by Mr. Haldane's army reforms. It is not tho Tefritorial Army scheme in itself to which he objects, but the immediate state of defencelessness arising out-of tho disbandment of tho previously existing Home Defonco Forces—volunteers, militia, and yeomanry.- The scheme may, ho admits, have within it great potentialities) hut thoy are only potentialities. Its vital woakness is the time needed for its fruition. " Until that fruition comes, wo. art," ho writes, ".defenceless save by reducing our naval forces to a condition of immobility, in which they must remain, however pressing, urgerit, and important may be the calls oil' thenl "from elsewhere. To introduce his scheme Mr. Haldano has already got rid of a certain amount of fairly reliable defensive power of tbe same kind as that he proposes eventually to substitute for it; and in so doing ho has thrown away birds in hand for otners which are still in.tho bush, and which, for aught he knows, may elect to stay there. He lias gone even further; v.-.i had at home a cpr-. tain amount of reliable, defensive power,, in regular artillery and regular infantry, but he has reduced greatly both, and, if report speaks truly, more may 1 , bo thrown away at the first opportunity." • ' The position) according to Colonel Lonsdale'Halo, is most precarious, and is recognised as such by the vast majority : of' all who .' have studied it. " I,", he, declares, "am only saying what everywhere soldiers are saying in similar fashion hut with'bated breath. Tho condition of our home defence is thoroughly known to the rulers of every foreign Power that cares to interest itself in the matter; to our own people it is not generally known. Reticence seems to me to savour -of the proverbial ostrich.- -British officers of well-earned high military reputation, and holding posts of great responsibility, are debarred from giving the nation their real views. Our responsible military advisers' are silent, at all events in public; and who may be Mr. Haldane's real advisers no oho knows. Tho result is that there is just now prevalent in the whole of the arined forces of this Country, a not unnatural fbelirig of military leaderlessneS's. They feel that the control of the military armed strength of the nation is iti the hands of civilians only, and that Once' more in our his= tor}' its'destiny may be no longer to be in accordance with national needs, but with •bettor recognised needs—thoso of party politics. Whoever may be the nortiinal leader, the real leader seems to be a civilian Secretary' of State for War, aided by an ' army "council,' They regard''tho latter, however, as of.no protective value; but, and rightly, as a cleverly devised" machine for the suppression of the individual responsibility of its members, by tho merging Of that responsibility into the easily borne corporate responsibility of all." The result is, as the colonel puts it, that there is at-the momentjractically no home defenco in tho United Kingdom, save what tbe Admiralty can afford. If, as is always possible, a change of a serious nature took placo in international relations,- the British Isles would be found either, defenceless at Homo, Or, to obtain security, they would have to rely solely and entirely on the Admiralty. That would mean having to ask tho navy to concentrate npon home waters, sacrifice its- mobility, and " pay no attention to Imperial calls, but to Btay at home arid tako care of us, for wo havo not a sufficient number of efficient, trainod men, and of tho best modern military, rrlaterinl, for us landsmen to be ablo to tako caro Of ourselves." " Not to respond to Imporial calls," jiro'cecds Colonel Lonsdale Halo, "may mean the dissolution of the Empire; yot to comply with thorn may mean paralysation. of its heart." The colonel is, of course, stating itn -extreme case, hardly warranted by tho present; diplomatic position of . Great Britain or by the undoubted supremacy of its navy, lint the fact remaius that. tho homo defence forces arc at the moment sadly depleted, and _ for some time to come their disorganisation must lay a heavier burden than ever upon the Admiralty. The strain, liowover, is only temporary, and is insepariiblo from a complete change, such as Mr. Ilaldano's scheme involves. Save in the almost unthinkable contingency of a combination between Germany and Franco against Great Britain, the navy is more than adequate to hold the North Sea and yet moot Jill lmeooal colb.