IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 10

IMPERIAL DEFENCE.

tORD RdSEBERV AND SIR FRANCIS siraß odJ »i #M|CE, - '•■,-;ti ;. r , HIS VIEWS ON: THE NAYY. Lord Eosebery proposed.the toast of the Imperial Forces, ac .the James . W.att Anniversary dinner in Glasgow recently. At the outset he referred to the tradition Which prevents any Peer from appearing in. public any more than, if he were an inmate of a seraglio during this sacred friod of political pressure. (Laughter.) , do not quite know whence arises the idea that a. Peer'at this juncture is so peculiarly dangerous an animal." (Laughter:) I'esterdiy-I drove through, a obhsi*derable.part:ot the Leith Burglis, not, of 'course, on' any : political adventure, ; for that would have consigned me to:'the Tower—(laughter)—but I was agreeably interested as I passed.along the streets by- seeing a long series of more than lifesize portraits of people who belong to the. lj.ou.se of which I have the honour, to '•■ be a member, all couched in highly in- , nattering ■ terms—(laughter)—with faces which a shark .would.envy—(laughter)—. ■with haunches unprecedented in size— unrecognisable to the ordinary member of that humble assembly, had it not been that they all had gigantic coronets ; on their heads. (.Laughter.) The sensation-with which a man who belongs to that House parades the streets.at this moment recalls to my mind the ', melancholy position of David ..Copperfiold after a domestic misadventure in which he.bore! a discreditable, but not wholly .inexcusable, part,: when he went to sohool, and having, in the agony of a,beating,, bitten the. hand of his stepfather, his, new master put on his back a placard" with.,. "He bites" ,on it.(Laughter.) And I, when for .purposes of walking about the streets, divest myself, of the ermine and the coronet which it is well known: is the habitual attire of' the .Peers—(laughter)—l am • uneasily conscious that something like this moral placard is •on my back—(laughter)—and 1 must remind my noble friend (the Duke of Mpntrose) that his feelings will bo.more acute than mine—(laughter)— because Dukes are under very considerable suspicion at present— (great laughter) —and I have sometimes doubted whether' they were entitled to the ordinary rights of humanity. .(Laughter.).- ■-. . Under these circumstances, sir, know-, in" that I cannot make a speech on the only subject that interests people at- this moment-you: ask a.man to address'youon a subject of the : highest political and: controversial importance. The Imperial Forces of the Crown I can say nothing about to-night. They have entered for moment, much to my regret, , ■• the region of party. The Army, we are told .by ono side, is in a critical condition, aa it has been all my life. (Laughter.) The Territorial. Anriy, we'are told on' ■one.side.'.is the bulwark of our country, ; and,on the other that is a more phan-tonii.-(Laughter.)' As for. the Navy, One' side tolls us that it never was so strong and so efficient, and the other side tells; us -that Sir Francis Drake—ti rather ancient precedent,' by-the-bye—(laughter)— was never satisfied unless- the forces he were- engaged with were two as to his one, and that those who are content to occupy a position less- heroic than thnt of Sir Francis Drake are mere poltroons, unworthy of the nante of Englishmen or Scotsmen. (Laughter.) Well, I cannot

decide between these varying opinions, and as I say it is Hot for a. Peer to ■express judgment. . . . " - Bnt as a ratepayer—(applause)—a taxpayer—(applause and laughter)—ns a householder—(applauso)— and as a. father of a family—{laughter and applause)—l am inclined to side with those who would not wish Sir Francis Drake's vion- to control our naval supremacy; (Hear, hear.) 1 am not oven sure that that eminent man, were he alive now and entrusted with tho defence of our coasts, would be perfectly content to occupy that relation to tho enemy which is supposed to have given him so much pleasure in the time of Elizabeth. (Laughter and applause.) Perhaps the Imperial forces of the Crown aro not tho only Imperial forces, not tho only force of the Empire, not' tho sole basis on which our country and its strongth and its future depend. Are thevo no other Imperial forces besides the Army and : Navy and the Territorial Forces? . Is there not another Imperial force that we Can recall on this occasion, in '• tho. generous loyalty of the Britons' beyond the seas—(applause)—who rally to the.flag when the flag is in danger, and who will rally, I think, to the ilag and to the Crown more and more as the generations go on, until the fullest strength of tho Empire may be foiiud not in this email island, bat in the Britains