A PHANTOM ARMY.
Among the many weird and wild statements m;:de in public daring the recent German nvasion scare was one by Colonel Driscoll, of "Driscoli's Scouts" fanio. The Colonel solemnly declared to a Poplar audience that " Uving in our midst, under the protection of the British Flag, are 350,000 German soldiers''—a number, by the way which is something considerably over half the entire strength of the German Army on its present peace footing. Another gentleman, Major Reed, declared to a Berkshire audience that he had discovered the existence in England of 6,500 spies, male and female, all jraid employees of the German Intelligence Department. Then the otherday Sir John Barlow put a question in Parliament to the Secretary for War. Did ho know that there were 66.000 German reservists within our gates, with arms and ammunition safely stored away in cellars in the neighborhood of the Strand? Mr Haldane confessed ignorance, and poohpoohed the idea suFsrested by Sir John's question. And in the cold, clear light of official census statistics concerning the foreign element in England the Secretary of War seems to have been justified in dismissing Sir John's allegation as absurd. For according to the last census returns there aie m England less than a quarter of a. million foreigners all told, and of these only ;,bout 50.000 are Germans. This figure embr.ijes men, women, and children. .Assuming that since the census was taken the number of Germans in England has increased by over 10.000—a very liberal addition to make, seeing that in the preceding decennium the German population showed an appreciable diminution—how many of the 60.000 could be classed as trained soldiers?
It is one of an Englishman*? most cherished illusions about Germany to suppose that every German is trained as a soldier. Of coarse, even- German capable of bearing arms is liable to serve as a 6oldier, but it docs not follow that every one does so, and it is common knowledge to all who have mixed with the Anglo-German element here to any extent that a very considerable proportion indeed of the army of Germans who are now in England ministering to our wants as waiters, barbers, clerks, tailors, bakers, and what not have not had ray military training whatever, and that tiie majority have certainly not received such training as would justify them being considered efficient. Sub-classi-fying the 60,000 Germans into men. women, and children, and into men who have served and have not served in the army, it is very doubtful indeed whether the number of really trained fighting men available to imperil the military safety of Old England by sudden mobilisation would be equal to the number of trained soldiers, with actual service experience, to be found among the London police. My own experience in London is that among the bakers, barbers, and waiters, who certainly form a formidable proportion of the adult male German contingent in the metropolis, five out of six have never served their time as soldiers, owinochiefly to physical defects such as short 6ight, weak heart, or insufficient chest development.
In peopling England with phantom armies of Germans ready at a moment's notice to exchange civilian garb for martial attire our scaremongers have made themselves supremely ridiculous.—Oar London correspondent.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 2
Word Count
541A PHANTOM ARMY. Evening Star, Issue 14117, 21 July 1909, Page 2
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