FOR DEFENCE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 1, 12 December 1910, Page 11

FOR DEFENCE.

THE NATION S DUTY. £100.000.000 LOAN. The resolution to be moved by Mr. E. H. Williams at the Chamber of Commerce to-night, in which he proposes that a fund be raised in the Dominion and forwarded to assist the aims of the Imperial Maritime League (London) must necessarily arouse curiosity as to the nature of the objects of the League, and give rise to the question of what grounds exist that the naval position is considered so serious as to cause naval and militarj- officers of the highest standing to make so a proposal as to urge the ’raising of a £100.000.000 loan "or naval construction.' vVith the intention of placing our readers -n possession of the v'iews held in military and naval circles at Home we republish the letter, signed by no lessr than 345 Flag and General Officers, which they addressed to the Right Hon. H. H. Asquith, Prime Minister of Great Britain. The letter is as follows - “Sir, —It is an axiom to which we believe that you would readily assent that National Defence, and most especially the question of our naval strength, should be above politics and above party. Yet ’.he governing condition of National Defence is finance, and under our present party system this r act necessarily brings defence into the domain of- political controversy. But in recollection of the monetary truce lately imposed upon all such strife by ' our recent great national loss we venture now to appeal to you to adopt a proposal which, if carried into effect, would go far to lift National Defence above the arena

of party by removing from that; arena, to a large extent, the vexed j question of financial provision. We; make public appeal to you, there-] fore, as the Head ot His Majesty’s; Government, to obtain sanction during the present Parliamentary Session to a Loan of one hundred million pounds for National Defence. i “The sum named, if wisely ex-[ pended, would be a final warning i to potential antagonists that Great; Britain declines to be outdone in the struggle for National and Im-] perial Independence. It is. moreover, of historic interest to the Liberal Party, inasmuch as it is the exact figure chosen by Mr. Cobden himself (in his well-known Rochdale speech of Juno 1861) to represent what he was prepared to spend j on the British Navy alone rath'-r! than allow the French Navy to Le; increased to a level with ours, he-; cause,” as he then stated, T ■ should say that any attempt of that, sort, without any legitimate! grounds, would argue some sinister j design upon this country.” ! “We do not enquire, here whether! any of the great nations does now in fact harbour sinister designs against Great Britain. But we lay stress on the fundamental point that the approximation by any other country to our maritime strength would ■ e in the long run equally fatal to us. whet her sinister design” existed * or not. For conflict of interests between world wide Empires is of frequent occurrence without malig-

nity of intention, arid war with my naval power nearly as great as our own would entail such danger and Buff ering to our population as would preclude any British Ministry from voluntarily engaging in it. But in that case any menaced British interests would be consistently sacrificed ; and Great Britain with her daughter-nations, would thus be forced, soon and inevitably, into the position of a subordinate State, taking its orders from the rival Empire which it feared to fight. Thus the binding need of maintaining British Naval Supremacy and of rendering the British Empire efficient for war, is independent altogether of the question of the present nature of the designs of any rival Power. “We are convinced that, in raising the loan proposed, His Majesty’s Government would receive the whole-hearted support of His Majesty’s Opposition, who would gladly associate themselves with a scheme designed to secure safety to the nation and to the Empire. We would point out further that .■ s (the loan would form part of the ’ Nation’s debt, and as its repayment Tcrttilfl npppQQftrilv cnread nrur n

nvum uctr&aaun uc opivctki vxvi <1 ; considerable period of time, both [ parties would be equall.v responsible I for its burden during the years j when each, respectively, was in I office. We are convinced that, :e-l sponsibility for the repayment be- I ing thus divided, your initiation of such a loan would receive the sup-; port of an overwhelming majorityl of the nation at large, irrespective l altogether of party ties. For. ex-1

ternal security is the evident condition of internal development. “In the earnest hope of your acceptance of the proposal which we thus submit, we would venture respectfully to put before you a further suggestion, namely, to appoint a Committee of Naval and Military Officers of the Board of Admiralty and the Army Council m formulating a scheme (in which the Navy, Army, and Aviation should alike be included) for spending to the best national advantage the entirety of this loan. By these means, three important ends would lie served:—(l) The inclusion of officers outside official ranks would assure the nation that the eommittoe would be free from any political pressure, the exercise of which might otherwise, however unreasonably. be alleged. Moreover, the collaboration, in a combined scheme of National Defence, of such men as, e.g. Admiral of the Fleet Sir A. K. Wilson, and Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener, would of itself go far to inspire and to restore public confidence. (2) Proof would thus he given of the non-party character of the committee. (3) Expert authority would have fair play, and as the total amount of expenditure would have been fixed previously, no r isk of extra cost would be thereby incurred. “With reference to tin* necessity for the loan proposed, we do not intend here to offer you detailed evidence, since that necessity was admitted, either implicitly or explicitly, in March 1909, in the House of Commons, both by yourself and by other members of His Majesty's Government. We need only infer, by way of instance, to the intimation of Sir Edward Grey, that the rapid progress of a Continental Navy imposed on us the duty of

rebuilding the whole of our Fleet, upon the penalty, if that duty were neglected, of becoming the “(.'onscript Appanage ot some Stronger Power.” The inadequacy of our military strength to the needs of the Empire has formed the subject cf frequent and solemn warning from many authorities, including one so high as Field-Marshal Lord Roberts. The necessity also of putting Great Britain on a level with any other country in regard to the provision of an Aerial Fleet is» now recognised by all thinking men. On these heads we only desire to record our conviction that national danger does threaten, ami that the need of special effort to meet it is urgent.

“We would, however, observe that, whether this opinion be correct or otherwise, the existence of a wide-spread apprehension of peril is a fact beyond dispute, and me which is an operative cause m driving. British capital, the wage-fund of our people, beyond the seas. To allay this anxiety is therefore an object of statesmanship • which would by itself justify the means suggested.

i “We are aware that loans for Tai' tional defence may be held in n’dlinary times to be bad finance. But [ the present need is not ordinary, land as “Defence is greater than I Opulence,” so is the restoration of i national confidence by the assurjance of national safety a higher ?nd I than financial correctness. We apI peal to you, as British citizens the head of their country’s Gov- , ernment, to grant our present ; prayer, and thus earn the lasting | gratitude of the British Empire.’’ I The letter was signed by FL IL I Abadie, C. 8., Major-General, and four hundred others.