MILITARY TRAINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2707, 31 January 1906, Page 58

MILITARY TRAINING.

•«> THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. REQUIREMENTS OF COLONTAL DEFENCE. Under the title of " The Importance of Military Training in the Colonies," Lieutenanvcolonel H. A. de Lautour, V.D., P.M.0., read an interesting paper at a recent meeting of the Officers' Club. The paper was as follows : — The consideration of the importance of military training in the colonies leads up to and must be taken with the question of the importance of colonial defence to the Empire, which is much the same thing as the importance of the defence of the Empire to its colonies— but not quite, for an empire or kingdom can survive the loss of colonies, although weakened somewhat, for it loses the trade and commerce of those colonies. The colony itself loses its touch with the Father or Mother Country, changes its laws, customs, and to a great extent its language, often also its freedom. Not infrequently such a stress :3 placed on the central fatherland that, as a question sometimes of policy, sometimes for its own existence, it abandons its distant colonies without any attempt to defend them. This has occurred in our own history, and I will refer to it later on. A country for its offence and defence depends not only on its navy and arni3', but, because these are very costly, also upon its trade, commerce, and productions to pro\ide money and furnish food. It is also necessary to maintain a patriotic spirit in healthy and strong frames to bear the hardships, fatigue, and exposure of active per\ ice. When a country becomes too luxurious it becomes corrupt, enervated, and effeminate, and falls before a more hardy and better-prepared foe, although that foe may be far interior in numbers.. History is full of such instances, and the stoiy of the rise and fall of nations shows many cases of the importance of maintaining proper, equitable, commercial, military, and naval relations between the Fatherland and its dependencies. ATTICA AND THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. Let us consider briefly some of these storips. and go back and examine the strujfjrle between Attica, a small republic in Greece, and the mighty Persian Empire. Attica, containing only 700 square miles, was pitted against the Persian Empire, which comprised most of modern Turkey, the whole of Turkey in A*ia, Tripoli, Egypt, Georgia, Armenia, Afghanistan, and the Punjaub. But the national traits of the two peoples varied greatly. The Oriental nation 1 - were characterised" by immense extent of dominions go\erned by satraps or pachas, by degeneracy in the princes of the ro\"al house, the effeminate nurslings of the seraglio succeeding to the warrior soxereign reared in the camp, by internal anarchy and insuriections. Also, according to Heeren : "Among all considerable nations of A^ia the paternal government wa« corrupted by pohganiy." A further condition also prevailed — viz., the connection between the State religion and the people— a powerful sacerdotal or priestly body exercising 1 a cheek over the throne itself, grasping afc all civil administration, claiming the supreme control of eduoation, and limiting the extent to •whioh it shall be lawful for the human mind to prosecute its inquiries. On the other hand, the Greeks were amongst the foremost in acquiring the principles and habits of oivilised life. In their religion | they accepted front foreign settlers the names of their deities and some of their nu.-, but they discaidcd the loathsome,

monstrosities of the East and they nationalised their creed, and no sacerdotal caste ever existed in Greece. They had then adopted a republican government. Versatile, restless, enterprising, and self-con-fident, they present a striking contrast to the quiet and submissive Oriental. In such contrast — which I have adapted and shortened from Creasy — did these conditions exist at the time of their meeting in battle array at Marathon. No longer were the Persian forces composed of hardy mountaineers and rural shepherds, but were unwilling contingents of conquered races under a despot. Such as these men, freemen, full of love of country, patriotism, and freedom, men who had been taught compulsorily from their youth up games, atheltics, gymnastics, and manly and military exercises — upwards of a hundred thousand Persian soldiers, reputed to be invincible, against 10,000 Greeks. Organisation and training gained the day, for making a sudden and rapid attack the Greeks overthrow the Persian cavalry before it could be formed in line, and by superior discipline maintained the advantage. The Persians were totally defeated, with a- loss of 6*oo— the Athenians 192 only. Here was the result of preparedness, preparing its people in hardy and military exercises in time of peace. Thus was founded a nation, afterwards the most powerful, which acquired complete maritime supremacy and conquered other nations. During one year she had some 70,000 men in her fleets, and was engaged in many wars, yet wben attacked at horn* 4 she did not withdraw a single sailor or soldier, but the young lads and old men fought and won the battle, and repelled her assailants. A votive tablet to the memory of the dead records " that its slain fell in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia at Halise, in JEgina, and in Megaia, in the same year. THE STORY OF OTHER NATIONS. Now let us consider shortly the Carthaginians, — a very mighty nation, extending its dominions to the west and north-west, to the Atlantic, and to what is now Great Britain, following the double object of traffic and cofonisation. As a people, however, they were not personally warlike. :& long as they could hire mercenaries to fignt for them, they had little appetite for the irksomo training, and they grudged the loss of valuable time, which military service would have entailed on themselves. Carthage knew, and could tell to a drachma, what the life of a man of each nation came to. A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a Canvnanian more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. This blood tariff being correctly made out, ehe began a war as a commercial speculation, making conquests in the hope of geting new mines to work, or to open fresh markets for her exports. In one venture she could afford to spend 50,000 mercenaries, in another, rather more. If the returns were good there was no regret for the capital lavished. More money got, mor« men, and all went on well._ But armies composed of foreign mercenaries are notoriously not altogether reliable. Thus we can at once perceive the inferiority of such bands, brought together without any common bond of origin, tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which at the time of the Punic wars were raised from the very flower of a hardy agricultural population, trained in the strictest diaoipline, ha-bituated to victory, and animated by the most resolute patriotism. Carthage and Rome met in death grips at tin) lletauras, where Nero completely destroyed the Carthaginian army under Hasdruzal — as Creasy continues: "Overwhelmed the Spaniards and Ligurians, died fighting gallantly to the last, the Gauls were then surrounded and butchered almost without resistance." " Delenda est Carthago," as ihe old Roman senator repeatedly urged. Rome annihilated Carthage. As Michelet says: "Then occurred what has no parallel 'in history: an entire civilisation perished at one blow— vanished like a falling star. The Periplus of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines In Plautus, •and lo! all that remains of the Carthaginian world." What a different story it might have been if she had been a warlike- i-nce in herself !- with her navies and her wealth and her colonies ! Had she trained these colonies and encouraged them to defend themselves and to pvac f ice arts of war, even if only as volunteers, the world then might have seen the spectacle of her coloniai sons flying to the aid of their motherland — a spectacle which the astonished v.orjd has seen in recent years in South Africa. Let me dismiss in a. feiy words the story of mighty Rome. Having become lazy, sensuous, luxurious, and licentious— retiring from her colonies or being driven out of them, —her legions were vanquished by the Garmans under Arminius, and later on the empire destroyed by the Goths and Vandal*. I will now pass on to a less gmier&lly known instance, described by " Quatrefages" in " The Human Species," one of the " International Scientific Series." Referring to the Scandinavians, the author says this race, coming from the north of Europe, had virtually possession of Scotland and Ireland. They went further west and north to Iceland and Greenland, and, in 886, even to America, when Brick the Red doubled Cape Farewell and built a town, the luius of which hav-e lately been discovered. In 1003 one of his younger sons, Thorwald, went as far south as Long Island, near New York, and was> killed by the nati\e Indians. His tomb lias been "recently discovered, containing his skeleton and an iron hilted sword, m Raineford Island. Ca-pe Alderton. The Scandinavians formed extensive colonies with monastries and cathedral citios. In 1121 aii Irishman, Brick Upsi, was created Bishop of Greenland, and had 18 successor*. Even as late- as the yoar I+lß thoy paid 36001b of walrus tusks as tithes and Peter's pence to the Holy See. About, or prior to, this time for seine unrecorded motive, probably pome quarrel, Quoen Margaret, then Sovereign of Scandinavia-, withdrew her vessels and interdicted all intercourse with the=e colonie". Losing the protection of the Mother Country, the colonist's appealed in 1448, but in vain to Pope Nicholas V. They could no longer defend themselves from their enemies, and wore swallowed up and disappeared. Few traces wero left. In 1721 =ome ruins wore found by the. Norwegian pastor Hans Eggede. Whether weakened or not by t&e loss of he r American colonies is not clear, but Ireland and Scotland be canio free, and Scandinavia was divided into the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, the latter retaining Iceland. It was probably from the visits of the?c colonial vessels, carrying tithes to Romf. that Columbus derived his project of dhco\ej:v. for Lisbon vva. s theu the. head-

quarters of geographical discovery, and it is only natural to suppose that vessels from a distance would touch at Lisbon en route to Rome, via Genoa. At axiyrate, in 1470, Columbus married at Lisbon the daughter of a famous Portuguese navigator, and obtained with her valuable charts, journals, and memoranda. — (See Chambers's Encyclopaedia.) Failing to get support from Portugal, he tried Genoa, with equally bad success. Eventually he- sailed on his voyage of discovery in 1492. Being much further south, he did not meet any trace of the Scandinavians. Quatrefages also describes au earlier discovery of America on the western side by the Chinese, who some 2000 years ago were acquainted with the compass. Later on they described the prevailing current which crosses the Pacific from Japan to California. This current they called the Kouro-sivo, and North America Fou-sang. De Guignes first described this from what he had learnt in Chinese books. Although not credited at the time, it was confirmed by Paravey and Pinart, who traced the Chinese traders as fat south as Peru. where they founded colonies. In this country there still exists a race peculiar to themselves, speaking a. separate language unknown to the natives or Spaniards, and only permitting intermarriage among themselves — an agricultural, quiet, unassuming race, and especially affecting market gardening. Their identity, was disclosed by the Chinese cook of a vessel, who in recent years went ashore with his captain to purchase vegetables in the market, and who had no difficulty in conversing with these people in tlieir own language. In 1721 Le Page dv Prat describes visits of Japanese traders to the vicinity of Oregon in search of woods for dyeing. They were then acquainted with firearms and gunpowder. I must just refer in passing to the loss of her North American colonies by England, which, as Creasy says, " is of all subjects in history the most unpleasant for an Englishman to dweil on. It was commenced and carried on by the British Ministry in iniquity and folly, and it was concluded in disaster and shame." I cannot omit the, at one time, mighty kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, and Holland, which, since th<? loss of their colonies in South America, Africa, the East and West Indies, have become oulv third or fourth rate Pow«'rs. France also has been much weakened by the loss of Canada. What a difference it would make to her strength were Canada now at her back. COLONIES AND THEIR PROTECTION. I mentioned earlier the necessity arising of abandoning, at any rate for a time, a colony or colonies. Amongst others, an instance of the kind occurred in the French war in 1793. Captain Mahan writes: — "At the outbreak of the War "Great Britain was taken unawares in India, as everywhere ; and. as the operations in Europe ai'-d the West Indies called for the first care of the Government, the Lidian seas were practically abandoned to the enemy for ovei* a year. After ih© fall of Pondichcrry in September, 1793, Admiral GprnwalHs returned to Europe with a]l his squadron, leaving only a single sloop of war to protect the vast expanse of ocean covered by the commerce of the East India Company. Under these circumstances the losses were inevitably eevere, and would have been yet more/ heavy had not the company itself fitted out several ships to cruise ibr the protection of trade." As a matter of fact India was very nearly becoming a French possession. The West Indies were then more important to us, as conveying a very great quantity of commerce, tha safety of which was imperilled by the presence of many island colonies belonging to France. From these islands there issued forth privateers and ships of war, preying on our commerce. England put in motion the military policy of crushing and stamping out the nests where these privateers swarmed, and in doing this she gained control of further rich commercial regions. Each captured island contributed to swell the revenues by which the> war wae maintained. The question (Great Britain having acquired maritime supremacy) was not to beat the enemy's fleet, but to secure hf>r own commercial routes. To this end it was necessary nofc to concentrate, but to disseminate her ships, and provide convenient centres of refuge and supply along the routes — similar to Ac police arrangements of_ a city. In ordinary quiet times the police are distributed to cope with individual offenders; when a. mob gathers they are concentrated in large bodies. Well did Napoleon recognise the* importancp of these Wetfc India Islands to Great Britain, for he sent more than one expedition against them. Nelson also fully realised it, for he wrote: "If our islands should fall, England would be so clamorous for peace that we should humble ourselves." I think I have shown the relative importance of the Empire to the colonies, and vice versa. The question now to consider is the first, line of defence. I must quote Nelson again : " Our first defence is clo<>e to the enemy's ports. I now venture to express a well-grounded hope that the enemy would be annihilated before they got 10 miles from their own shores." This idea was re-echoed a j*ear or two ago liy Admiral Sir Edmund Fromantle, in a speech on "Australia and Naval Defence" at the Royal Colonial Institute, 1902-5, where he is= reported to have said : "ft is wf»ll known that Drake hold that if he had been allowed to go to the coast of Spain again there would have been no Armada.' As Raleitrh quaintly expresses it : 'To entertain thooe that shall a«sail us, with their own beef in their bellies, and before they eat of our English capons, J take to be the wisest way. And, as Mahan says : ' Those far-distant stormtossed ships on whioh the grand army never looked stood between it and the Empire of the world.' These are dark sayings. Il is difficult to get people to understand that what they don't =co is powerful. I have commanded his Majesty 'a fleet at various stations, and have had to deal with extremely estimable and clever people — Governors, Ministers, and the like. — but I scarcely ever met with one v\ho did not think his safety lay in seeing a gunboat or small vessel before hi-> door." PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR. For ourselves, we, like the people of aIL tho other colonies, have inherited a birthright of strong, healthy frames, energetic ten»p©ra,ments, vjowstitutions capable of onduring hardships, fatigue, and cxpobure — the very material for making £oorl sailorand soldiers. We are al-o imbued with a passionate len-o of all -manly overuses an,l athletic g-amos. That the c ons of the Empire have not degenerated ha- bc^n amply shown not only recently in the football fwlu at Home, but aho in South

Africa : there courage, bravery, and hardl«. hood were abundantly shown. What was lacking generally was want of military training and discipline. It behoves us all therefore, in all colonies, to insist on— from youth upwards — a more or less compulsory system of military training, with strict disciplines I am glad to note that this is now realised in the Commonwealth, and that a system of national defence, combined, with universal compulsory training, has been urged in Sydney, and has received the support of the leaders of the Labour party. We require also to have our ports so well defended that they will be not onjy a protection for ourselves, but havens ot refuge when necessary for our naval and mercantile marine ; and to have our men so well trained and disciplined that nob only will they be a defence for their colony, but specially, well fitted and equipped to assist the Empire *in other lands. Besides the individual training o£ the people, there is. as was pointed out to us a fortnight ago by Colonel Robin, the necessity of a well-lrained staff. As you heard then, and as, General T. yon Verdy dxt VernoLs, chief of a section of the Royal Headquarters Staff in Germany under Moltke writes :—: —

"It is the duty of the War Ministry and the staff to prepare in time of peace so that everything may he ready for mobilisation and surprise made impossible, if the diplomatic authorities are equal to THEIR task. 1 '

He describes the outbreak of the Franco Prussian war: — "We were in the country, and had 'iu-sfc finished dinner when a. telegram directed me to return to Berlin immediately, and to take command. We drove in a hurriedly hired country cart to the nearest- station, where we heard that, orders for mobilisation had been given. At daylight we could see men streaming in, procuring their uniforms for the field, loading waggons, getting ammunition, etc., eto. Everything was full of movement. Arriving at Berlin in the morning vie went direct to the office from the station. When we left the office for home in the evening w« were able to say with the fullest conviction. " Everything is ready ! Go on !' " 1= it too much to eocpect that some day if the occasion arisos the chief of the staff in New Zpaland will be able to say with eqiia) conviction and within £!l hours notice: — " Everything is ready. Go on !"

The Lake County Press is informed that tho tourist traffic to Queenstown this season is just about double it was la&t year fc