IS ENGLAND PLAYING HER PART?

Waikato Times, Volume 87, Issue 13269, 26 August 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

IS ENGLAND PLAYING HER PART?

AMERICAN WAR CORRESPON-

DENT'S DEFENCE

'TLODDLNG ON STURDILY IF NO!

BRILLIANTLY

Frederick Palmer, the renowned American war correspondent, and admittedly the most impartial and reliable of all neutral observers of the war,, has produced nothing more straightforward, enlightening, and encouraging than the following article, entitled "Is England Doing Her Tart ?" which we reprint from ''Collier's Weekly."

Has Britain done her part ? Let us take the evidence in the case. Britain is one of the set of partners fighting the Central Powers and lurkcy and Bulgaria. ''What were the terms o'i that partnership?" is the first question any judge would ask. France and Russia were to take care of the Germans on land. All

the aid that they expected from the Biitish was 120,000' troops—a handful of men compared to the multitudes of the Continental armies. The British part was to keep the command of the sea. Britain was to hold the German navy in its lair or destroy it if it should give battle—and this singlehanded. It is now clear that failure by the British Navy would have meant the loss of the war. Her navy must be Britain's first thought; her army secondary. For hundreds of years when'an Englishman thought of home defence it was of defence by sea. At all costs naval supremacy must lie maintained. Without if the little island would be strangled and her Empire lost. An Englishman is willing that Parliament should play politics with the army, but he will not permit it with the navv.

Xo bulletins of trench fighting come from the British fleet. its work is kept more secret than that of any army. It will have only one battle, and that will last only a few hours. Because we hear nothing of the navy's woi k the supeiticial may think that it is doing nothing. A witness of its efficiency exists in every British merchant ship* that sails. No German sails the open seas unless in disguise. .Many more thru a million British soldieis are abroad, and all their guns, and the food for both men and guns, have been transposed safely oversea; and by sea the wounded have been brought home. -So far as I know, not a soldier or gun has been lost in the passage from Fiance to England. British seaborne trade, including cxpoits, increased for the month of February, 1916. over February, 1915. Channel steamers run as usual. Passengers ami freight go and come between Fngland and France and America in spite of the submarine. Including the regular naval and the auxiliary vessels, some 3000 ships are under Sir John Jellicoe's command. Success in keeping tight the blockade between Iceland and the North Sea surpasses expectation. It was feared that a number of raiders might get by, and, considering that the fog in the North Sea is often so thick that a man can hardly see his own hand held out before him, it is amazing that only one raider has been able to get by at this writing. The fuss made over that single one is proof of the pudding to naval experts who realise the difficulties it the layman d<*.'s not. It was as unusual as the man biting the dog. therefore news. Three thousand ships' Considei the coal they consume, the supplies, and the men! The war against the submarine requires material whose quantity and character if enumeiatul and described woidd astound the wmld. No report of it ma\ be published because that would reveal' to the Germans the methods ii.-ed in overcoming the submarine campaign. Mystery on this score is the policy of the Br.tish admiralty. The German sub marines go out from Kiel and Zee Brugge ne\er to return, while th-' < leiman Admiralty, not knowing how they met their late, cannot warn submarine commanders how {■■' avoid destruction.

Many new type- of vessels had to lie limit for lb: needs which wcte developed by the fir»t leai'y great modern na\ai campai„n. The ratio ol superiority ovei

Germany at tiic outset of the war must lie ineieased. She must Ik; surpassed in speid of construction and number <u battleships, UiULtCXJjis*i». -u-ui*ttt*. and destroyers, at the same time including every improvement suggested I> v the war. All tlit-'.' ships reqiiiied guns whih tiie new army was hedging lor guns. Hut, however hungry the army for either artillery or shells.' no Cabinet Minister, no officer at the British front, would .suggest that the arinv should do otlier than wait until Jcilicoe's orders had been filied. What ii JelhVoe should fail for tin van! ol anything that might have been supplied'. 'Though the British army in France Were swept into tile sen still Britain and hei Kmpiit might survive if she kept command of the sea. Should Jellicoe ask that Westminstci Abbey lie sent to him in his mysterious! harbour, th< British public would tell Premier As quitli to set ooine new army battalions to work to lake it down and st nt it <>n itway. Why doesn't the Biitish navy dig out the Cernian nav\. It va- \\ inston Churchill, when Fust Lord o] the Admii alty early in the war. v.ho made tin rats in the hole sprcch, not Sir John JriHoi ■ 1.0 i.i Fisher. I have nevei talked with any na\al rxput wlm thought that an attempt b\ the British t■■ reach the Ceiuian Heel in the harbour of Kiel was surnd naval policy. Aitieritan and other experts agree 'that professional!; both na\.i\* have lollnwed the ht-st pnlin in the interest of theii nations. The (ierman tleet is >•■< reted far out <>\ the range of any British slop. piotected by heavy fortress guns, by submarines, ami by many nets impassible to any submarine. In vain the (iermans have hoped that the British who are too wi.-c would be come impatient and undertal: • some soil of offensive which would mean the loss id some of their ship-, thus evening up the ratio of strength oi the two fleets; and in vain the British have hoped that the (lerman.- ivfio are likj wise -would conn out and do battle. If the Cermans thought that they had any chance they certainly would; for if they should win they would nut only win the' war but the masterv of the seas and of the woild. Some double's have asked il the British fleet is not al-o shut up in its harbour in fear of submarine* and mine fields. It goes out into the North Sea whenever it please.* -I have seen it go—and it will be llu-ie when the (ierman fleet appears. The fait that the Germans do not come out ;■- tribute enough to the character of the British \aw. For the Germans are not looks. The' British Navy goes on budding new ships, new dry docks, and extending its na\a! bases. It has a forever unsatisfied appetite for material and it has done its part. Britain has kept faith with her partner in the alliance. She commands the seas.

When she saw the fortunes of war were going against he:' partners she prepared to fight by land: to put in millions of soldiers as well as her naval strength. It never occurred to any Englishman or Scot or Irishman that the British would ever have an army half the size of that fighting there to-day on the Continent. As ingrained in the British is the idea of sea defence as that of great distances and isolation in the American before this war. He thought of an army only as a means of policing the Empire. His green pastures and hedges and lanes were safe, thanks to the salt water.

The regulars had done his fighting for him as they had for us. There came to him a call like the one that came to us in our Civil War when North and South set untrained troops against untrained troops. A people proud of the fact as we were that they had escaped universal military service, when they found that Russia and France had not soldiers enough, were ready to give their flesh and blood against, not untrained troops, but the best trained and the best equipped of troops. In two months.the British had lost more killed and wounded than their original force; in six months, more than the total of their standing army. They had lacked machine guns and guns of heavy calibre; so had the French. The English had not

vader. Mind, these three millk have to be ordered to' fight. 1 of their own free will, oarpem mers, costermongers, doctors,] millionaires, and labourers, wi ablebodied man of Oxford and (j and other universities and grt schools offering himself. Histor forded nothing finer than this of and never was there an effort predated by those who made it. of guns the Uritish in France ha with flesh and blood against SO] tillery—flesh and blood against killing. France needed help; gave ail she had to give— the S men. From India she brought hi troops—anything to help win thf The old rule of war is that loss of 10 per cent, of your to you prepare for retreat; with th 15 per cent, you had better g way: and no battalion, regim gade, division corps, or army is to hold after a loss of 25 or 30 j This was about the percentage a' 100 and Gettysburg. British regiments in the first Ypres used to cheer when the Ge fantry charged, for this meant th

the torrent of shell fire and they i out to meet the enemy with the 1 In the mud and icy water they stc number of instances after losses; and 60 and 70 and 80 per cent. - worst this was not "falling dow was being "shot down." For it long time to make a gi a- rifle. On December 1 —a year after the war began, the States, with all its adaptability anc facturing resources, was shipping Allies only three thousand rifles * or enough for a hundred and fiftj and men in a year—which is not ai very large army as armies go on ti tiiieiK of Europe.

Every time, that there has been ready for him. the British have had ready for the rirle, which requires and experienced workmen in manu inr. as any ritie maker will tell yd reason they nad to hold a short li that fox many months they had t< with flesh and blood, without ac

gun; oi adequate shells for the though they have the shells now ; getting the guns. Another reasc

that they held the famous Ypres a one dl tlie bloodiest parts of the lit you don't think so, ask any Germa has fought there. Again, after thi don*t make the mistake of depra the British soldier to a German s The highest praise you can hear f< British Army is from Germans. "But they ought to have foresee have been prepared!'' one carping taiy critic said to me. They were < sea. Again: They may be brave they blundered. Look at Gallipoli! political reasons and against sound tary advice, both British and French, wen* to (iallipuli to open the Darda foi Russia to send out her wheat bring in munitions. It was a blundei result of haste; but at least they tri help with what they had. Four hui thousand men fighting in France sixty thousand in Gallipoli eight m after the war began—twice the numb their original standing army. It MeClellan eight months to get one died thousand men ready for his P sular campaign in the Civil war. "And their staff work is poor," the critic. Did the British Army boas: that it was perfect? With h losses in their regular officers, the butt wh> had not been trained for big C Dental warfare bad to undertake the 1 agement of vast new armies. Of <X the\ made mistakes. It is amazing few to my mind. They talk of "l dling.' but it seems to me that the; very much lees muddling than they vertise. 'I he error so highly criticise Loos was made by the German staff a feu days later. In fact, the Gen have been guilty of it several times, they say nothing and go on. B< is silent while tongue* wag in London. My last day at the British front w, revelation of what they had whi!" they grumbled at themselves/' making a new army. I saw hundred guns —most of them made since the hejan. and manned by gunners three of I'oui of whom had never worn a fori:i when the war began. I flaw i place Their TTFe~"vv-Till ah"accuracy on a ( man trench front about to be attat which wmild have pleased the most lidioue of French artillery experts, an English artillery officer said was: think our artillery work was better day. We are improving." They wei amazingly, but not boasting or advej More than a million men oversea, tl millions, moie ready to go in; the sea cure. Remember, too, that the Bri Isles have onlv a little over 40,000. population, about 25,000,000 less t Germany. One million volunteers, < England leviles the slackers; 2,000, and England reviles the slackers t harder: three million and she reviles slackeis haider yet in tones heard o the world, and taken by those who dt know these stubborn islanders as proof their failure out of their own mouths. 3 have heard of the lady who "enjoyed health/' The British for the last ei, months since they realised the enorir of the task before them have been" enj ing the pessimism which thev call "grc

Let them win the war and they \ still keep on complaining about th "muddleis." ft is a national hat When the Welsh coal strike was on I British, Navy had a year's supply of c in reserve, but you must not ment that. Finally earne conscription. Tl we heiiid tales nt labour unions wh would refuse to obey; of the promise Hots. But the riots did not come I cause in that land where the major rules 99 men out of ICO weie engaged panting the finger of scorn at the 10( who they thought might not come up the scratch. Britain has "muddied"' 'in this wi SJie has in eveiy war. And as the Ei lish sav. "we are going to mud< tlnough." Britain has given soldieis. She 1 given money with the generosity ol drunken sailor. She has given to R sia, to Serbia, to Italy. Every week voluntary subscription, aside from 1 Government giant, she is giving 250,( dollars to Belgium —without advertisi the fact. When you ask if England has fall down, the answer is not in military ' ficieney alone. It takes more than tl to make a nation to the taste of m of us. Canada has sent her 100,000, a means to .send 500,000 Canada far acr> the seas, in a war fat removed from 1 farms and ranches and towns. After t Gallipoli failuie the Premier of Austra said it was nut for Australia to eorapl over the heavy losses her battalions a tained against the Turk, but to go sending soldiers and fighting till th« * was won. In South Africa the Bo

who fought the British 16 years fought on the British side, and axe st ing men to France. What is this tie that binds? It i militarism.

There is some virtue in the fair play that peculiar democracy that Empire J der loose reins has expressed by the 1< alty of its parts. For the Canadia and the Australians and the Afrikand

also volunteer. They do not come conscription; and, like the great Eng editor, you cannot stop them from BJM ing their minds.