The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-12-11 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1875

TIIE ARMY MOBILIZATION SCHEME.

Great Britaiu has often been eAled a nation

of shopkeepers ; and it is undoubtedly true that,
although the British Army has won a reputation
in the field second to none in the world, this has
been duo more to innate bravery than to any

prescience on the part of those responsible for
its management. In the Crimean war the
brilliant courage displayed by officers and men
was sufficient to colupensate for tho want of
careful ferethought and intelligent preparation
on the pert of the War Denartulent and tho
Elorseguards— Our authorities have often been
blamed for their tardiness in adopting new

designs and inventions, and it is uuq-uestienable
that only a few months before the overthrow of
Austrian power at Sadowa, the best qualified of
our military officers redicaled the breech-loading
system in general, and the Prussian needle-gun
in particular. Yet the marvellous precision of
that weapon was the chief instrument in deciding
that brief campaign, which elevated Prussia into
a first-class power in Europe, aroused the
jealousy of France, and ultimately led to the
, mighty struggle upon the Continent five years
ago which destroyed the reputation of a great
military power, and raised the peace-loving
German to be the arbiter of the destuies of vitA
Pop ulations.
When Vito Government of Ur. Gladstone was
in power, it introduced a series of military re-
forms which formed the basis of a scheme of re-
organization, and the superstructure is now
about to be raised by the present Secretary of
State for War by carrying into effect a thorouula
scheme of mobilization. The perfection of the
German system was shown in July, 1870, by the
wonderful rapidity with which half a million of
men were thrown across the Rhine. The news

of the declaration of war reached Berlin on the
afternoon of the 15th of that month; and in two
words the Crown Prince of Prussia announced

the tidings from the balcony of his palace win-
dow to an enormous multitude which had

gathered below. The Prince only said " War!
mobilization I " (King I mobil!) and the intelli-
gence fell like an electric shock upon the people.
They knew what mobilization meant—that with-
in two or three days fathers, brother, husbands,
sons, would leave the occupations of peaceful
industry, and be on the march towards the
frontier. From the Wir.r Office at Berlin Von

Moltke had merely to telegraph the single word
.‘ mobilise I" throughout the kingdom, and so
admirably were the details of the plan under-
stood that it was instantly put into execution
with the regularity of clock-work. No elaborate
instructions for here, there, and everywhere were
necessary; for the drawing up and transmitting
of these would have consumed valuable time.
At a single word, every man knew his place and
fell into it. The squadrons of cavalry, the
batteries of artillery, the battalions, the regi-
ments, and the companies of infantry seemed
to be formed upon all sides as if by magic. We
all know the result—how the German armies fell
upon the French before the latter had even
drawn up a plan of the campaign, turned the
tide of invasion from their own couutry, and
poured in ,nvriads across the frontier into the
enemy's Jana, from which they returned only
with the spoils of conquest, with two hundred
millions sterling, as an indemnity for the cost
of the fight, with two of the fairest provinces of
France ; and, after having besieged and reduced
her capital, carried captive hundreds of thous-
ands of her soldiers, and made a prisoner of the
Sovereign himself.
Such a terrible lesson upon the rashness of
rushing into war unprepared had seldom been
taught, nor will it need to be repeated. France
will never again engage with Germany unless she
does so upon better terms than elle did in 1870.
The experience of that time has not only been
$ caution to our neighbours, but also to ourselves.
Of course the circumstances are widely different.
In the first place we are not so restless as
France was for years before the great conflict of
1870. Her occupation of Rome, her interference
in the internal concerns of the newly formed
Italian kiogdoni, her intrigues in Spain, her
jealousy of german unity, r.her ambition to be
though the leading Power in Europe, and the
arbiter of continental destinies. Her overbear-
ing conduct at last led her best friends to
denounce her as a public nuisance. There is,
consequently, no parallel between the demeanour
of France previous to that memorable time and
the general atitude of Great Britian. The
unification of Italy, the consolidation of Ger-
many, the complexities of Spanisn politics, are
viewed by us from quite another standpoint. We
have no land frontier where, if we are beaten,
the hordes of the enemy are enabled to sweep
Jown upon our dominions in an uninterrupted
aud continuous stream The sea, which rolls
between us and the military monarchies of
Europe is a great bulwark of defence for our
shores. Yet recent events have shown us that
those vast ironclads of ours, which have taken
such a time to build, and have cost such an enor-
mous amount of money, arc not quite so man-
ageable as the old three deckers which won for
Great Britian the reputation of mistress of the
seas. France never dreamed that she could be
so easily beaten upon her own element—the land;
nor does it enter into the hearts pf Englishmen
to conceive that they could be defeated on the
sea. Yet human affairs are mutable, and in case
of a combination of European Powers against
us, we might find a difficulty in keeping that
position which has so long been ours unchal-
lenged. • The necessity for being prepared to
defend our interests in the East is alone a justi-
fication for cur being prepared for eventualities,
and public opinion will support the War Office
in csrryinst out the scheme of mobilization which
is designed, not for attacking others, but for
the defence of ourselves.

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Bricrley Hill—Rawliags chemist ; Kidderminster, But
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sliltiar.