The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-12 00:00:00

OUR ARMY.

The November number of the Fortnightly I?evieto
opens with the first of a series of articles on "The
British Army." The article contains the following
alarming summary of our unpreparedness for action
in any and every quarter :—We shall, I fear, find
that we are not prepared in time of peace; that the
result of our want of preparation would be that we
should have to incur frightful and wasteful expendi-
ture in time of war; that our fleet it too weak for its
duties, and is at the mercy of the inventors, who are
busily at work upon methods of dealing with high ex-
plosives which may prove to be its destruction; while
we are behindhand- in great guns afloat, behindhand
in great guns ashore, in disappearing guns, in cupolas
and shields, and in submarine mining. We are, I
fear, open to invasion, open to bombardment and ran
-
sons of our commercial ports, open to bombardment
, of our arsenals, exposed to the loss of some of our coal-
ing stations, and the consequent destruction of our trade.
We are trusting to the navy to do the work both of for-
tifications and of field armies. We possess no organi-
sation for home defence, our eserves of men are not
real reserves, we have altogether insufficient field
artillery, we possess as yet no reserve of horses; we
could not even mobilise our two expeditionary corps
for want of a reserve of horses, and should be unable,
therefore, to deliver a counter-attack. I may have
to show that the jubilee review, so far from indi-
cating our possession of two real army corps, proved
that we have not one, and that our military position
in Europe is growing year by year less strong rela-
tively to that of France and the other powers. We
shall have to take note of the ad missions of Mr. Smith
and Mr. Stanhope with regard to our deficiency in
stores, of the Government admissions as to the ;tonic
of rifles and of ammunition, both here and in Canada,
which great dependency is, indeed, .1 fear, defen-
sively considered, as badly off as we are in Eng-
land ; and we may have to remark, in passing, -
upon the foreign opinion as to the defects in
our attack formations and as to the weakness of
our garrison artillery. If we look to the colonies we.
shall discover that they can obtain heavy ordnance
and ammunition only from England, and that theira.
needs will add to the sudden pressure under which-
our centralised administration is likely to break down
in the event of war. Turning to India, we
shall find that the British troops are needed for the
garrisons, while the native army is unfitted to face
Russians in the field ; that the recommendations of'
the Indian Commission having been vetoed by Lord
Harrington and Lord Kimberley, there is a- terrible
division of responsibility; and that, while we have
deluded ourselves with the belief that we have come
in Afghsnistan to a settlement with Russia, which is
in fact no settlement at all, we are losing ground
year by year relatively to Russia, which is steadily in-
creasing her power of attack. As regards finance, we
shall find that just as English defence has been sacri-
ficed to Indian, India leaving us mere depots for
home service, so India is being ruined by the mone-
Lary calls made upon her by a system which is un-
suited to her requirements. India needing long ser-
vice, and England, in Europe, needing short service
and large reserves, a compromise has been arrived at
which suits neither.

IT is when the stare begin to glimmer that the
:3eavens are being studded.
WIIEN you see a man on a moonlight night trying
to convince his shadow that it is improper to follow
a gentleman, you may be sure it is high time for him 1
to join a temperance society.

THE AGITATION IN IRELAND.
MR. O'BRIEN AND THE PRISON DRESS.
The governor of the gaol, acting on directions from
the prison authorities proceeded on Sunday morning
to enforce the rule of wearing the prison garb in the
case of Mr. William O'Brien, M.P. The governor
having intimated his instructions on this requirement,
Mr. O'Brien reiterated his determination to resist the
order to the utmost of his power. Matters assumed
so serious an aspect that the medical officer of the
prison had to be called in, and he, after examining
Mr. O'Brien, directed that no force should be used to
compel him to wear the prison garb.