St. Paul daily globe., 1895-05-28
THE ENGLISH ARMY.
Why the Queen VIII Insist on n
r Royal Commanders.

/, Chicago Record
In spite of the assertions contained
in the English press have private in
formation from a very authoritative
source that there is not the slightest
. likelihood Of the Duke of Cambridge's
resignation of his position as COM
mander-in-chief of the British army as
|! long as the queen lives. The reason
IS easy to explain. The queen and the
royal family are firmly determined to
Iretain the command of the army in
d their hands. 1t was the great Duke
/ of Wellington who impressed upon the
queens mind the necessity of this and
! his advice was confirmed in the matter
by her husband the prince consort, Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Melbourne and Lord
Beaconsfeld, all of them in whose
counsel she could place the most pro-
found confidence.
The point that they made was that
as long as the commander-in-chief was
a royal prince he would be the direct
and personal representative Of the SOW
ereign, independent, to a great extent,
of parliament, and superior in influence
and prestige to parliament's repre-
sentative, the secretary of state for
war.
If on the other hand, the command
OF the army passes out of the hands of
royalty into those either of an ordinary
general or else of commission, as has
been suggested, the generalissimo
would become a sort of lieutenant to
the secretary of state, and subservient
to him and to the parliament, instead
OF to the crown, very important
point when it is remembered that at
q h.
lament and throne, such as that which
led to the decapita ton of Charles I.,may
be revived.
Now, commission presided over by
the Duke of Devonshire, appointed by
parliament to investigate the question
regarding the commander-in-chief of
the army, unanimously recommended
that on the resignation of the Duke of
Cambridge the office should be, in a
very modified form, vested in some
general, who would bear the title of
chief of staff to the secretary of state
for war, and act as his military asso-
c1ate, thus converting the army into
an instrument of the parliament in
stead of the crown. The queen thor
oughly realizes that no matter how
much she might wish to appoint her
son, the Duke of Connaught, to sue
ceed her cousin George as generals
S1mo, she could not do so without rails
ing a howl of Indignation, as well as
protests from her present Liberal cab
met ministers.
Accordingly it has been decided thai
tie duke is to hold on as long as ne or
the queen lives; for the moment her
majesty dies and the Prince of Wales
ascends the throne he would have a
right as king to claim for himself the
chief command of the army, in the
same way as Emperor William does in
Germany, Gar Nicholas in Russia,
King Humbert in Italy and Francis
Joseph in Austria.
There is every prospect of the old
duke living as long as the queen, for |
with the exception of a tendency to
drop off to sleep toward the close of |
dinner, with his head resting on the |
shoulder of one of his fair neighbors,
he as vigorous and alert an old fellow |
as any ,one might wish himself to be at /
the age of seventy-siX. He is far and |
away the talleSt member of the reign !
ing house, standing over six feet, and, /
in spite of his having been brought up
in Germany, at Hanover, where his
father was yiceroy until 1887, he is far
more. English, alike in speech and in
bearing, than any of the queens chill |
dren or grandchildren.