New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-23
QUEEN VICTORIA'S LETTER
ITS CONSTITUTIONAL FEATURES AND
THE NECESSITY OF THE APP
PEAL. 1T CONTAINS.

Queen victoria's remarkable letter, addressed
through her private secretary to Lord woseley,
appealing retired officers and soldiers to place
their services more at the disposal OF the
Crown for the period OF twelve months is in no
sense of the word unconstitutional as has been
asserted by a number OF newspapers on both
sides OF the Atlantic. Her private secretary ex-
pressly states in his letter to the Commander in
Chief that Her Majesty is advised" which
means that she is acting in the matter In &C
cordance with the recommendations of her con-
stitutional advisers namely. the Ministers of
the Crown.
That this communication should be addressed
to Lord Woseley through the Queens private
secretary is likewise in the normal order Of
things. This functionary Is mere clerk, but
very gallant officer. knight Of the Order OF
the Bath, and to such extent In the trust OF
the sovereign that he is frequently chosen by
the Queen to convey to the Premier and to the
other Ministers confidential instructions and
commands which it is found inconvenient to
commit to paper SO distinguished is Sir Ar
thur Bigge that, like his predecessor, the late
Sir Henry Ponsonby he enjoys the complete
confidence Of the leaders OF both of the great
political parties, none OF whom ever dream of
questioning his right or usefulness In acting
the channel, not merely of the greater part of
the sovereign's instructions. but likewise Of the
confidential matters and secrets of State that
have to be communicated to her.
The Queen Is entirely within her constitutional
right in calling to arms her retired officers and
soldiers and in directing that they should be
incorporated into special force known as the
Royal Reserve battaons. According to the
terms OF the British constitution the sovereign
is generalissmo, the first in the military
command OF the British Empire. and in this
capacity has the sole and exclusive power of
raising and regulating armies and fleets. This
prerogative was disputed and claimed by the So
called Long Parliament of King Charles 1. but
upon the restoration 1t was soemnly declared
by both Crown and Parliament to be vested in
the sovereign alone. OF course, the payment Of
any forces thus raised by the Crown has ul-
tifnately to be provided by Parliament, which in
this way may be said to control the action of
the sovereign in the matter. But the first step
must be taken by the monarch. who alone pos
sesses the power of initiative in affairs of this
kind
LORD WOLSELEY'S POSITION.
That the letter should have been addressed
to Lord Wolseley is due to the fact that to him
have been delegated the administrative duties
of Commander in Chief which in reality be-
long to the sovereign. Lord Wolseley holds his
office under the sign manual Of the Queen, and
not by virtue of any appointment on the part
of the Secretary OF State for War or Of the
Cabinet He is, in fact her delegate. and there
fore it is perfectly natural that she should COM
muncate with him about the raising Of this
new force rather than with the Secretary of
State for War Moreover. the Queen has al
ways had particularly warm spot in her heart
for her soldiers. who have invariably stood
higher in her good graces than civilians, and
since the beginning of the war in South Africa
she has time and again manifested her disap-
prevail of the manner in which the Commander
in Chief has been overrdden and ignored by
the Secretary of State for War, by repeatedly
inviting the veteran Lord Wolseley to Windsor
and to Osborne, consulting him about every
feature Of the campaign, without according any
attention to the Minister the Marquis of Lans-
downe.
The Queen seems to have realized from the
first that the errors and mistakes which re-
suited in the humiliating reverses during the
early part of the present war were due to the
inexcusable and even unconstitutional manner
in which the control OF the conduct of the cam
paign was usurped by the Secretary OF State
for War and the other members Of the Cabinet,
who had formed themselves into a sort of sub
committee of national defence, and who took
upon themselves to override and ignore military
experts such Lord Wolseley, the Commander
in Chief. The tide in South Africa has only
turned and defeat been transformed into sue
cess, since the military authorities In Pail Mall
and South Africa have. in Difference to public
opinion and to commands OF the Crown, become
paramount.
It is difficult to believe that the Queen would
have resorted to the step of calling upon the re-
tired officers and men-that is to say, not the
ordinary reserves. but the veterans-of her
army to rejoin the colors had not Her Majesty
and her Government become aware that her
empire would ere long be brought face to face
with a danger against which some more eff
cient and above all. skilled defence was need
ed than that supplied by the militia and the
immense volunteer force, numbering in the
United Kingdom considerably over two hun
dred thousand This assumption is
putting into commission the reserve squadrons
and in virtually calling under arms the entire
naval resources of the British Empire
LORD ROSEBERY'S WARNING.
Then, too, there is that Cassandra-like speech
Of warning addressed last week to the House
Of Lords by Lord Rosebery. whose opportuni-
ties of information altogether exceptional
since in moments Of international crisis the
Ministers of the day frequently in the habit
of communicating dispatches relating to for
eign affairs to the leaders OF the Opposition so
that IN the event of any change of Cabinet
there may be no interruption in the continuity
of the foreign policy of the nation Besides
this Lord Rosebery Is through his marriage
not merely close relation OF the Rothschnds
but likewise to all intents and purposes a part
ner in that great banking house which ever
since the battle OF Waterloo in the early part
of the century, has always prided itself upon