The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-05
ROAST FOR VAR OFFICE
LORD WOLSELEY ARRAIGNS BRIT
ISH CIVILIAN ADMINISTRATION
OF MILITARY AFFAIRS
LANSDOWNE IS UP IN ARMS
SRIisbury's Righs Hand Man. Reply
ing, Openly Charges Former
COmmRnder-in-Chie With
Neglect OF Duty.

LONDON. March 4-The Duke of Bed
ford, in the house of lords TODAY started
q discussion of army matters by asking
for Information on the military admins
tration and the war Office.
Lord Wolseley arose after the Duke
OF Bedford had done speaking and for
two or three hours attacked the mill
tary system Of Great Britain in a care
fully written speech, which, it is said, he
mad long redictated and phrased in con-
sultation with his friends.
My arguments" he said ARE not di-
rected against the individuals. but
military system, which I have honestly
tried for five years and have found want
Ing. and which entails many great dan
gers not realized by the people of this
realm"
Lord Wolseley said he had worked with
the Marquis OF Lansdowne. and there
had not been a single disa greeable Incl
dent. His complaint was that the pro-
fessiOnal commander-in-chief was rob-
bed OF his chief usefulness. He had to
hand over the command and tender the
management Of the army to a civilian
secretary of state. assisted by a staff of
civilians. The responsibility for every
thing rested with the secretary of state
alone. The eommander-in-chief could
only bring strongly the wants of the
army to the secretary. He had often
done so. After that he could do no moro.
He added:
Although the various needs are I'M
disputed. not only are no stems taken m
meet them. but no one outside of the
government is aware that their urgency
Is realized The government is forced
from economic reasons to postpone their
consideration, but 1t win not take the
nation into its confidence. Demands
Tor men and stores have been put for
ward by experts, and nevertheless re-
Not
It behooves parliament to devise a plan
by which strong representations made
and still refused should be laid before
the nation for it TO decide between the
experts and economists. In no other
way can We safeguard the empire from
great and unknown perils. Many an
evening at the end of a days work. |
have felt sick at heart when 7 coptem-
plated the great national risks deIibe1.-
ately accepted by the government wliScE.
happened TO be in Office. Why were thew
SO accepted? Because it was not then
POLITICALLY eXpedlent TO ask parliament
for money"
BLOCK TO EFFICIENCY.
Lord Wolseley outlined the present svs-
tenn, which he said was totally unsuited
for the army, under which it could never
be efficient, and he doubted much If ever
there could be contented army.
When he took office as commander-in-
chief he was told it was intended to
adopt measures greatly altering the re-
lations Of the commander-in-chief. When
he heard Of these changes they were not
10 his liking, bnt he had honestly given
them five years trial and was thorough
~ convinced they would never make an
effective army. Up to 1855 the command
der-in-chie1 was responsible to the Sec
rotary Of state that the army was thor
oughly trained for war Since 1885 the
responsibility had been with the under
secretary of state with subdivisions. each
under military head and each advising
the secretary of state without reference
to the commander-in-ehief Lord VOL
seley pointed out in detail how the dis
trlSution Of responsibility was changed
and hindered the war machine 1t was
an unavoidable and impossible system
The commander-in-chiet had no effective
authority: neither had the heads of de-
paCtments and the work in all branches
had been largely increased.
Ny lords. I need scarcely tell YOU
said Lord Wolseley impressively. that
our soldiers do not love the war office
nor its civilian rulers. You cannot fool
the sentiment of the army without in
juring its morale"
Concluding his speech Lord WoIseley
said; 1T might reasonably be asked if
the army system is SO bad. how was it
that such large army was dispatched
ner. The answer is simple. No army
system, however bad, would be allowed
10 stand in the way at such a time by
oncials like those composing the head
quarters staff in 1899
l have known the war Office for TWEEN
ty-elght years, and I unhesitatinglv say
II could not have been composed of bet
Ter men than those serving when Presi-
dent Kruger declared war They were eff
Iectively helped by the generals and
others at the ports of embarkatfon. all
OF whom were anxious that the army
should be dispatched, system or no sys
TEN.
But in so doing they We're not help
ed by the new army system. If ever the
history Of what was then done was fully
written the country will realize how
much II owes to those officials and how
little to the new tangled experimental
and unmllitary system under which they
were supposed to work"
LANSDowNEs REPLY.
The Marquis of Lansdowne (the former
war minister) replied to Lord Wolseley
Immediately. He 50 = he was constrained
TO say that Lord WolseIey during his
term of office had failed to understand
his duties. He might at least have
warned the government that one army
Cff3ce was not sufficient to crush the
1918 4~cAN " C4SSlcy Ul4SUI nave en-
abled the government to turn to better
account the auxiliary forces of the coun-
try. He might have told the government
before the South African war that Lady
smlth was not a suitable military sta
ton He might have prepared schemes
Tor defensive and offensive operations.
Lord Wolseley had restricted his duties;
be had not taken advantage of the op-
pcrtunities at hand. The war office sys-
tenn might have been changed to advan-
tage in details, but the main principle
Of enabling the secretary of state to get
advice from his experts at first hands.
he was not willing TO give up The mis-
takes and failures in South Africa were
not due to the system, but to the fact
that it was not carried out as faithfully
as it might have been. The noble lord
had failed to appreciate the immense i'm
pcrtance of the special duties assigned
to him. The Marquis of Iansdowne Ilp-
on the eve of his departure from the war
office, had considered a military note
Lord Wolseley had addressed, he be-
lieved, to Lord Salisbury upon the SUBJ
ject. He found TO his intense surprise
that WOlseley, in enumeratirg his duties.
lad United altogether that he was re-
sPons pie for the mobilization of the
army, that the intelligence department
was under his special control, or that he
was charged with the preparation of
plans of offense and defense
The debate will be resumed tomorrow.