The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-02-13

ston Churchill is not a politician to in
spire much confidence in this country.
For one thing he is too young: for an
other thing, he is too glib, too ire
sponsible, too cratic. too much. in fact,
like his father. But when Mr.. Winston
Churchill went down TO his Lancashire
constituents last Saturday, and hit
straight out from the shoulder at Mr..
BrodriCk and the whole of this army
reform scheme, he vas speaking not
for himself alone, but for a group Of
Mlnlsterialists in the House of Com
mons. Who. seeing the peril OF Mr..
Brodricks proposals, are determined
TO make their failure the starting point
OF a far simpler army readjustment.
The cardinal fact upon which these
Tory reforners fasten is one which
Mr.. Brodrick has deliberately waved
." 90 ei6a II is that no army that
England can amass will save her lie
once her navy is thrashed upon the
seas. In other words. the navy
must remain the barrier between the
British Empire and destruction. There
must be an army. of course, for there
are India and South Africa to be garri-
soned and there is police work to be
done from time to time up and down
the empire. but the contention of these
anti-Brodrick M.P.'s is that for this
purpose there is no need for a large
army, and that there is certainly no
need for the present expenditure Of
thirty HlllllOIlS SlcIllllS d year.
An army small but highly trained
is the first principle with these reform
ers. Having made that clear. these
army reformers set up as their second
principle the necessity of ar efficient
citizen army at home. Every able
bodied Englishman must, they argue,
be competent TO take his share in home
defence if the time for home defence
should ever come. Hence a proposal.
tho "a rTNjnO ont nf which iS hninP
made the work of a strong Committee
of Feadmasters of secondary schools.
Every ~schoolboy is TO be taught in his
schooling years the use Of a rifle and
the value Of discipline. OF course
against all this there stands the we'll
worn military argument that such n
voluntary force of home defence ia of
no military value. The argument does
not count for so much as it did. after
the experience of the Boer war. for 1t
was these same military critics who de-
clared before Mr.. Kruger issued his ul-
timatum that the Beers were incapable
of prolonged resistance because of the
absence of staff officers and military
training, and because the war office OF
tho Free States cost less than $500 a
year
The next point upon which the new
army reformers fasten is expressed in
This way by one of the reforming Tory
M.P.'s. Major Sealy. in the columns of
the National Review. w must" he
says rid our minds. and the minds of
our military rulers of the notions now
prevailing as to the possibility of hav-
ing recourse to the ballot to fill the
ranks of the professional, or foreign
service army. No nation has aSsented
or would assent to such a scheme. and
to propose it is to- make other reform
impossible. Our foreign garrisons must
be maintained abroad. and a small eX-
poditionary force must be maintained
at home. Our difficulty in recruiting has
been caused by the endeaVor to IN
crease the professional army at home
to such a size as to enable it, firstly, to
protect these shores from ~invasiOn: sec
ondly. to take aggressive action against
n Furnnean power. Once it is realized
that the first of these functions belongs
to tho unnaid citizens of this country,
and that the second is an im~possibility,
the resulting decrease in numbers Will
cause the recruiting difficulty to dis
appear" And lastly. to again quote
Major Seelv. "Eneland must set up a
real Council of Defence whose duty
it shall be to think out scientifically
the naval and military problems that
face us. with the power and the .Obliga-
ton to place their views effectively be-
fore their cOuntrymen."
But how. it will be asked. can SO
| complete a reversal of Mr.. BrOdricks
| proposals be brought into effect without
upsetting the Ministry? That is a dues-
ton which no man can answer at the
| present This. however. may
be said. that wherever you GO. even
| amonost Ministerial .P.'s. you find the
| belief that Mr.. Brodrick's scheme is
| aNady stamped with the stamp of fall
ure; that it is impossible, and that it
would be undesirable even were 1t
| found to be possible. Mr.. Balfour is so
loyal a bin colleague and so COM
| nlacent a Prime Minister. that it is
difficult to conceive of his overthrowing
the friend at whose wedding the other
day he acted as best man: but after
all governments in England can only
live by favor of their supporters in the
House Of Commons and the electorate
who send thaSe ~sunDorters to West
minister. Said the Times in n leading
article yesterday There will undoubt-
eddy be new problems to face IL we 90
! about the work of Imperial defence up
on business PRINCIPLES. Put there will
be none so hopelessly insoluble As those
which reduce to q mOckerv all these
pretty schemes for filling the country
with impossible army corps" And that
is the opinion of nine OFT Of every ten
| tbipkjpp FDp}cbman . A n