The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-14

have been introduoed-to a sufficiently
large number OF officers and men fitted in
all respects for war being available, when
the fact lie called to mind hat two and a
half years after the late war in South Africa
had begun Britain had to sind TO the front
both men and officers Ll1t possessed
scarcely any training at all? Lord Roberts.
for his part. 10 convinced that II in the
autumn Of 1899 the United Kingdom had
had a reserve OF coo, 900 efficiently trained
officers and men that could in an exigency
nave been despatched quickly from Great
Britain the campaign in South Africa
would have been ended in the first year
and thousands of valuable lives and many
millions Of pounds sterling would have
been saved.
1t is in order to prevent a repetition Of
such a terrible waste Of lives and money az
had to be suffered in the campaigns against
the Beers that the National Service League
proposes that every ablebodied man in
the United Kingdom be legally obliged
to undergo a certain amount OF military
training to enable him to take his share in
the defence OF his country. should it ever
be invaded. and, IL he volunteers for service
abroad in time Of war, TO insure his being a
help and not a danger in the field. II is not
consumption however. in the proper
sense Of the word. that the league advo.
Gates, but national service"-the service
which IL ought to be the pride as it is the
duty of every strong. healthy man TO give
to his country. Lord Roberts insists that
CONSUMPTION. from it's first appearance
in history down TO the present day. has
stood opposed to the idea which underlies
nafsNpal onrxrioo Evan tha Roman Rantih-
lie, which gave us the former term. knew
nothing OF the real principle Of consumption
during It's heroic period. The legions
which wore down the strength Of Pyrrhus
and drove Hannibal from the gates Of Rome
were not ~conscript legions; they were le-
gions enrolled upon the same principle
and for the same end as those which the
National Service League now urges upon
the people OF the United Kingdom. Lord
Roberts suggests that the armies OF the
despotic Roman Empire. as contrasted
with those of the Roman Republic in it's best
estate, might Justly be described as con-
script legions. What was witnessed in
the former case was in truth a system
OF -militarism," which arose because the
Roman people had lost their fathers sense
of patriotism. and were no longer a nation
in arms; and because the principle OF citi-
zen service had fallen into disuse. and the
old civic legions had been replaced for the
most part by m~eroenaries. recruited more
and more as time went on from subject
races in distant parts Of the empire. or even
from races outside it's borders.
In a word, from Lord Roberts, point Of
view a nation in arms" is the negation
Of -%militarism." The essential idea OF
national service is the participation from
motives OF patriotism solely Of the whole
body Of citizens in the defence OF the State.
1t regards such service as the first right
as well as the first duty which freedom
confers. In a community like that Of the
United Kingdom, in which the democratic
ideal of a government for the people
and by the people has practically been
realized, how, asks the author of thisv volume.
can the faint which justly attaches TO
conscription have anything to do with an
army raised by the free and uncontrolled
act of an entire nation? OF what unjust
or unlawful power can such an army be-
come the instrument? II is the army
not OF a despot but Of a nation, and a. a
nations army or rather as a nation in arms
its very nature is a warranty OF peace
wherever peace is consistent with national
honor and the sacred duty OF protecting
the fatherland.
Lord Roberts clinches his appeal by
pointing out that it was the successes Of
Prussia in 1884. 1865 n 1870 which con-
clusively showed the world the superiority
OF an army raised by universal patriotic
service as against q professional army
raised by conscription. Since the dates
named more OF the nations Of continental
Europe have one after the other adopted
the Prussian system, by which every able
bodied citizen becomes a trained defender
of his country; a system accepted later by
Japan. which. while it never had a mer-
cenary army. allowed up to 1871 the privilege
OF bearing arms to the Samurai alone.