New-York tribune., 1909-07-25
FOR CONSCRIPT GUARDS
Lord Roberts's Plea for UniUersaI
Military Training.
London, JULY IA.


| after lifetime spent with regulars in India. He
was compelled to work with reinforcements
drawn from raw levies and inexperienced volun-
teers and he became a pessmst respecting the
military resources Of the United Kingdom He
returned to England convert to conscription.
and has made from time to time the most alarm
ing declarations concerning the worthlessness of
the national defences. The success of the War
Office in recruiting the territorial forces has not
reconciled him to the system of voluntary
vice. He never loses opportunity of expos
ing the helplessness of the country. This week
in the House of Lords he has been reiterating
his complaints thai the regular army while
good so far 1t goes. is utterly inadequate for
the defence of the empire; that it is extremely
doubtful IL a striking force OF 100000 men could
be sent overseas In an emergency. and that
the home soil in that event would be protected
only by recruits and lads under twenty. He
contends that the nation will be safe until
every is soldier
Lord Roberts's BILL which Is hardly more than
a temporary substitute for a conscript army.
proposes general service and training in the
territorial forces. All men between the ages OF
eighteen and thirty not in the regular army
would be under obligation 20 serve with the
home guards Recruit training would range
between four and six months during the first
year: 1t would be continued for three years, with
fifteen days training and courses of musketry
and drilling, and In an emergency there would
be general liability for service within the United
Kingdom. He asserts that this scheme, while
not providing thoroughly efficient army would
at least supply training for a million soldiers.
who in emergency would know how to use
their rifles. 1t would create a territorial army
Of 400 900 men, with 10000 recruits annually and
with reserves OF 100000 under thirty; and
Il would involve an addition of $20000,000, or
possible $4,000 oOO TO the current army esti-
mates. This is the plan OF the National Service
League, and 1t has been adopted by military
martinets because It is no longer opportune to
advocate conscription outright. II is what is
known Familiarity as the thin end of the wedge.
Compulsion is substituted for the voluntary
principle in the territorial service. II is mild
form OF conscripton, proposed under the guise
OF universal training II the general service
law were enacted 1t would inevitably open the
way in the course OF a decade to conscription
1t is known among Continental nations.
Lord Lucas has mad, the most effective reply
10 Lord Robertss proposals in the upper house
as "hopelessly costly and unworkable-" He has
condemned the compulsory method Of training
on the ground that It would disorganize labor
and create unmanageabSe problems Of unem-
ployment and. moreover. because IL would be
ruinous &c both the regular army and 70 the
territorial forces and would render the military
service as costly the navy. shorter argu-
rnent against it might be based on the Anglo
Saxon antIpathy 20 compulson. Universal con-
scrtption and military training may be general
among Teutonic. Sav Latin races. but in
either England. the colonies or America the ser
vice must be voluntary. The citizen with Eng
lsh blood, wherever he is. will respond to any
patriotic call. but he will recoi against any form
OF compulsory service. Learned or pious prel-
ates like the Bishops Of Exeter or Bath and
Wells. may argue that military training would be
beneficial to the masses through improving their
physical condition and increasing their efficiency
as working units in the community but there Is
an insuperable objection in the fact that Eng
lishmeu and Scotchmen not less than Welshmen
and Irishmen, are unalterably opposed TO COM
pulsory military service. II 1t were tried in
time of peace there would be general revolt
against IT, Mr. Haldane Is working with. and
not against the grain when he is creating the
territorial forces the voluntary principle.
Lord Roberts, like other champions of mill
tar1sm, has little to say about the navy which
is currently believed 10 be the invincible ram
part of the island kingdom. Many millions are
expended annually on the construction, mainten-
ance and training Of the navy and whenever
there are manoauvres or reviews there are
iubilant shouts from q bl eAptl Is oNSi 10
superiority to the combined fleets of the strong
est two rivals. Unless these countless millions
have been misappIed or squandered. the British
navy can be depended upon for the defence OF
the home soil the trade routes and the world
wide possessions of the Grown. Yet when a
high minded patriot of commanding abilities
like Lord Roberts speaks sea power becomes
reed shaken by the wind, the bow OF Ulysses Is
unstrung and national safety requires every
man TO be n soldier with the use of the rifle
taught under compulsion! Not content with dis
craditine both the regular army and the terri
torlai forces as utterly incompetent and made
ouate for the defence of the Kingdom against
invasion. he disparages the navy as an untrust-
worthy floating rampant. Indeed, he lays stress
mon the rapdity with which ships of war can
be built abroad convincing argument thal
tho battIe is not to be found on the sea alone
and that II is essential there should be well
drilled and powerful army on shoTe' WIN ever!
man in the kingdom a soldier.
So eminent a veteran as Lord Roberts cannot
he reproached for partisanship or unpatrlotlc
motives His sincerity cannot be questioned
He is convinced that foreign invasion. loss OF
command Of the and the sacrifice OF lndla OF
the colonies possible contingencies and that
the nation never will be secure until every aple-
bodied man between eighteen and thirty is under
regular training for home defence. Consequent
Iv he sounds a warning that there Is no army
fit for foreign service or colonial detence anu
that IN an emergency the regulars will have to
ho lan+ at home to stiffen the raw leVies or the
ipexnerenced territorial forces Certainly the reg
ulars will have to remain in England II com
mand of the sea be lost. and that is the only
contingency which can ever render foreign in
,,osIon possible Yet It is altogether probable
.t,o+ +ha seasoned veteran exaggerates the risks