New-York tribune., 1912-01-30

where is the two-power standard!
asks Lord Charles. Where is the two
+o-one standard? Where is the half-as-
rnuch-again superiority postulated IN
the Admiralty memorandum of Cd 55o9 +!
And what is the policy Of his majesty ;
government? If it consists in maintain
ing the two-power standard it is an ut
ter deIusion. In five years We
have forfeited the numerical predomi-
nance we held in 1905. =" He con
tinued:
II is for Parliament to compel ministers
TO definite declaration of policy. If Par
li2ment fails in its duty the country must
take the consequences.
As ] am passing these pages for press,
hegrant instance of the lack of organiza-
tion for war occurs al time when hos
tlities might break out at any moment
between Germany and this country. Owing
either TO ignorance or uet us hope) to
patriotism. the state of things passed al
most wholly unnoticed by the newspapers.
Although critical relations had existed for
some weeks when the Prime Minister made
his important announcement dealing with
international affairs the Admiralty were ap-
parently quite UNCONSCIOUS that alike in dis
position and subsidiary arrangements the
feet was unprepared for an emergency.
So grave was the situation that on July q
! felt II to be my duty to indicate the facts
OF the case 10 the Prime Minister in a let
ter TO which Mr.. Asquith returned a
courteous reply, marked private.
The conclusion Of the whole matter, as
set out by the author, was as follows:
We possess no proper organization for
war. nor can we obtain it until war staff
Is established at the Admiralty: but until
we have organized the fleet for war, our
excellent officers. our skilled crews and fine
ships are liable to he sacrificed i'm the most
bitter Of all sacrifices, that by which moth
ing is gained whle-what is of less moment
Our money may all be spent in vain
That the naval policy of the years 1902
TO 1909 was mistaken in every partcu-
lar Lord Charles affirmed, was the only
conclusion possible from the facts he put
forward. He wrote:
The results of that policy are still evident
The cruiser force has not been replaced
upon foreign stations, the protection of
trade routes Is still dangerously inadequate,
the foreign stations have not been restored,
the east coast, and the short service sys-
tenn is still in force. None of these defiCien-
c.es can be remeded on the outbreak of
war by improvsed means
Personal Experiences.
Lord Charles found it necessary for
the purposes he had in view to refer not
infrequently TO affairs in which he was
personally involved during his periods
of command. He recalled his complaint
10 the Admiralty four years ago with
reference to an instance of indscipline
in which his authority and his personal
character were involved. and he referred
az some length to two incidents, of which
highly misleading accounts appeared in
the press" during his tenure of the com
mand of the Channel Fleet. The first. in
1907, was a breach Of discipline Of so
grave character and was committed
in so public a manner that ii was nv
duty to make strong representations to
the Admiralty with regard to the Of
fender" He continued;
Those representations were so far disre-
garded that the officer I'm question was per.
m.tted TO retain his position without hav-
ing profered public apology for a public
"hence In January 1905 there was
sent 10 every officer under my command
ip the Channel Fleet q copy of a news
paper containing violent attack upon my
soit. 80. NJ offence against discipline
couic not be ignored The incideuC
was therefore reported TO the Admiralty
lheir lordShlps' however. did not see Mt TO
take any action.
ON Thursday, July 2 an account Of A sig
al said 10 have been made by me was
published In the press. together with a
statement to the effect that. had the sig
nal been obeyed, disaster comparable with
the accident which befell the Victoria ard
the Camperdown must have occurred Ths
account was totally incorrect and the com
nnent wholly misleading Their publication
was in the highest degree Dretudicial TO nv
reputation as seaman, and therefore eX-
tremely injurious TO discipline
As the Meet vas at sea when the alleged
incident took place, the information pull
lished IN the press could only have been
ct mmunicated by an officer of the feet.
To establish his charge of fraud COM
mitted against the public Lord Charles
drew largely upon his own experiences.
He recalled that when he accepted the
command Of the Channel Fleet in 1906,
the feet consisted of ii battleshps, 6
armored cruisers. unarmored cruisers,