The Washington herald., 1914-12-22
INVASION MYTH,
BALFOUR'S idea
Premier Explained in 1905
Why He Thought No Foe
Could Reach England.
DEFENSE STRONGER NOW
Lord Roberts Said the Smallest Pos
sible Army to Undertake 1t
Would Be 10000 Men.

day appeared on Scarborough, Hartle-
| pool, and whitby they stayed before
none Of them more than half an hour
In that they fulfilled the condition on
which Arthur James Balfour, when
prime minister of England. built his
statement to the House Of Commons
that with the British navy at anything
like the strength in torpedo craft and
submarines which It has attained, an In
vasion OF England was impossible. He
made this announcement on May II, 1906,
in a speech in which he described the
work of the committee Of imperial de-
fense and the conclusions at which II had
arrived with regard to some OF the most
vital military questions.
''If home defense" said Mr.. Balfour,
be Unsecured, the British empire may
be a magnificent structure, a magnificent
monument. but II rests on feet OF clay.
Then he went on to say that the question
of the invasion of England had been an
open one since the days OF Elizabeth,
that the soldiers had always said II was
possible, that the sailors said II was i'm
possible, and that Napoleon had believed
that he could. accomplish Il. but that
Nelson had known he never would.
To make his deductions impressive, Mr..
of affairs. He assumed that England
should find herself as denuded OF troops
as she was for a few days at the worst
period Of the South African war, and
with her large fleets all far from her
shores. He supposed that there were in
the entire British Isles but 1900 regular
infantry and cavalry. and twenty-six
batteries Of artillery, in addition to the
comparatively unorganiZed and incom-
pletely trained volunteers and militia.
10000 Men the Minimum.
With this supposition Mr.. Balfour said
he went to Lord Roberts and asked him
what in his opinion was the smallest
possible number of men which It would
be necessary for an enemy to land so as
TO advance with some hope Of success
on London. Lord Roberts replied that he
considered 1000 lightly equipped as re-
CARDS artillery and cavalry, as the ir-
reducible minimum.
In giving these figures Mr.. Balfour
warned the House to consider the real
nature Of the invasion problem. 1t was
not merely TO get across the sea, but to
land In England as well, as he said. in
asmuch as getting men over increases in
an automatic ratio with every new trans
port you require and every augmentation
you make to the landing force, II becomes
evident that the problem which a for
eign general has to consider Is not how
many men would like to have in Eng |
land in order to conquer? but with how
few men can / attempt the conquest?'
Mr.. Balfour then pointed out that the
advance of science had aided the de-
fense. Wireless telegraphy had added |
greatly to the powers of concentration. !
and, he said, 1T Is sufficient II the
cruisers, which 1 have described as al |
ways remaining In home waters, should |
always keep within reach OF wireless tel |
egraphy in order to concentrate at any |
moment at the point Of danger"
Then the advent of the submarine and |
torpedo. Mr.. Balfour said, had entirely |
altered the situation, and no British ad |
miral would view with serenity the task !
Of conveying a huge feet OF transports |
to a shore infested by these craft and |
guarding the ships during disembarka- |
ton. Neither battleships or cruisers |
could drive either submarines or torpedo
boats from a coast in which they had
safe shelter.
Then, taking a possible invasion from |
France as his example, Mr.. Balfour
asked how many vessels would be nee |
essary to transport an expedition Of
20, 900 men across the channel. The es-
Inmates he had received varied between |
$4,000 and 10000 tons Of Shipping. 1t |
would be quite impossible for such a |
fleet to cross the channel in daylight, |
he said, and consequently, as 1t was en- |
route il would be exposed to attacks |
from the British submarines and torpedo 4
boats at night
Fleet to the Rescue.
But assume them to have reached our
coast. BY that time the alarm would |
have been given to every ship between
Farce Island and Gibraltar. and every |
ship available, every cruiser, every tor
pedo boat destroyer, every craft that /
could be made available for resisting /
invasion would be concentrated at the
point of danger, and when this huge |
convoy reachedsthe point Of danger what |
is it to do?'
Mr. Balfour said that to disembark |
7O,OOO men on the coast of England, be-
tween Portsmouth and Dover would |
not be q very easy, and above all, not |
a quick operation. His advisers told |
mate to suppose it could be done in forty |
eight hours, and then only in calm
weather
But that is exactly the time" said |
Mr. Balfour, at which, IL torpedo boats /
or submarines get their chance, they |
have that chance in the greatest perfeo-
ton How can any one imagine that this /
fleet Of inexpert transports could be pro-
vided with torpedo nets, and how then
could this helpless mass of transports /
escape the attacks OF the torpedo boats
or submarines, putting. out of account /
anything that cruisers, battleships or any
other naval weapon at our disposal could |
accomplish? The thing is impossible"
Conceive the position of the invading |
army 1t is not, as il they were fighting |
for glory on a stricken field. Packed in
these transports, commanded not by
men of the French navy, but by ordi-
nary merchant captains, not knowing
when or wheA % how the attack would \
take effect, knowing only that IL 1t did /
take effect, 1t would mean the sudden
hurling into infnity Of whole helpless
regiment of soldiers
'I am certain that there is not and |
never has been an admiral in tho Brit
ish fleet who would undertake a task
such as I have supposed II a French |
admiral had committed to him such a
task, he eould not protect his trans
ports; he could not even protect his own
ships, II they were obliged to lie there
in positions perfectly well ascertained,
within a few miles Of torpedo stations of
our own for two days and two flights.
It would not be only the transports that
would suffer- The protecting feet itself /
would suffer some great calamity, unless
the efficiency of torpedo craft and sub
marines has been greatly overrated"
Road May Issue Notes.
Chicago, Dec. 2.-The Illinois Public
Utilities Commission today entered an
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