The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-04


 question that good many
 Englishmen are asking today and so far the government has not answered it. The reason probably Is that It is feared that the publication of any plan of defense, such as a possible levy en masse. might be misinterpreted by the public, and lead to something like & panic. Few people in this country think that serious invasion by the Germans is possible, but a great many people, including a man of such mil itary experiences as General Baden Powell think that a raid by anywhere from 10000 to 10000 Germans might be attempted to inflict as much dam age as possible and might succeed in landing. Such a force probably would be soon exterminated, but 1t could do a great deal of damage before 1t was wiped out and what the civilian pop ulation of England Is asking s what is 1t expected to do and what will be its status in the case of an invasion ?
 A cognate question and one which must be considered in answering the first is. What arrangement has Eng land for calling out all her available manhood in the case of invasion or other national emergency" Thsre Is a lot of loose talk in this country about the necessity of legislation providing for what is erroneously called icon scription"-but which is really uni- versal service. the very opposite of conscription. The fact is that no leg islation Is necessary. England now has in the militia ballot act law on her statute book which provides for the calling to the colors if necessary of the whole able bodied manhood of the country. The act is in a state of sus- pense. but all that is required to put 1t in force is an order by tho privy council. That can be issued in five minutes and all that is needed then is a telegram to the lords lieutenant of the counties ordering each to fur nish his quota of men to the King forces. As the title of the act implies the men are to be selected by ballot if the number required Is small. but there Is nothing to prevent the whole manhood of the nation being called out under this act in which case. of course, 6 ballot would be unnecessary.
 Tn the case of an invasion It seems entirely likely that the militia ballot act will be revived, not so much be- cause the men will be needed. as for their own safety. No one who knows
 
 a moment that British civilians will see their homes ravaged and their property destroyed without making n fight for 1t. If they fight as civilians they will be shot or hanged out of hand by the Germans, as the French franc tireurs were in 1870 and many Belgians In the present war, while 1T they are members of a legally organ ized militia and equipped with some military badge, even If not in uniform -an armlet is sufficient-they must be treated as combatants unless the Ger mans refuse officially to recognize them.
 I have reason to believe that all arr have been made for putting the militia ballot act in force at short notice It is believed that if the Germans do attempt an invasion 1t will be on the Yorkshire coast. where they could make a dash on the rich industrial towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire and iniiict un- told damage before they were extermi- hated. A few days ago the lord lieuten- ant of the East Riding of Yorkshire is- sued confidential instructions to all the in his district as to what they Should do In the case of an invasion, and understand that similar instructions have been issued by lords lieutenant of terms of these instructions. of course. are kept strictly secret but understand that broadly they authorize the magis- trates to assemble all the able bodied men of their districts and enroll them at once in the organized militia. Ar have also been made to serve out arms. It is mistake to suppose that because England Is slow in issuing rifles to the men of Lord Kitchener's new