New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-11-28
Reasonably Well Prepared.


Reasonably Well Prepared.
I submit with full knowledge OF the facts
that when war came in 1914 the British navy
and the British army were in state OF COM
plete readiness to fulfil the roles that every
naval and every military expert IN TINS eouh'
try had assigned to them in anticipation. our
policy had been carefully worked out before
hand: Command of the sea, an expeditlonary
force of highly skilled troops, territorial
army for home defence TO repel any raiders
on our shore who might have escaped the
vigilance of the navy. The war soon showed
that France could not defend her eastern
frontier unaided; and our original force oil
1870 900 men in Flanders and Northeast
France has grown to million men. Not oad
contribution from country which never pro-
fessed to be a great military power.
| am afraid The Tribune has unconscious
ly served up the ideas of some OF
our Tory hacks, not the sober Judg-
ment of the leaders of the Tory party
but the chatter Of the irresponsible
swashbucker element. These same crit
les insisted before the war that Great Britain
was a thoroughly decadent nation; that our
territorial troops were a sham and of no mill
tary value whatever. Where are the signs OF
the decadence? | am not going to recount the
part which this country has played in the war
as am more concerned with your indictment
of the Liberal policy before the war, but no
enc can see any indication Of decadence IN
any department of our national life. On the
contrary, courage, virility, steadfastness, have
been displayed by the whole nation. AS re-
CARDS the territorials, so much deprecated
and discouraged in the pre-war era, they have
covered themselves with glory in every battle
in which they have fought
You make the charge that the Liberal gov
eminent did not place the country In state
Of preparedness for war, or, as | would say
for defence. theoretically you imply that the
Conservative party could have done so. You
will admit that the policy of party in oppo-
sition is rarely realized when IL assumes the
responsibilities of Office, but there is in this
case material for comparison. Our last Con
servative government provoked war, knew
that it was coming and when It was coming
mean the South African War. Was there
ever such a series of miscalculations and
blunders and positive proof of our UMPIRE
paredness? And even when that war was
over its lessons were not learned, as the gov
eminent then in Office made no attempt to
reorganize the military forces of the empire.
Even with Lord Roberts at its head the army
was left in a thoroughly inefficient condition.
An Honorable Failure.
The policy Of the Liberal government was
TO prepare for defence and also to direct its
energies automatically to make European
war impossible. The whole weight Of its in
Auence was thrown into the scale to lessen
international animosities and to promote in
ternational good will. We did not succeed. We
did not realize the strength of the militarist
ca ste in Germany nor the degree to which the
German nation had been infected by militarist
ideas. British Liberalism loved peace and
fraternity. 1t stood for principles which were
those | had hoped would be welcomed by all
sections Of the American people. 1t is gross
calumny to describe as "charatans and liars
the statesmen who have governed the British
Empire for the past ten years; who in that
time carried through the most far-reachine
schemes of social reform in the records OF
any country; during whose tenure of office the
country experienced the greatest industrial
expansion in its history and the economic
strength Of the nation was constantly in
creased; who smoothed away the scars Of wal
in South Africa and welded two races to-
gether by noble example of sef-govern-
ment. and who have faced the most devastat-
ing war in the history of mankind with cour-
age and determination, resolved to save civil
ization from being overwhelmed by barbar
ism, even should 1t cost US, in the words OF
our Prime Minister, "the last farthing of our
money, the last ounce of our strength and the
last drop Of our blood"
ROBERT DONALD,
Editor "The Daily Chronicle"
London, Eng, Nov. 8, 1915.