Edward Hutton

“ Evolved from early times, when, under the guiding hand of King Alfred the Great, a system of universal military service first took definite shape, this Anglo-Saxon form of military service has slowly but surely matured with the growth of the race itself. It is to this form, therefore, of military service that we must look for that bond of Military Unity which is to provide the field army required, and thus to form the true basis of our Imperial defence system. ”

“ There is on the part of the Mother Country a feeling, more and more intense each year, that the future successful maintenance of the Empire, vital to all concerned, is to be found only in a closer union with her children. That union is strength is more true now than ever before! Under modern conditions war assumes gigantic proportions; hundreds of thousands are and will be necessary where thousands and even hundreds have in past times decided the fate of Empires. ”

“ There will be many, no doubt, who will question the military value of a Militia thus raised, who will query their cohesion and discipline, will query their degree of training and efficiency, and will even query their steadiness and gallantry in action. ”

“ The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for War have, moreover, definitely adopted the principle that the defence of England is not the passive military defence of English snores, but the active offensive defence by a powerful navy. Naval and military strategists have always held this view, but the corollary of this principle must equally be remembered, that it is not possible for any navy, however invincible, to defeat and destroy the fighting power of our enemies by land as well as by sea. ”

“ It is only by an intimate and personal acquaintance with the excellent military qualities possessed by such troops that their real value as a reliable and fighting element can be correctly gauged. The writer will always look back with pride, pleasure, and profit to his association with the Militia troops of the Empire, and is absolutely convinced that a National Militia Army, with a complete and homogeneous organization, with improved training, and with effective arms and equipment, will prove, when the time of trial comes, not unworthy of the best traditions of the British Army. ”

“ If in the recent campaign the Militia, taken generally, did not realize the expectations formed of its value, the reasons are that the force has for years received little encouragement, has had few advantages as regards training and instruction, and has been consistently emasculated by the annual transfer of officers and men to those regular battalions to which it is affiliated. It would be unreasonable to expect a high degree of fighting value from a force thus sorely tried. ”

“ A complete military organization has thus been created in Australia, which, while capable of expansion, forms a carefully constructed framework into which the additional and necessary fighting material can be fitted when the time of action arrives. A military system, therefore, suited to the modern requirements of a self-governing and democratic community has been brought into being, which has satisfied all shades of opinion. ”

“ The fighting value of the vast armies engaged in the American War of Secession, more closely resembling a National Militia than a Regular Army, has never been questioned. Their early failures were due to lack of initial organization, of military training, and to the absence of a sufficient number of qualified leaders, but never to a lack of military spirit or of soldierly qualities in the troops themselves. ”

“ The ingrained and not unnatural dislike of the Anglo-Saxon for standing armies is a factor which must always be borne in mind and cannot be disregarded, and a decrease rather than an increase of our own Regular Army is not unlikely to be demanded by Parliament and by public opinion. It is, at any rate, useless to suppose that by any possible process a regular or standing army can be created or maintained which will provide the troops shown to be necessary. ”

“ The result is that the rank and file in Australia, as in Canada, are far superior in intelligence, physique, and in social status to the rank and file of the Regular Army or Militia at home. Military knowledge and instruction are consequently absorbed more readily, and under officers who are well trained, experienced, and tactful, a very high standard of discipline can be maintained. The individuality and self-reliance so essential in modern war need no encouragement. ”

“ The system of instruction and the periods of training for the whole force thus organized are made as elastic as possible, and have been so arranged as to give ample latitude to meet local requirements, and to interfere as little as may be with the civil occupations of those professional men and of those well-to-do and intelligent individuals of the community who are found, as a rule, in the ranks of the Volunteers, and but rarely in the ranks of the Militia of the United Kingdom. ”

“ No military system can be put into effect which is not in accord with the natural instincts of the people, and as Anglo-Saxondom is practically unanimous in regard to the soundness of a Militia system of military service, if carried out upon the thorough and effective lines demanded by modern developments, it is to such a system that we must look. ”

“ Little difficulty is found in obtaining men experienced in supply, in transport, and in medicine, to fill the ranks of the departmental corps charged with such work, so that automatically, and without special departmental training, recruits for these essential and technical services can be obtained, which at home in the Regular Army are created with much difficulty, and only maintained by a system of laborious and expensive training. ”

“ The districts, be they the provinces in Canada, the States in Australia, or the counties in the United Kingdom, are thus identified with their representative contribution to the defence of the whole nation. Officers and men organized on this principle bring to their corps all the cohesion, feeling of comradeship, and local association, which are so essential for insuring the highest standard of discipline in the field and of gallantry before the enemy. ”

“ Thus might be gradually evolved at small cost and with slight dislocation of existing institutions a military force which will prove a bond of Unity more consistent with our national sentiments and more universally acceptable than any bond of Commercial Unity, however sound and however plausible. ”

“ Men in a mass are much what an organization makes them. The National Militia Armies here advocated provide at least a framework capable of almost indefinite expansion and a complete military organization; it will enable the training of the requisite officers and non-commissioned officers to be effected, the administrative departments to be created, and the stores, guns, and equipment to be purchased. ”

“ Necessity, however, governs all our actions. The South African War had clearly shown the yearning of the whole Empire for some means by which to consolidate the ties which up to that time had been more sentimental than real. ”

“ Doubt now obscures the future of Commercial Unity, and it is opportune to consider whether Military Unity may not, even yet, be effected under a rejuvenated War Office. There is on the part of the great Colonies an unmistakable aspiration towards a closer union and for a broader citizenship. ”

“ The Corps of Engineers, the Supply and Transport Corps, and the Ordnance and the Army Medical Service, are recruited from those classes who exercise in civil life the functions which they are required to discharge in war. ”

“ The Commonwealth of Australia, the latest born of the British Sisterhood of Nations, has recently adopted a Militia Army System, which, it is urged, best fulfils the conditions for national defence imposed by the Anglo-Saxon form of constitutional Government and by the radical developments of modern democracy. ”

“ The Militia of the United Kingdom, raised by voluntary enlistment, with the ballot in reserve in case of national emergency, has been frequently embodied, but has never, except on two minor occasions, taken any direct or leading part as distinct military units in any war until the late South African campaign. ”

“ Nine years have not elapsed since we were on the verge of war with the United States, and, however reluctant we may be to recognise it now, the truth still remains that a positive war frenzy seized at least the Western States of America, which threatened at one time to force hostilities upon our more sober-minded kinsmen. ”

“ The expense entailed by the increase thus indicated, by the improved instruction of officers and non-commissioned officers, and by an increase in daily pay, could be covered by a reduction of the number of immature youths, unfit for service, who now in so large a measure fill the ranks of the Regular Army. It is stated in the Report of the Royal Commission upon the South African War that in April, 1900, of the Regular Army at home, no less than 37,333 men were immature and not fit for active service. ”

“ If Russia can place so large an army in the field at such a distance from its base, and can maintain it effective for so long a period by only a single line of railway, what could she not effect in Afghanistan with two lines of completed railway, and with a far less distant base? ”

“ Cadre Force, consisting of the General and Instructional Staff, a regiment of Artillery, small detachments of Engineers, Army Service Corps, Ordnance Corps, and of Army Medical Corps, for partially garrisoning the naval strategical bases, for technical duties, for maintenance of valuable stores and equipment, and, above all, for the instruction of the Militia and Volunteer forces during peace and for stiffening them in times of war. ”

“ Cardwell, 'is conscription, but whose practice is voluntary engagement.' A Militia system is common to all the great branches of the Anglo-Saxon people, and is generally acknowledged as being the form of military service at once applicable and sufficient to the requirements of national defence. ”

“ There already exist 133,091 Militia, of which approximately 80,000 should be available for a field army and 27,290 Yeomanry. A balance of approximately 90,000 men will thus have to be gradually raised, which, divided upon a population basis between the different counties in accordance with the system adopted by Australia and Canada, could be obtained without serious difficulty. ”

“ The permanent or regular force, consisting of 91 officers and 1,204 other ranks, bears only a small proportion to the Militia and Volunteer troops, which together form the real defence forces of Australia. ”

“ A considerable reconstruction of the existing Militia units will, however, be necessary, and their reorganization into brigades, complete in all arms and in administrative departments, must be undertaken in a bold and businesslike spirit. ”

“ It is, at the same time, a significant fact that the liability to military service is generally recognised as one of the obligations of citizenship, and a general feeling is showing itself that the solution of the problem will be found in the further development of that ancient and constitutional force the Militia, 'whose theory,' as described by Mr. ”