ARTILLERY.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE mSPZOTATOR..9
SIE,".-111 the very interesting little book on "National Defences" which Major-General Maurice has recently pub- lished, he speaks, inter alia, of the need for more officers and more men in the Artillery. It is not for laymen to express an opinion on the merits of such questions, but I take it that readers of the Spectator would like to know whether in such points as this there is any truth in the suggestion that the responsible
officials at the Treasury and at the War Office have such a dread of the electorate that they are afraid to ask for the money they feel they ought to have. The ordinary elector is no fool, and I have seen crowds of working men listening quietly to opinions which were not popular, because the candidate who was addressing them made it plain that he cared more for saying what he meant than for tickling their fancy. What we want is "a supreme Navy and an adequate Army," and if we have not got both, we had better be told so. It is evident that the Navy and the Army are both in a much better state than they were, but if there are weak spots, we have surely enough honest backbone left in the country, both to bear being told so and to see that they are put right.—
Previous page
