OFFICERS AND MEN.
Fro THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sni,—In the valuable and suggestive article published in the Spectator of August 31st under the above heading you have touched a point in military organisation which is of the highest importance. The theses upon which the writer bases his suggestions are absolutely unassailable. We can improvise men, but we cannot improvise leaders, and men without leaders form only a rabble. We have always improvised armies in the past, and we shall go on improvising them in the future. That is one of the conditions which are given to us alone as an insular Power. We want, therefore, as you say, a corps of officers so well trained in the rudiments of military science and art as to be ready to act as leaders. Let us see how this can•best be done. You suggest that Government Colleges should be instituted on the model of the Royal Military College of Canada; but the writer of your article does not take fully into consideration the object and organisation of that College. One of the chief reasons why it has turned out such sopa stuff is that the course of education extends over four years, a much longer period than could be adopted in England. It is public school as well " civil and military College Combined. In fact, the curriculum of study is rather more civil than military ; and the reason why graduates are so sought after both in the States and in Canada is that the course in civil engineering is very complete and exhaustive. Most of the graduates obtain good appointments on railways or in engineering firms as soon as they leave the College. It is quite exceptional for a graduate to adopt the military profession, and it is not easy to induce the best men there to take commissions in the English Army. Five years' residence at the College as a Professor led me to believe that it is the civil side of the College which attracts. I cannot therefore think that a purely military College such as you suggest would attract any considerable number of pupils in England. Another difficult question is that of teachers. Where will you find capable teachers for such Colleges? Teaching has always been con- sidered derogatory in the Army, and the only ready-made body of military teachers in England consists of those retired officers who have taken up teaching as a profession and are called " crammers." But even if teachers could be found, the military Colleges, if organised by the War Office, would all be of the Sandhurst type, and most military men will agree that the Sandhurst College has not been so com- pletely successful as to merit duplication. May I be allowed to make the following suggestions? For some years past the Militia has been the chief training ground for young officers, and with such success that commanding officers of Regular regiments have expressed their desire to have Militia- trained officers rather than young officers from Sandhurst. Such being the case, it seems advisable to extend the use of the Militia as training schools. The military art is essentially practical, and cannot be learnt in theory wholly. One must have men to command in order to learn how to command men. Under the present conditions, some seven or eight hundred young men of the right class present themselves each year as candidates for commissions in the Regular Army. Let them be all examined in competition at the age of seventeen or eighteen.. The best would go to Woolwich, the next best to Sandhurst, and the remainder who prove to be up to a given standard of intelligence should be allowed to enter the Militia and Yeomanry as officers with a view to obtaining commissions in the Regular Army if so desired. After providing for Woolwich and Sandhurst, there would remain some five or six hundred who would enter the Militia and Yeomanry yearly. They should serve two years in the Militia, thereby gaining practical knowledge in command of men. During this period, when the Militia and Yeomanry regiments are not actually train- ing they should be required to prepare themselves for an exami- nation in theoretical military subjets. It is not necessary to establish Government Colleges for this purpose. The pre- paration would be best done, as it is now, by private enter- prise. At the end of the two years there should be a stiff competitive examination in practical work, command, riding, shooting, military sketching and engineering, as well as in theoretical subjects, the chief of which should be English military history, all these subjects being marked. Those who excelled should be given commissions in the Army in numbers as required; the remainder would be registered as graduates and would form a reserve of young officers, well trained in command, and qualified as leaders in an emergency. This scheme does not involve any great radical change, but it would meet our requirements if properly carried out. The essential feature of it is that those who have passed the course of training in the Militia and have not taken commissions in the Army should be registered in rotation as qualified for military command. They would have completed their military train- ing at the age of nineteen or twenty, and could then commence work in civil life. Any attempt to make military service compulsory would be a mistake. They should be treated as a purely voluntary reserve. Under the new regu- lations for retirement a much greater number of old Army officers will enter the Militia. This will still further raise the status of Militia regiments and will make them most efficient schools for young officers. In a few years it might be possible to extend the system to the Volunteers as a whole, but I think it would be unadvisable at present. Under this system, after providing annually for the requirements of Regular regiments, there would be a considerable surplus of trained officers who would revert to civil life, but would remain available as leaders in case of emergency. I do not think thar. it would be necessary to hold out any other inducement the ;
that of the chance of obtaining a commission in order to secure a large number of trained men. Even now there is a large annual surplus after providing for the Army; and when Militia regiments came to be more completely recognised as real schools of military training ; when it was known that the claims of those who had passed a course in the Militia would be recognised in case of need ; and when the salutary influence of a sound military training upon physical and character develop- ment came to be more generally recognised, there would probably be a reserve of leaders large enough to meet any national emergency. If necessary, we might copy Canada in another respect; we might make some Militia regiments into permanent schools, as they have done.—I am, Sir, &c., Berkeley Place, Wimbledon.
EDWARD NASH, Captain.
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