| Show lord roberts quite outspoken As to weakness london july 10 field marshal lord roberts created a sensation in the house of lords this evening hen in a lengthy and well considered speech he deliberately expressed his opinion as a practical soldier that the military forces of great britain was inadequate imperfectly trained and totally unfit to uphold great britain as a first class power lord roberts did not blame the government which he said was actuated by a national feeling but he scathingly attacked the people of england who he said showed no national feeling toward the military until danger arose then said lord roberts the soldier was the pet of the people but this was only an evanescent enthusiasm which did not entail self sacrifice and passed away as soon as the danger disappeared the speech was delivered in with a motion introduced by tho earls of wemyss and march conserva tire traversing premier Bal tours statement regarding the impossibility of the of great britain and urging the necessity of keeping up sufficient land forces to repel any pos lahlon lord roberts saad the lessons of the south african war bad been forgotten he bad no hesitation in that the artaud forces of great britain as a body vere now as absolutely unfitted and unprepared for war as they were when the south african trouble broke out he emphatically that the choice lay between conscriptions or some practical system training to possess armed forces organized and trained to meet the demands of the empire in the event of war lord roberts continuing asserted that any discussion of great military position within the limits of the motion proposed by the earl of and march would ba entirely unavailing the country had to deal with a question of infinitely great importance the question of life or death of the empire the issue of which depended upon great britain being ready to defend her eastern possessions and a the same time take part in any affair near home either of which necessitated the placing in the field of an army as large and efficient as that of any of the european countries all of which might br rager ded as nations in arms every other european country regarded its army as part of the nation while england considered her army to be something quite outside the national life and no thought v as bestowed upon it bv the civil population except as part of a political platform he appealed to the country to awake and to tahe hold of the army as a great national issue tin which the existence of great britain depended he said the whole empire must rise to tny occasion and that every one must personally bear a share in the defense or enable those to whom responsibility was delegated to become in all respects efficient the discussion of the motion continued for borne time the speakers complimenting lord roberts for the stand he had taken lord lansdowne the foreign minister defended premier baldouf Balt he ald that mr balbour had never maintained that the defense ot the country depended solely on the navy the committee on defense had taken every possible phase into consideration and would he hoped b able to work out the problem to the satisfaction of avery one the government decided not to oppose the motion of the earl of wem ys and march which was passed without a division |
