Studies of an Imperialist

STUDIES OF AN IMPERIALIST BY LORD SYDENHAM OF COMBE G. C. S. L, G. C. M. G., G. C. I. E., G. B. E., F. ILS, COKXANDVR OF THE CROWN OF BELGIUM COLONEL RETIRED .. AND BON. COLOHBL 6 3RD AUSTRALIAN XN AHTRY WITH A FOREWORD BY FIELD-MARSHAL SIR WILLIAM R. ROBERTSON, BART. G. C. B., G. C. M. G., K. C. V. O., D. S. O. LONDON MCMXXVIII Made and Printed in Great Britain by Butler Tanner Ltd., Frome and London FOREWORD As explained in the Preface, this collection of Essays is divided into three sections War, India, and Socialism. With respect to the first-named the only section to which these observations are intended to apply the reader will appreciate that it constitutes the work of a man who has had a very wide experience in dealing with naval and military affeirs. More than forty years have elapsed since the writings of Lord Sydenham, then a comparatively junior officer in the Royal Engineers, began to attract public attention, and to be accepted as valuable studies of the questions to which they referred. Incidentally, they served, as I can personally testify, to stimulate and to inspire with fresh ideas the rising generation of officers, who were destined to direct and command our Armies during the critical period of 1914-1918. War is not a popular theme in these days, and I certainly do not wish to imply that it should be. I may, however, suggest that the last war might have ended far less satis factorily for us had the nation not had the benefit of Lord Sydenhams services in the years that preceded it. For example, he took a prominent part in the establishment of efficient over-sea communications, naval bases, and coast defences in the investigation of numerous strategi cal andadministrative questions carried out by the newly created Committee of Imperial Defence and in the re constitution of the War Office and the belated formation of a General Staff. Had the recommendations of the Harrington Commission, of which Lord Sydenham was Secretary, been acted upon, the General Staff could have vi FOREWORD been formed some sixteen years earlier than it was, and many of the shortcomings which characterized the war in South Africa would thereby have been avoided. Written in a non-technical manner, the Essays here selected for re-publication present no difficulty to the civilian reader, and, in the principles advocated as well as in the lessons conveyed, they contain much that is useful not only to Soldiers, Sailors, and Statesmen, but to all and sundry who desire to understand some of the more important naval and military factors by which the security of the Empire is affected. W. R. ROBERTSON, KM. 2 DECEMBER, 1927. PREFACE ALL who teach old age after leading strenuous lives find themselves inevitably drawn towards retrospection. The earnest student of affairs must remain such to the end, and the gathering shadows cannot obscure the exigencies of the present or deny vision of the future The craving to be of use to ones country persists, though increasing disabilities destroy all hope that it can be satisfied but the younger generations, bred in circumstances which tend to a new outlook, easily come to believe that the conclusions which age has accumulated and the principles of national policy and of conduct which once held the field are no longer valid. For this reason the plain lessons of history are frequently lost, and mankind has to learn again from bitter andpainful experiences much that is written in letters of flame on the records of the past. To all who have studied deeply and written voluminously with the aim of warning and of guiding thought in their time, it is natural to look back with a critical eye upon the quality of their efforts...