95

A.—s

tinguished exponents of naval and military views, Sir John Fisher and Sir George Clarke, as its other members. The Committee reported, and its report contained a complete scheme for the re-organization of the War Office and of the Army. That scheme was adopted by the late Government and has been carried on by the present Government. One broad feature is this, that our naval organization has been the one with which we have been conspicuously successful in the history of this country as distinguished from our military organization, and, therefore, as far as was possible, the naval organization was taken as a type. But the broad feature which emerged with regard to military preparations was this : Count Moltke was able to organize victory for the Prussian and German armies in 1866, and again in 1870, because he and the general staff working under him were free to apply their minds wholly to war preparation. That he was able to do this was due to the fact that the organization and business administration of the army in peace were kept entirely distinct from the service which consisted in the study of war problems and in the higher training of the staff and of the troops. That was the principle recommended by the Esher Committee, and it culminated in the provision of a brain for the army in the shape of a General Staff. That General Staff we have been at work on for a long time past in endeavouring to get together. The task was not as difficult as it seemed at first, because the effect of the war was to bring to the front a number of young officers who had shown remarkable capacity and who constituted the nucleus of a serious and thoughtful military school. They were got together under the Esher re-organization and virtually there has been a General Staff in existence for some time. But it was not until last September that it received formal and complete shape in the Army Order of that month. The General Staff' is now ade jure body; it has been ade facto existing body for some time past. The result of this re-organization, which is now complete, is that I am able to attend this Conference with certain distinguished officers who are with me to-day to furnish any information requisite. Sir Neville Lyttelton, the Chief of the General Staff, is by my side, Sir William Nicholson, the Quartermaster-General, is with him, and also Sir George Clarke, who played a great part in the Esher re-organiza-tion, and who is secretary of the Imperial Defence Committee. I have also with me here General Ewart, Director of Military Operations, and General Haig, the Director of Military Training. The practical point that we have to put before you is the desirability of a certain broad plan of military organization for the Empire. We knowthat you have all got your own difficulties and the idiosyncrasies of your own people to deal with. No rigid model is therefore of use. But a common purpose or a common end may be very potent in furthering military organization. For ourselves we have over here worked out our organization quite definitely, and, indeed, the practical form of it is at present the subject of plans wdiich are before Parliament. This conception of defence is that the Army should be divided into two parts with distinct functions. There is a part with defence as its primary main function, and it has no obligation to go over the sea. That is raised by the citizens of the particular dominion of the Crown concerned, simply for the purpose of home defence. There is the other part which exists not for local defence, but for the service of the Empire as a whole, the expeditionary force, which, in a country like ours, must lie naval as well as military, and I go further and say primarily naval. There is the Fleet, which, in order to make the defence of the Empire what we all hope and believe it is, and are convinced that it must remain if the Empire is to hold together, must have the complete command of the sea, and must be stronger than the fleet of any other Power, or, for that matter, of any other two Powers And, in conjunction with that, there is an expeditionary force consisting of regular troops which we have just

Fourth Day. 20 April 1907.

Military Defence. (Mr. Haldane.)