il THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA With or: ./n _J zn EFFICIENCY AND EMPIRE Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/efficiencyempireOOwhitrich EFFICIENCY AND EMPIRE BY ARNOLD WHITE "let ROME IN TYBER MELT ! AND THE WIDE ARCH OF THE RANG'd EMPIRE FALL ! HERE IS mv space ; kingdoms are clay." Antony and Cleopatra, act i., scene i. METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON 1901 TO Rear-Admiral The lord CHARLES DE LA POER BERESFORD C.B., R.N. PREFACE Britain has received a warning to reorganise her Education, her system of Imperial Defence, and the Administration of her public affairs. At the begin- ning of the last century Germany received a lesson from Napoleon. She profited by experience, and in due time became a great Power, after reorganising her Education and reforming her Army. In the Sixties, France had two warnings. She neglected both. The Mexican War revealed the weak places in her military organisation, demonstrated the in- capacity of her War Office officials, laid bare the defects of her military education, and exposed the administrative weakness of the Third Empire to unfriendly rivals. The opportunity for reorganis- ing the French Army, which occurred between the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico in the early part of 1867, was neglected. The second warning was contained in a series of forty-five reports written by Colonel Stoffel — a man who was a seer, a prophet, and a vii 947 viii PREFACE patriot. He was the French military Attach^ in Berlin from 1866 to 1870. These reports are of burning interest to Englishmen to - day. The warnings they contain are as applicable to Her Majesty's Government and to the British people as to the French nation in 1869. The accepted creed of average Englishmen may be set forth as follows : — " Britannia rules the waves." " We possess the command of the sea." "England is mistress of the seas." " The British Army, though small, can do any- thing and go anywhere." "One Englishman can beat two foreigners." " We are the most enlightened people on the face of the earth." "The British Empire, on which the sun never sets, is the greatest the world has ever seen, and being free from militarism is safe against decay." " Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform." " The House of Commons is the bulwark of our liberties." " Equality of opportunity exists for all British subjects." " The law is no respecter of persons." "The English judicial system is unequalled in the world." "The English fiscal system is the best in the world." PREFACE ix " Corruption does not exist in our public service." " Our system of finance is the strongest and best in the world." " London is the financial centre of civilisation." "Our men of business, when they take the trouble to excel, are without rival in the world." Each of these propositions is disputable to-day — many of them are falsehoods. In his warning to the French people, written in 1870, Colonel Stoffel set forth the falsehoods current among his countrymen : — " The French people are the greatest people in the world." " We are a great Empire." " The French Army is the first army in the world. It has conquered all Europe." " The French judicature is without an equal." " The French finances are better administered than those of any other country." " Our scientists, our poets, and our men of busi- ness are without rival in the world." "The French people are the cleverest in the universe," etc. etc. Finally, he spoke of the education of French youth, an education which cultivated self-esteem, to the exclusion of useful knowledge, while develop- ing national defects and extinguishing the desire to learn and to do better. X PREFACE Then came Sedan. Speaking of the French Chamber, Colonel Stofifel says : — " A majority formed almost entirely of medio- crities, of men without character, without ideals, and without any of the qualities that make an administrator; an opposition in which ambitious and conceited lawyers prevail, who make patriotism to consist of hateful recrimination or of malice, who hide their inefficiency and their impotence under flowery rhetoric, who simulate anxiety for the country's interests, and who, to gain a factitious popularity, wrangle with the Government over a single private soldier or a sou. They are skilled as tonguesters, but of small courage and feeble strength, more ready to speak than to fight." Might not this be written of the House of Commons to-day ? Writing of France and her rivals, this French prophet said : — "The French nation, in spite of the illustrious qualities which distinguish it, transgresses before all through ignorance and presumption." And England ? " For Demos ignorant and puffed up is only too ready to believe those who flatter it." PREFACE xi "On one side this foresight of Prussia, united with the vigilance that results, and on the other the blindness and indifference of France, which prevent her recognition of the fact that war will inevitably occur and that all other matters ought to be subordinated to this chief question." "The object of my apprehensions is precisely this contrast between the discernment of Prussia and the blindness of France." "See how Prussia subordinates everything to this essential question of preparation for war and is ever ready to enter the lists with the imposing forces she has at her command." Writing before the war threatened, and long before Lord Hammond said in the House of Lords in July 1870, that "the world had never been so profoundly at peace or the diplomatic atmosphere more serene," at the very moment before the bloodiest struggle of the century broke out, Colonel Stoffel wrote : — " I. War is inevitable and at the mercy of circumstance. " 2. Prussia has no intention of attacking France ; she desires not war, and she will do all that is possible to avoid it. " 3. But Prussia has sufficient discernment to recognise that war, which she does not desire, will certainly break out, and she exerts every faculty in order not to be taken unawares on the day when the fatal event transpires. xii PREFACE " 4. France by indiflference, by levity, and especi- ally by ignorance of the situation, has not the same foresight as Prussia." Of the coming war he said : — "If the war is of short duration, and if France is struck by an initial blow, and if she finds herself suddenly invaded, how will you then find means quickly to give to the assembled young men the unity, the discipline, and the instruction necessary ? " And he added : — " If Prussia consented to change completely her vital institutions, the result would be that she could not disarm, that it would be impossible, even if she should have the desire, and that a Government, whatever it might be, which had thoughts of proposing disarmament to the Prussian Government would display most blameworthy ignorance of the military organisation and the fundamental institutions of Prussia." " But it cannot be repeated too often that it is the principle of compulsory military service, as much as that of compulsory education, which, exercised with perseverance since 18 15, has brought Prussia, by slow and imperceptible degrees through sixty years, to this ' intellectual and moral development, which by making the nation the most enlightened and the most dis- ciplined in Europe, has placed her at a single stroke in the highest place among the Powers." PREFACE xiii There is scarcely a word in Colonel Stoffel's warnings to the French Government which may not be read with profit by Englishmen to-day. We too have had our Mexican Expedition. In South Africa we have a lesson. Shall we profit by it sufficiently to reconsider our ways? The leeway of two generations of neglect requires to be made up. May we not also ask — "Quand cesserons-nous de nous payer de mensonges et de paroles pompeuses?" I have long been engaged in studying the inseparable connection between Empire and Efficiency. In 1900 I wrote a series of articles on this subject in the Sunday Sun, The style, however, which is suitable for a newspaper is wholly unsuitable for a book, and with the exception of a few pages which I have reproduced from various publications, the whole of the matter in this book is either new or has been rewritten several times over. I have to thank the proprietors of Harpef^s Magazine for permission to reproduce a portion of an article on the Colonial Office, which I have embodied in this book. I have further to acknowledge the permission of Mr. L. J. Maxse, the Editor of the National Review^ to reproduce a portion of an article on the physical unfitness of xiv PREFACE our people, which is embodied in Chapter VIII. Furthermore, I have written in various magazines and newspapers on the subject of our public Services ; also in the Daily Chronicle on Smart Society, and for the Westminster Gazette a short article on the Foreign Office. I have to express my warm gratitude to many public men for assistance and advice in preparing this volume. Publication of their names in this book, however, much as it might surprise and interest my readers, would not advance, and might even injure the careers of some of them. In the days of the Venetian Republic the Oligarchy suffered popular and administrative discontent to find vent through the "Lion's Mouth." No such remedy is available to-day, and those servants of the State and captains of industry who best know the facts are compelled to silence, or forced to entrust another with the presentation of the case for Reform. To Mr. J. H. Yoxall, M.P., I return my hearty thanks for his Memorandum on the position of Primary Education in England and Wales, printed on p. 298. ARNOLD WHITE. CONTENTS CHAPTER I THE PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS PACE Five Principles of Business . . . . . i 1. Appointments should depend on Capacity . . i 2. Thorough Training essential .... 2 3. Fair Remuneration for Labour .... 2 4. Thorough Definition of Responsibility . . .2 5. Vigilant Supervision and Inspection indispensable . 3 Results of neglecting these Principles .... 4 Impeachment of Incompetent Ministers now obsolete . . 5 CHAPTER II THE DETERIORATION OF OUR RULERS Efficiency rated more highly in the past Impeachment of Calder and Melville . General Whitelocke's Trial Influence of Bad Smart Society Hoche's Raid on Ireland Government Repugnance to Inquiry . Inquests into Public Scandals The Law of Natural Selection . Its Application to the Choice of Officials Parasitic Imperialism . Administrative Muddles in South Africa The Boer War Revelations 7 8 9 10 II 13 14 14 15 16 17 18 XVI CONTENTS Diplomatic Incompetence Its Results in War Ofifice and Treasury Post Office Incapacity . England's Fleet and the Command of the Sea The Price of Empire is Efficiency PAGE 19 20 21 22 23 CHAPTER III THE CASE FOR EFFICIENCY The Race for Prosperity The Cult of Unfitness .... Administrative Indifference to the Public Interests Foresight essential in Imperial Policy . The Policy of Amateurs is Drift Real Power inevitably in the Hands of the Few Efficiency the Price of Privilege Evidences of British Degeneracy apparent to Foreigners Subterranean Discontent .... Only Alternative to Revolution is Initiative by Government Recognition of Necessity for Change by Business Men 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 30 31 31 32 CHAPTER IV IS THE CONSTITUTION TO BLAME? Fundamental Principles of British Constitution . . 33 1. No Taxation except with the Direct Sanction of the People. . . . . . -34 2. Sovereign can only govern through the Advice of Ministers . . . . . ' . 34 Supremacy of Premier in the Government . . -35 Collective Cabinet Responsibility . . . • 3^ Its Hostility to Efficiency and therefore to Imperial Interests . 36 Prime Minister's Control over all Departments of State . 37 J. L. Delolme on Tolerance in English Political Life . . 38 Politics a Game . . . . . -39 Underlying Principle of all Administration should be Efficiency ....... 40 CONTENTS xvii Useless to complain of System . . . . .40 Each Minister must be held personally responsible . .41 Lord Goschen's obiter dictum . . . . .41 CHAPTER V POLITICAL HONOUR Administrative Inefficiency in 1855 . . . -43 Contrast between Patriotism of the Legislature in 1855 and the Indifference of the House of Commons in 1901 to In- capable Administration . . . . '44 Loss of Caste by House of Commons . . . -45 The Principles held by John Bright have vanished . . 45 The Standard of Political Honour . . . .46 Lord James of Hereford's Renunciation of the Woolsack . 47 The Evaporation of Elementary Morality . . .48 Character in Politics . . . . . -49 Parliamentary Prevarication in 1873 regarding the Navy . 49 Navy League Action in 1900 . . . . -SO Lord Lansdowne and the Army . . . -Si * ' Honour " of Statesmen . . . . .52 Secretary of State for War and the Terrible Week in De- cember 1900 . . . . '53 Truth may be unpopular but must prevail . . "54 CHAPTER VI IS OUR "honours" system to blame? The Desire to shine a manly instinct . The Bestowal of Honours Their Depreciation Deplorable Effect of Present System . Neglect of the Navy in the Honours List Distinctions conferred on the Unfit Administrative Capacity necessary to guide the Ship of State Services rendered to the State should become the only title to Reward , , , , , .61 XVlll CONTENTS CHAPTER VII OUR CASTE SYSTEM Caste and the Aryan Race Caste in India and England . Efficiency imperilled by Caste Prejudice The Dominant Note of Caste . Leadership by Gentlemen a Universal Desire Land Tenure and the Caste Element . Benefits of the Caste System in National Life Its Injurious Effects . The Plutocratic Caste a Menace to Imperial Position The Caste System rooted in our National Life CHAPTER VIII OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY The Influence of Smart Society .... Its Influence on the Foreign Office Real Aristocracy and Pseudo-Aristocrats Drawbacks and Advantages of Land Tenure and of Primo geniture ...... Government a Science .... Inefficiency due to Inequality of Opportunity The Combination of Business Men and of the True Aristo cracy is necessary to counteract the Influence of the Irre sponsible Society Element in Government The Influence of Bad Smart Society in Old Empires . Good Jews and Others .... Mr. Rhodes and Semitic Manipulation of African Finance The Anglophobe Press and the Jews ... Influence of Alien Jews .... Their Influence in Foreign Countries . The Law of Self-Preservation .... The Family is the Unit of Strong Nations The " Useful" Adventurer .... Capitalists and Society .... CONTENTS xix The Press and a Reformed House of Commons could remedy Matters ...... State Religion and its Influence on National Life The Ambitions of the English State Clergy National Importance of the State Church The Protestantism of the English Church The State Clergy and the Articles of the Church of England 90 The Fetters of a Creed , . . . -91 Doctrine and Conduct . . . . .92 Serious Effect on National Character of Dishonour or Un truthfulness in State-paid Ecclesiastical Teachers . 92 The History of England is the History of Defiance to the Claims of Sacerdotalism . . . . -94 CHAPTER IX OUR PHYSICAL INEFFICIENCY The Cult of Infirmity English Agriculture disappearing Our Artificial Social System as regards preventible Ill-Health 97 Indiscriminate Mercy universally approved . . .98 The British Race is enfeebled by Neglect of the Elementary Considerations of Health . . . . .98 Indifference to Posterity . . . . -99 The Advance of Democratic Power and the Deterioration in the Health of Democracy . . . .100 The Growth of Population in the United Kingdom sympto- matic of Political Decline . . . .101 French Prudence and their Stationary Rural Population . loi Moralists and Unfitness ..... 102 The Street-dwelling Population of London . . . 103 The Substitution of artificially preserved food for food that is fresh and home grown . . . .104 Britain's Four Rivals ...... 105 1. France and her Peasant Proprietary . . . 105 2. Germany and the Improved Physique of her People . 106 3. Russia and the Industry of the Moujik . .106 4. The United States and their Alertness to Dangers of our Physical Degeneration .... 106 86 87 87 88 89 95 96 XX CONTENTS The Loss of Stamina in the English Populace The State and the Young Soldier The Manufacture of the Unfit Boy and Girl Marriages .... The English Charity System Three Facts deducted from the Results of the System 1. No Lack of Money . . . . , 2. The Struggle for Life among Professional Philan thropists tends to pauperise the Masses 3. Monarchy is dishonoured, the Country imperilled, and Wrong inflicted on Posterity The Maintenance of Victims of Hereditary Intemperance Fraudulent Philanthropy .... Effects of the Unreformed Hospital System . A Change required in Public Opinion The Segregation of Tramps .... The Possible Solution of the Health Problems of Street-bred People ...... Idleness a Trade ..... The English Marriage Law .... A Medical Certificate of Physical and Mental Fitness should be exacted by the State before Marriage . Queen Victoria's Jubilees .... CHAPTER X SHOULD BUSINESS MEN RULE US? Decisive Change is silent in Operation Events that have marked an Epoch . Villeneuve's Action in 1805 Mr. Childers and the Admiralty The Iphigenia and Port Arthur Able Men renounce the Initiative The Cabinet and the Claims of Lord Cromer, Lord Charles Beresford, and Others Lord Barham's Action in 1805 Univeral Hostility to England Evidence of the Incompetence of her Rulers . . . . . .127 CONTENTS xxi PAGE Mr. Chamberlain and the Colonies . . . .128 Facilities afforded by the Press ignored . . .129 British Motives misrepresented by the Press of the Continent and the United States . . . . .130 The Strategical Aspect of Coal Supply in Britain . . 131 CHAPTER XI OUR PERMANENT OFFICIALS The Real Rulers of the British Empire . . - ^33 The Cause of the Disappearance of Responsibility from the Holders of Political Office . . . .134 The Permanent Official System the same in all Countries . 135 Contrast in Cost of the Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service ....... 136 Specimens of Officials . . . . .137 Present and Past Administration of the Colonial Office . 138 The Colonial Office and the Crown Agents for the Colonies . 139 The Remuneration of Crown Agents . . .140 The War Office and the Purchase of Munitions . .141 Secrecy of the Permanent Officials of the War Office . 142 Reform Bills . . . . . .143 Nepotism and Caste in the Civil Service . . .144 Pensions and Idleness . . . . .145 CHAPTER XII OUR MOST INCAPABLE DEPARTMENT The Foreign Office and British Diplomacy . . .146 The Importation of Ability . . . . -147 Neglect of British Interests by the Foreign Office . .148 The Foreign Office and Red Tape . . .149 The Foreign Office Management of the Uganda Railway . 150 Lord Salisbury and Secret Service Money . . .151 The Foreign Office in 1870 . . . . .152 The Marks of Successful Diplomacy and the Introduction of Business Methods into Negotiations with Foreign Countries 153 xxii CONTENTS The British Foreign Oflfice Methods in Disfavour with Busi ness Men and with Colonists ... The Blocking of Promotion in the Diplomatic Service The Result seen in the Dearth of Ability among British Ambassadors ..... The Foreign Office "Ring" .... The Consular Service and the Nominations thereto . The Method of Business pursued by the Foreign Office Deterioration in the Diplomatic Service and its Causes ...... The System not adapted to secure the Best Men Consular Officials and British Interests Abroad Diplomatic Posts held by Outsiders . The English System of Diplomacy needs remodelling Asia and Diplomacy ..... The German Diplomatic Profession, Practical and Efficient The Diplomatic Services of Russia and America Foreign Office Honours .... The Obligations of Great Britain and their Performance * ' Manners makyth Man " . Changes in the Organisation of the Departments of the Foreign Office . . . * . Waima ...... Letter to Mr. Chamberlain about the Waima Affair . The Facts stated ..... Colonel Ellis's Determination of the Position of Waima Letters of Captain Lendy .... Mr. Curzon's Answer to Sir Charles Dilke The British Government and the Claims of the French Fathers at Uganda ..... The British Ambassador's Ignorance of the British Case His Subsequent Efforts on behalf of the Sufferers War Office refuses Pension to relative of one of the slain .... Narrow circumstances of a third sufferer Sympathy of Lord Rosebery . Plea for Favourable Consideration Brief Reply from the Colonial Office . CONTENTS xxiii CHAPTER XIII THE CONSULAR SERVICE PAGE The Consuls and the International Work of Nations . . 185 Treatment of her Consuls by England . . . .186 Cost of Foreign Affairs . . . . .187 The Duties of Consuls. . . . . .188 Attention to Detail is necessary . . . .189 Consulships and the Jews . . . . .190 Difference between English Consuls and those of America and Germany ....... 191 The Foreign Office and Straightforwardness . . .192 Consular Inspection and the opportunity to rise . '193 Alien Vice-Consuls . . . . . • 194 CHAPTER XIV THE TREASURY The Domination of the Treasury in all Departments . .197 Its Power increasing . . . . . .198 Treasury Obstruction the cause of the absence of men of Colonial experience in the Colonial Office . '199 Great Questions decided by the Treasury . . . 200 The Treasury Board . . . . . .201 Sir Michael Hicks Beach and the Tobacco Tax . .202 Netheravon ....... 203 Treasury Despotism produces Extravagance in the other Departments by Over- Regulation . . . 204 Treasury Colonisation and Monopoly of the Power to sanction Expenditure ...... 205 The Admiralty, Treasury, and Wei-hai-wei . . . 206 The Influence of the Treasury on the War Office and Admir- alty Preparations for War .... 207 Imperial Development stunted by the Influence of the Treasury ....... 208 xxiv CONTENTS PAGE Lord Salisbury and the Treasury .... 209 Usurpation of Power by the Treasury . . . .210 CHAPTER XV THE COLONIAL OFFICE The Ancestry of the Colonial Office . . . .212 First Appointment of a Principal Secretary of State . -213 First Appointment of a Secretary of State for War . .214 Lord Palmerston and Colonial Affairs in 1809 . .215 The Task of the Colonial Minister .... 216 His Scope of Responsibility . . . . .217 Highly-trained and competent Staff essential for the efficient performance of the duties of Colonial Minister . .218 The Establishment of the Colonial Office . . .219 The Intellectual Culture of the Staff of the Colonial Office . . . ... . . 220 "The Office" 221 Lord Blachford and Lord Granville .... 222 Dr. Thring's Conception ..... 223 The Business of the Colonial Office divided into Five Principal Departments ...... 224 The Duties of the Departments .... 225 The Order of St. Michael and St. George . . . 226 The Crown Agents and their Services. . . . 227 The Emigrants' Information Office .... 228 Mr. " Mother Country " and Downing Street . . . 229 Politics and the British Colonial Office . . . 230 The Colonial Office and its sense oi esprit de corps . .231 Alteration in the Character of Colonial Governorships . 232 Administrative Capacity of the Highest Importance in regard to the Colonies ...... 233 Sir Henry Norman and the Queensland Governorship . 234 The Colonial Office and the Needs of the Developed British Empire . . " . . . • . 235 A Secretary of State for African Afl&drs required . . 236 CONTENTS XXV CHAPTER XVI THE WAR OFFICE The British Military System ..... What it has accomplished and where it has failed The Necessity of differentiating between the parts that have worked well and those which have caused disgrace The Exemption of the Indian and Egyptian Armies from Centralisation and the Social Despotism of the Smart Set results in their Efficiency . An Illustration of War Office Red Tape Change considered as an Evil by Smart Society The Necessity for the Army to be Perfect in Quality The Value of the Militia, of the Yeomanry, and of the Volunteers The Enormous Cost of the Army A Man Wanted at the War Office The Duties of the British Army The Alliance between the Army and Society The Conditions indispensable to Adequate Reform PACK 238 239 239 240 241 242 243 243 245 246 246 248 249 CHAPTER XVII COLONISATION AS AN AID TO WAR The Inevitableness of the Boer War .... 250 Dutch Feeling in 1885 . . . . .251 South African Colonisation Scheme Proposed . . 252 Mr. H. O. Arnold Forster, M.P. . . . . 253 Essentials to the Success of a Colonisation Scheme . •253 The Unit of Colonisation is the Family . . . 254 Four Classes of Settlers ..... 254 1. Men possessing a little capital and some knowledge . 254 2. Yeomanry and others acquainted with country life at home, but penniless . . . , '255 3. Men already provided with a useful trade . .257 4. The Regulars who have little or no knowledge of any- thing but soldiering ..... 257 xxvi CONTENTS The Lesson of Previous Colonising Experiments . . 258 The Government of Lord Liverpool and the Settlers in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony . . .259 CHAPTER XVIII THE NAVY The First Duty of Government .... 260 The Executive Government the only Body capable of per- forming the function of National Defence . .261 Lord Salisbury and the Rifle Clubs .... 262 The Navy and War ...... 263 Vice-Admiral Sir Harry Rawson and the State of the Navy ....... 263 The Unreadiness of the British Navy a Danger to the Nation ....... 264 The House of Commons and the Administration of the Navy ....... 265 Lord Melville and Lord Goschen governed by Political Con- siderations concerned in Navy Administration . . 265 The Navy Estimates are of the Nature of a Prospectus . 266 Requirements of the Navy in 1872 and 1873 . . . 267 Unexpended Money for Construction of New Ships . . 268 Truthfulness required by the Public in Relation to the Defen- sive Forces of the Crown ..... 269 Close Connection between Economy and Efficiency . . 270 Capital Account for the Navy . . . . .271 Great Britain and the Command of the Sea . . .272 Contributory Causes to her Loss of Sea Power . . 272 Germany's Fleet . . . . . -275 The Decadence of the British Mercantile Marine . .276 Drift in Maritime Policy . . . . -277 Insensibility among Ministers to the Conditions of National Existence ....... 278 The Principles of Sea Power ..... 279 Why Fleets should be maintained on a War Footing . . 280 The Necessity of adjusting Strategy to National Policy . 281 The Influence of Money on the Chances of Promotion in the Navy ... ... 282 CONTENTS xxvil CHAPTER XIX EDUCATION PAGE The Object of National Education .... 286 University Training ...... 287 Indifference and Levity the Note of Modem Culture . v . 288 Education and Character ..... 289 The English Middle Classes compared with the Middle Classes of Germany ..... 290 Advantageous Results of German Education . . .291 Energy and Capacity need to be trained in accordance with Modern Needs ...... 292 Consecutive Thought ...... 293 Great Work of the Board Schools .... 294 British Education is not Democratic .... 295 National Suffering and Calamity the Prime Motive Force for the Reorganisation of the Educational System . . 296 The Inefficiency of Secondary Schools and Commercial Back- wardness ....... 297 Memorandum on the Position of Primary Education in England and Wales ...... 298 1. The Curriculum ...... 298 2. Difficulties in the Schools themselves . . . 302 3. Organisation ...... 303 4. Influence upon the Teacher .... 305 5. Higher Elementary Schools .... 307 CHAPTER XX Conclusion ....... 309 EFFICIENCY AND EMPIRE CHAPTER I THE PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS Principles of good administration are not to be laid down in stereotyped rules. If a man placed in a position of responsibility has a talent for organisation and administration he will be a law to himself. If he is not qualified for administra- tion no rules will keep him straight. There are, however, five elementary maxims for efficient administration common to all large undertakings. Neglect of any or all of them involves confusion and possible ruin. I. Every man in the public service should be chosen with sole reference to his capacity for the duties he is required to perform. There should be no round pegs in square holes, and nepotism should be excluded as completely from 2 PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS the national service as from private enterprises dependent on capacity for the realisation of profit in, a commercial enterprise, or the getting of runs in a. cricket: c!evq«; ... '2:. ,C^re • shoi^ld; be taken that every man en- trusted with a responsible duty is thoroughly trained for its performance, and is proved to be competent before he takes up the responsibilities of the office. Our examination system certifies only to one small portion of the candidate's fitness for employment, and therefore chiefly acts as a barrier to the potentially efficient. 3. Every man should be fairly remunerated for his labour, and should be, as far as the State can make him, a cheerful and contented servant. A discontented man makes a bad servant of the State, for his mind is fixed on grievances when it should be concentrated on the nation's business. Social idlers overpaid with money or privilege form a standing grievance with officials not in society. The hope and possibility of rising to the top should inspire every servant of the State. We prevent anyone from hoping to rise unless they enter through the strait gate of Chinese examinations. 4. Every State servant should have his duties thoroughly defined, and should know exactly what is required of him. A definite chain of FIVE BUSINESS PRINCIPLES 3 responsibility is necessary from top to bottom. What is everyone's business is no one's business, and the extent to which responsibility evaporates in the confusion into which the public service has been allowed to sink is the price paid for allowing the business of the nation to be done on principles that are not business-like. 5. There should, at all times, be active and vigilant supervision in every branch of the various services from top to bottom. In national affairs it is not enough that every State servant should be fit for his duties and trained for their per- formance, but it must be the duty of someone to see that he actually does perform them, whether he is a postman or a Minister, and that no slackness or carelessness, in any rank, be allowed to supervene in carrying out the working from day to day. Imagine, for example, what would be the public consternation resulting from an effective inspection, by impartial and competent authorities, from week to week, of the Foreign and War Offices. If they are citadels of misrule, delay, incapacity, and the negation of every prin- ciple of business methods, it is because their sins are secret, and they are never subjected to the ordeal of competent inspection. No matter how honest and willing Ministers may be, they are, except in the rarest instances. 4 PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS completely at the mercy of their subordinates. The average Minister is quickly entangled in the jungle of detail, while the general principles that govern successful administration are neglected in order that he may devote his time to answering Parliamentary questions, or advancing the interests of his party by the preparation of unnecessary speeches. Administration in its true sense is not performed by the people who are paid to ad- minister. The neglect of the five axiomatic rules set forth above is shown in the steady deterioration of character which seems to affect politicians who become Ministers. A man who in private life conducts himself as an honourable gentleman and a man of affairs is compelled to become the mouthpiece of falsehoods designed to deceive the nation, baffle the House of Commons, shield the Department, and burke inquiry. Cabinet responsibility, which means no responsibility for anyone, prevents the impeachment of incapable Ministers. The bureaucracy are equally irre- sponsible. In 1806 — the dark age of an unre- formed Parliament — a Minister was impeached for dishonesty. The Queen's yacht nearly turned turtle in 1900. Nothing was done, except that the First Lord came down to the House to praise the designer. It is notorious that official state- BOGUS NAVAL ESTIMATES 5 ments are often suggestions of what is false, suppressions of what is true, or both ; ^ while official returns are not seldom palpable frauds. Take the case of the Army Reservist (now to be abolished), who is at the same time a Militiaman, and also enlisted as a " special servist." One man figures as three, to delude the public. The annual speech of the First Lord of the Admiralty, in proposing bogus Navy Estimates, is a public scandal, for the public is invited to believe what is not true. If a Commission were appointed to examine the business methods of the Foreign Office, evidence abounds showing where a falsehood has been placed in the mouth of the Minister by subordinates who either knew that it was a false- hood, and should therefore be dismissed for fraud, or did not know that it was a falsehood, in which case they should be cashiered for in- capacity. Their pensions are secure. No im- peachment was even thought of in 1900, although democracy believed itself triumphant. Not long since a signalman was indicted for an act of carelessness that produced a collision, involving loss of life. He was sentenced to three years without hard labour. Protected by convention, negligent and incompetent servants of the State^ if in a certain caste, are immune from punishment 6 PRINCIPLES OF BUSINESS for worse misdeeds than the signalman's. If there is less public spirit in Parliament to-day than in 1806, the middle and working classes, who know what is wanted, have the remedy in their own hands. The five principles that underly the transaction of affairs can no longer be ignored, if efficiency is to resume its place in the public departments. CHAPTER II THE DETERIORATION OF OUR RULERS When Pitt faced Napoleon, and our grandfathers were building the Empire, efficiency in the public service was rated more highly by the statesmen who ruled them than by the politicians who rule us. Punishment was inflicted on public servants whose misconduct or incapacity deserved it. In 1757, when Byng was shot on his own quarterdeck in Portsmouth Harbour, the incident became a standing advertisement to captains in the Royal Navy, that the right place for British battleships was alongside the enemy. When Calder, in 1805, with an inferior fleet, brought a superior force of the enemy to action, who had the advantage of wind and station, and nevertheless obtained a victory over them, capturing some of their ships, he was tried by court - martial in Portsmouth Harbour on December 22, 1805. Upon a full examination of the circumstances which took 8 DETERIORATION OF RULERS place after the action of July 22, the Court decided that the Admiral had not done his utmost to take or destroy every ship of the enemy which it was his duty to engage, and, while acquitting him of any imputation of fear or cowardice, sentenced him to be severely reprimanded. He was ruined. The utmost sympathy was excited by the fate of Sir Robert Calder. He had meritoriously served his country for more than forty years, but the Admini- stration of the day reflected the set purpose of the country in refusing to exonerate an admiral who had fallen short of the high standard of naval efficiency that ruled in those days. It had been fixed once for all on the execution of Admiral Byng. This was at a time when the echo of the guns of Trafalgar had scarcely died away. Calder would have been spared if he had had the luck to live later in the century. In the succeeding year, Lord Melville, then First Lord of the Admiralty, was impeached, after a report from the Select Committee to whom " the tenth report of the Commissioners of Naval In- quiry was referred to inquire into the application of any moneys issued to the Treasurer of the Navy and to investigate the conduct of Lord Melville in reference thereto." Mr. Whitbread, the member for Bedford, addressed the House of Commons on the subject of Lord Melville's misconduct in a tone MELVILLE'S IMPEACHMENT 9 that would sound discordant to the polite sensi- bility of these days. Matters were not minced. Although the articles of impeachment were not proved, Lord Melville was socially disgraced, and disappeared from public life. His fall helped to drag down the Ministry. The neglect of Lord Lansdowne at the War Office in 1895- 1900, the deceptions practised on the public by Mr. Goschen at the Admiralty during the same period, and the episode of the sale to the nation of Sir Michael Hicks Beach's Netheravon estate, are scarcely less pernicious in their effects on the country than Lord Melville's corruption, but none of our contemporaries dreams of impeaching the late Secretary of State for War, or disgracing the late First Lord of the Admiralty, or of driving the Chancellor of the Exchequer from power. Pro- motion for the first, a peerage for the second, and confirmation in office for the third are generally in accordance with the spirit of the age. In 1807, Lieutenant-General John Whitelocke was tried upon four charges, which included allegations of neglect, incompetence, and cowardice in connection with the surrender of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video. The Court adjudged that " the said Lieutenant-General Whitelocke be cashiered and declared totally unfit and unworthy to serve His Majesty in any military capacity whatever." lo DETERIORATION OF RULERS This sentence was confirmed by the King, who gave orders that it should be read at the head of every regiment in his service and inserted in all regimental orderly - books, "with a view of its becoming a lasting memorial of the fatal con- sequences to which officers expose themselves who in discharge of the important duties confided to them are deficient in that zeal, judgment, and personal exertion which their Sovereign and their country have a right to expect from officers entrusted with high commands." The interesting point about General Whitelocke's trial was that the malign influence of bad smart society was appreciated in those days by the commonalty, and although both the licence and the power of the Press were incomparably less in 1806 than in the year 1901, it is publicly recorded that towards the end of the trial public curiosity was " less excited to know its issue than the interest or means by which General Whitelocke had obtained his important appoint- ment." Judging by the attitude of our rulers to-day towards incompetent generals in South Africa, they would infallibly have spared White- locke as they would have spared Calder, if they had been called on to deal with his case. Although our grandfathers were thus willing in three consecutive years to punish inefficient officers, their Governments were no readier than our own HOCHE'S RAID ON IRELAND ii to admit their own incapacity or to assent to investigation into the causes of their own failures to organise and achieve success in military or naval operations. When Hoche raided Ireland in 1796 neither of the two British fleets in commission in home waters succeeded in capturing a single French ship. For three weeks in the Irish and the English Channels French squadrons were unmolested by a British admiral. Then, as now, the system was blamed. When invited to hold an inquiry, Ministers strongly maintained through the mouth of Lord Spencer, then First Lord of the Admiralty, that " all had been done that could be expected and that an inquiry would be considered as tantamount to unmerited censure." Lord Lansdowne's negative reply on July 16, 1900, to the Duke of Bedford's demand for inquiry into the deficiencies of our military system shows that if times are altered, there is a continuity of tradition in official life. In the calm and comfort of a long peace, perception of the paramount claims of efficiency has evaporated from the minds of our rulers. To go wrong by rule is now esteemed a higher virtue in administration than to achieve success by irregular means, a fact illustrated by the following incident. Some time ago certain buildings at Dover Castle were burnt down. The General in command was Major-General William 12 DETERIORATION OF RULERS Butler, K.C.B. When under examination by a War Office Committee, the General said: "The certificate and report system is in its nature misleading. On the occasion of the recent fire at the officers' quarters, Dover Castle, the reports and certificates dealing with the prevention of the fire were of the most satisfactory nature. Everybody had done his duty. The place was burnt strictly according to regulation." Without citing further instances of the methods adopted by our ancestors in order to secure efficiency in the public service, we have seen that, however reluctant our rulers have been in the past to admit that they themselves were to blame, they were ready to punish other people when they fell short of the standard required by an expanding nation. The reluctance of Govern- ments to admit inquiry is easily explicable. Any Administration is moribund which consents to independent investigation into its conduct ; for if the inquiry is thorough, the inevitable revelations of waste, incapacity, and even fraud, which are due to the inheritance of a fly-blown administra- tive system, would effectually undermine the faith of the electorate in any Cabinet, however innocent INQUESTS INTO SCANDALS 13 its individual members may be. Lord Melville's impeachment, though ending in acquittal, in- directly led to the fall of the Government of which he was a member. Less than half a century ago the public de- manded a drastic inquiry into the causes of failure in the Crimea, where the loss of life and the expenditure of money was less than has been caused by the war in South Africa. The con- sequence was that one Minister resigned, and thereupon the Ministry itself fell into pieces in consequence of the infuriated feeling engendered by the Crimean revelations. Nowadays nobody resigns. Incapacity is Khismet. People in earnest are ill-bred. Form is everything. The working classes are preoccupied with backing horses they never set eyes on and watching games they do not play; the middle class has lost its pride of caste and is busy aping its social superiors. If crowds of administrators, some of them able and industrious individuals, are immeshed in a system productive of perennial muddle, our bureaucracy and our cultured classes seem to regard it as the Children of Israel looked upon Mount Sinai — something too sacred to be touched. The notion that the officials exist for the nation and not the nation for the officials has become obsolete. Nevertheless, it is demonstrable that 14 DETERIORATION OF RULERS either efficiency must be restored to the British administrative system at all costs — even at the sacrifice of Party or of enlarging the area of choice from which our rulers and administrators are obtained — or' the decline of the British Empire will date from the first decade of the twentieth century. Bureaucrats and official people stand to the country much in the same relation as domestic animals to a farmer. Cows and horses live only for the farmers' benefit. All domestic animals are forced to exhibit physical adaptations to the farmers' use or fancy rather than to their own good. The key to this moulding of fitness, whether in officials, cows, or pouter pigeons, is man's power of selection. We disobey the un- bending law of evolution in the choice of our rulers and higher officials because we do not exert an adequate power of selection, and con- sequently have not accumulated a useful breed of either. Instead of adjusting our practice of obedience to the laws of natural selection, we have inverted them in dealing with our civil and military service. There is little or no struggle for existence in the higher ranks of State servants. They hold office on a freehold tenure. The in- efficient members are not ruthlessly destroyed. The bulk of those who are potentially efficient THE CHOICE OF OFFICIALS 15 are artificially excluded by the caste system. In diplomacy, for instance, the Brahmins of the service do a fraction of the work ; the rest is left to the Pariah Consulate tribe. The system of freehold tenure and universal pensions for the privileged ensures a fertile crop of formalism and pedantry, and therefore bureaucratic unfitness of a specially noxious description, for it is compatible with much ability in the individual, although the ability is not of the quality that is useful to the State. The principle of selection, so potent in our hands when plants and animals are concerned, is thus ignored in the choice of our bureaucracy. The same defect is to be remarked in the appointment of our rulers. We make little effort to preserve our favourable specimens or to ensure the sur- vival of the fittest by destroying the injurious ones, because the system upon which they are selected has no relation whatever to adminis- trative capacity, to imaginative and healthy fore- sight, or to the introduction of great men to the service of a great nation. We choose the majority of our rulers, not because they are organisers, administrators, or men of affairs, but either because they can talk or because they are related to propertied politicians who formerly talked copi- ously. The influence of the greatest talker of the century, who played on the morals of his humbler 1 6 DETERIORATION OF RULERS fellow-subjects as Paganini played upon the fiddle, disappeared within twenty -four months of his death. It had lasted for sixty years. Although the sudden obliteration of Mr. Gladstone's influence in public affairs is pregnant with meaning at a time when we are paying the bill of costs for Majuba, the lesson has escaped both the electors and the elected. That the artist in words still holds the field as against the man who knows and who can think and do, we have only to look at Parliament and the Cabinet. Ill The rule of rhetoricians and the exclusion of the business element from our national Councils might continue for another generation or two but for the fact that rival nations, who were impotent for sixty years after Waterloo, have recovered naval and military strength and renewed their traditional antipathy towards England. The wars of the past were either religious or dynastic. War in the future will be waged for food and clothing. England, having destroyed her own agriculture, is dependent on the agriculture of her rivals for food, and for clothing on the raw materials produced by pro-Boers. In order to be safe in this parasitic phase of Imperialism, we must either inspire half MUDDLES IN SOUTH AFRICA 17 Europe with friendship or establish the respect that accompanies fear. We do neither. Almost universally disliked — and we are most thoroughly detested where we are most intimately known — we have recently undergone the novel experience of being generally despised. What should have been an affair of police, to be taken in the stride of Empire, has been expanded by the incom- petence of our rulers to the dimensions of a great war. We have lost as many men by death and disease as our enemy was able to place in the field, while the whole strength of the Empire has been mobilised to destroy two peasant com- munities. The war might easily have been pre- vented in three ways : firstly, by introducing ten thousand British settlers and their families im- mediately after the need for the Bechuana Ex- pedition in 1885 demonstrated the bad faith of the Boers and their resolve to ignore the Conven- tion of 1884; secondly, by refusing to permit arms and munitions to enter the Republics either through Portuguese or British territory ; and thirdly, by sending twenty thousand mounted men to the Cape immediately after the Jameson Raid, and insisting there and then on the con- ditions of the Conventions being carried out. I do not write as one who is wise after the event. The South African War has done more than 1 8 DETERIORATION OF RULERS merely reveal the quality of the statesmanship that dreads the Opposition more than posterity, loves quiet more than country, and prefers peace to patriotism. It uncovered in fierce light the cankers of a long peace. Patriotism in the House of Commons is in alliance with wealth. A Parlia- mentary delegation of patriotism, privilege, and plutocracy, from which poor gentlemen, working men, and Nonconformists are practically excluded, does not form a true representation of national life. The miniature is distorted because the patriots in our National Assembly are rich; the poorer members, especially the Irish and the pro- Boers, are more or less disaffected to the Empire. The old directing ability of the governing families of England is invisible. That which succeeded it is in a state of decay. In diplomacy, for example, for many years past Britain has been consistently worsted in her dealings with other Powers. In the Foreign Office, responsible for negotiations with China, Siam, and Russia, no Asiatic Depart- ment exists. The officials specially told off to deal with China are responsible for Haiti, and are equally ignorant of both. The consequences of H.M.S. Iphigenia steaming out of Port Arthur at the bidding of Russia were appreciated by the man in the street long before it dawned upon Downing Street that an epoch had come and DIPLOMATIC INCOMPETENCE 19 gone. In the Waima affair, where twenty -six British officers and men were shot down by French magazine rifles in the hands of French troops, the Foreign Office not only abstained from action and neglected to acquaint our Ambassador in Paris with the facts, but obstinately jibbed, set its ears back and stiffened its forelegs, prevaricated when questioned, and displayed irritation and resent- ment when urged by public opinion in 1900 to do what it ought to have done in 1894. The cumulative evidence of the incompetence of our Foreign Office and Diplomatic Service is best seen in the attitude of the civilised world towards us. It may be that our insularities and the dis- played wealth of the naturalised English have gained us the dislike of other nations ; but the hatred of foreigners is largely based on misappre- hension. Nothing would have been easier during the war than to establish a press bureau on the Continent and in the United States, and to present at the bar of civilised opinion the case for England. Nothing was done. Dr. Leyds has had a free field. Mr. Bryce and Mr. Stead are the voices by which Britain has been heard and judged across the Atlantic. Precedent was against the use of in- tellectual weapons against the enemy, and if pre- cedent had been on the other side, the intellect of the Foreign Office, when matched against the 20 DETERIORATION OF RULERS brains of Dr. Leyds and Mr. Stead, would have been subjected to intolerable strain. To send muzzle-loading guns into action against modern weapons is a form of inhumanity repugnant to men of feeling. Candidates for the Diplomatic and Foreign Office Service, if they wish to succeed, must be well off, coached by Mr. Scoones, and possess the favour of a few individuals. They need not necessarily be well-bred, intelligent, or efficient. Whenever a really important bit of diplomatic work requires to be done, outsiders are called in to do it. Sir. W. White, Lord Cromer, Lord Pauncefote are recent examples. Social forces are antagonistic to the public welfare. Efficiency in all the departments is now a second- ary consideration to the claims of privilege. In the War Office the self-esteem of incompetent ** experts" is reinforced by senile repugnance to changes that are required to ensure safety. Men- dacious statements are made officially to lull the public into the belief that hostile criticism is in- terested or corrupt. Club veterans, whose proper place is a bath chair at Bournemouth, are entrusted with Departments (such as the Ordnance) on which the fate of the Empire may depend. At the Treasury the ablest young men in the national service have contrived to collect all power of initiative, and to establish a chilling predominance TREASURY METHODS 21 which kills originality, saps energy, and discourages departmental zeal and ingenuity in the public service. Nevertheless, the public finances are not protected. In what country but England could a Finance Minister have sold an estate to the nation for double its market value without being con- victed of jobbery? There was a moment in the complicated transactions which attended the trans- fer of Sir Michael Hicks Beach's Netheravon estate to the nation when he, as trustee for the taxpayers, had either to give or withhold his assent. His fiduciary status was inalienable : all that he could delegate was the determination of the price. When the price- was settled, his responsibility to the public revived, and his assent on behalf of the nation to the acquisition of his own property was a transaction upon which history may have some- thing to say, for it marks the introduction to public life of a coarseness of fibre and insensibility to the niceties of duty from which Pitt was free. In the Post Office Department inefficiency and muddle grow from year to year. The man who has thought out postal reform is ignored, while the political head is making party speeches in the provinces, and his lieutenant in the House of Commons is the mere phonograph of the official who rules on behalf of the Treasury. When the chiefs are thus ignorant, absent-minded, or irre- 2 2 DETERIORATION OF RULERS sponsible, what wonder that the heads of Depart- ment are thinking of something more interesting than their postal duties. A complaint of my own addressed to Lord Londonderry was answered on his Lordship's behalf by a Post Office official, whose appointment was publicly announced as the dramatic critic of the Times, Fancy Pickford, the P. & C, or a great Railway Company per- mitting their responsible servants to play with work, and work at the play! England is in a fool's paradise about her fleet. Her fleets are not on a war footing. Ships ordered are not built. Engineers are snubbed and cold- shouldered. The Admiralty Board is under the thumb of the politician who is First Lord. Naval education is defective. Submarine boats are unknown. We have wilfully lost the command of the sea, and yet go on talking as if we retained it. When the Iphigenia steamed out of Port Arthur, Lord Salisbury acted wisely, if after all he recognised facts — and knew that British naval power is what Admiral Rawson, on May ii, 1900, said it was — not strong enough " to meet any great emergency." It is convenient and seemly that the few should govern the many ; that the rich and not the poor should as a rule be entrusted with political power. Those arrangements are of the nature of things. THE PRICE OF EMPIRE 23 I The price of Empire, however, is efficiency. If the privileged classes are efficient, well and good. If not, efficiency is still indispensable, although the privileges of the privileged must be shorn. Eng- land's great reform is to open a way to talent. I The gentlefolk will always win in a crowd when- ev er t hey take the trouble — for aristocracy is nothing more than the most efficient people in the nation, whose efficiency has been graded up by generations of training. This is the reason why the populace prefer the leadership of the well-born to that of their own class. Homage to efficiency is the secret of the respect paid by Anglo-Saxons to aristocracy. Government by aristocracy implies government b^[_the efficient. When efficiency goes out at the door, it is inevitable that Empire will fly out at the window. CHAPTER III THE CASE FOR EFFICIENCY / The British administrative system is like that of a prosperous man in advanced middle age who eats and drinks to repletion, takes no exercise, and is content to enjoy life while he may. We have had a start of eighty years in the international race for prosperity. The temperate places of the earth have been peopled or acquired by us. Not- withstanding the loss of both North and South America, owing to the inefficiency in the one case of our rulers, in the other of a General, most of the land worth having on this planet that was not occupied at the beginning of last century is British. Material wealth has poured into the country not- withstanding our geographical disabilities, our melancholy climate, and the temptations we pre- sent to better armed and educated nations to strike a blow at our heart. For over two hundred years, war in which Britain was engaged has been kept at a distance. Since the fall of Napoleon, 24 THE CULT OF UNFITNESS 25 and during the reign of machinery, the cult of unfitness under the shibboleth of free trade, and the multiplication of population without regard to the health of the people, the public has watched the decadence of our administrative system, under the influences of Party, Society, and a false view of education. /Whether we examine the constituent elements of the Cabinets to which power has been entrusted during the past century, or whether we survey in detail the Departments entrusted with the actual work of carrying on the business of the country, the result is the same. Notwithstanding virtue and ability of a kind, the practical directing ability of the kingdom has deteriorated and is still steadily declining. Nevertheless, the nation is essentially sound at heart, and neither incapacity in high places nor the inefficiency and self-esteem of the bureaucracy are irremediable. Most of our public evils are remediable with little trouble, provided the public awakes to the fact that a remedy is wanted. Our rulers are not so much corrupt as slack ; not vicious, but listless ; not criminous, but pleasure - loving. Wanting in business capacity and common sense, they have cleverly devised a plan for shirking responsibility. Taxpayers are beginning to discover that they do not get value for their money, and that they are 26 THE CASE FOR EFFICIENCY governed with less success but at a greater cost than are other nations which have enjoyed few of the advantages peculiar to Great Britain. For many years scarcely a day has passed without evidence of this listless indifference to the interests of the public on the part of one section of the Administration. Both political parties are alike. The principal reason for administrative slackness, from top to bottom, is that efficiency has ceased to be the chief qualification either for appointment to the public service or for election to Parliament and ministerial office. Selection for the bureau- cracy is determined in the higher ranks by a peculiar examination in bookishness. To become a Mandarin requires capital. In certain Depart- ments examination tempered with selection is the process adopted. In election for Parliament or for ministerial office, wealth, connection, and social influence, tinctured with oratorical ability, are the supreme considerations that govern the choice of caucuses in selecting candidates, and of the Prime Minister in choosing colleagues. Efficiency is a subordinate qualification. In no case is it the dominant consideration. ' When English voters became Imperialist they pledged themselves unwittingly, either to institute efficiency in the public service, or to renounce their Imperialism more rapidly than they took it FORESIGHT ESSENTIAL 27 up. No true Imperialism is possible in this coun- try that is not backed by a public service in a condition of high efficiency. The Imperialism of which Cromwell was a master, and Pitt the highest exponent of last century, is an exacting mistress. The essence of Imperialism that endures is strength ; not only military strength, but intel- lectual and moral force and a keen sense of national and civic duty among the people. Vigour, imagination, and executive elasticity of purpose in both the civil and military administra- tions are essential to modern as to ancient Empires. The great test of Imperialism is the organisation of success in colonisation and war. The people of Britain have mostly done their colonisation for themselves, generally without help from Government. War is necessarily placed in the hands of Government. Under modern conditions some five years of efficient preparation are required to organise success. Efficient pre- paration is dependent on things which are only at the disposal of Government. Unless common sense and foresight are brought to bear upon Imperial policy, and Imperial designs are adjusted to the Imperial capacity to execute them, energy evaporates, taxes are wasted. Nothing can be improvised in modern days if it is to last, either in war or peace ; but the very qualities which have 28 THE CASE FOR EFFICENCY made us good colonisers, namely, Anglo-Saxon passion for individualism, patience under adverse circumstances, inherent love of law and order, and continuity of purpose, have contributed to the loss of efficiency in our public service. We part with executive power because it is not our business. We elect or suffer men to rule who are not business men. Our ruling classes despise business methods. They are to be judged, not by their words, but by their deeds. We have witnessed in the past invariable muddle and extravagant cost in every national enterprise, whether it be the construction of a railway or the prosecution of a war. The only cheap war was Mr. Rhodes' conquest of Lobengula. The reason for this invariable system of muddle is plain. Our Ministers, for the most part, are amateurs, whose real trade is that of political professional rhetoric. They are, as a rule, without either leisure or inclination for thinking ahead. The best of them are apt to become tired pessimists or pococurante philosophers, with a conviction that the machine will last their time. The worst of them are men of pleasure. Good, bad, or in- different, they deal with events as events turn up. Drift is their policy. When the policy of drift tends to collision, epigram is their justification. Nothing is foreseen, nothing anticipated. The AMATEUR ORGANISERS 29 Prime Minister, the Minister of War, and the Commander - in - Chief, or the men who have occupied the highest place and are wholly re- sponsible, habitually address their countrymen with a detachment of mind in which no sense of personal responsibility is to be discerned. They speak, not as the living voices of an Imperial people, but as critics of bad work in which they have no direct concern. When they are rich and of high station this air of insouciance seems to be rather agreeable to the public than otherwise. It is called " high breeding." Game is said to be " high " when approaching a state of decay. Whatever changes are made, however, it is not only inevitable but desirable that real power shall rest in the hands of a few. These few will always remain the privileged. The only price that the privileged few are required to pay to the main body of the people is that they shall be efficient. The price of privilege is efficiency. In Great Britain the privileges of the privileged have long been unchallenged. Even in times of stress the privileged class in this country have been safe from molestation by the masses. One set of privileged people displaced another. That is all. No certificate of efficiency has ever yet been demanded from his rulers by Demos. When, however, incompetence becomes chronic, through so THE CASE FOR EFFICIENCY prolonged enjoyment of luxurious ease and the foreigner is famishing for our wealth, it is inevitable that sooner or later the privileged class will be swept away by an exasperated people. The only question is, whether the inevitable exasperation of the people will not repeat history and come too late for effective action. Dismay at the inefficiency and discontent with the incapacity of the executive Government is now expressed on all sides. There is a feeling in the air that our rulers are no longer of the calibre required to meet the dangers ahead. Evidences of the cankers of a long peace abounded before the Boer War. Nothing has happened during the struggle in South Africa that was not already foreseen by those who had taken the trouble to examine the state of our public Departments. These evidences of degeneracy in our Administra- tion were apparent to foreigners (especially to Germans) and to our kinsmen beyond sea. The inhabitants of the great self-governing colonies have long been accustomed to look to London for leadership and guidance in matters relating to Imperial policy and administration. Colonial statesmen, however, have received a severe shock by the revelations of the Boer War. Slackness in departmental administration and strategical and tactical folly have been noted by our Colonial SUBTERRANEAN DISCONTENT 31 critics, and many of them regard the degeneracy of the directing ability responsible for the British Empire as tantamount to abdication of power. Executive incapacity is now the talk of the market- place. The man in the street, sensible that much is wrong in the administrative machine, and knowing that the cost of the war in lives and treasure is far greater than it would have been if the Empire had been run by business men and on business principles, is in despair as to how to bring about adequate changes. He does not want to turn out a Government whose principles are his own. He does not desire to place Home Rulers, who are equally incompetent, in office. He perceives that the only alternative to revolution is initiative by Government — that is, by the Prime Minister ; and as things are not bad enough for insurrec- tion he looks to the Head of the Government — and looks in vain. Great changes are needed, and the longer is the delay in making them, the greater is the probability of a sudden shift of the political centre of gravity. While the people are only discontented, moderate measures of reform in public administra- tion are certain to be more effectual for good, and to do less harm, than violent change brought about only after the people are stung to madness. 32 THE CASE FOR EFFICIENCY National humiliation and a sea of individual suffering, due to the listlessness rather than to the corruption of our rulers, have already been experienced. Unless the listless are replaced by the alert, the humiliation and suffering of December 1899 will be renewed. To-day, even if iridescent Society is indifferent, business men are in a serious mood. They are inclined to take heed unto their paths, and to lay to heart the national lessons the Boers have taught us. In the long-run the nation depends on its business men. They manage the affairs of smart people and the labouring classes alike. If we await fresh disasters, before changing our methods and making our rulers responsible for their acts, the changes necessary to accomplish our purpose may not be in safe hands. At such times the business man is silenced : the fanatic is abroad, and his mouthings are hearkened to by the people. In times of tumult and distress the affairs of nations tend to fall into the hands of extremists. Men who are busy and emotional rather than capable and solid grasp the reins. The standing corn of the Philistines was not better fitted for the foxes and the firebrands than the fly-blown public service of Britain for the schemer, the anarchist, the visionary, and the fool. CHAPTER IV IS THE CONSTITUTION TO BLAME? " I DO not think," said Lord Salisbury (January 30, 1900), " that the British Constitution as at present worked is a good fighting machine." The Prime Minister might have added that it is not a good Post Office machine, or a good naval machine, or a good machine for negotiation with foreign countries, or a good machine for controlling the education, taxation, revenue, and expenditure of the British nation. In almost every De- partment of national administration, revelation of failure and evidence of inefficiency are visible to the business man and the ordinary taxpayer. Before, however, accepting with fatalistic resigna- tion the defects of the British Constitution as inherent, let us agree on its fundamental principles, and then see whether it is true ; and, if so, to what extent our Constitution is to blame for the mis- carriage of our wars, the delay in the delivery of our letters, and the contrast between the progress 3 34 IS CONSTITUTION TO BLAME ? of our rivals and our own stagnation and inefficiency. The two fundamental principles of the Consti- tution which bear on the question of Imperial efficiency are : — First — That no taxation can be levied except with the direct sanction of the people, expressed through their elected representatives assembled in the Commons House of Parliament. Second — That the Sovereign can govern only through the advice of Ministers who command the support of a majority of elected Members of Parliament. The constitutional process gone through, in order to apply these fundamental principles to Departmental administration, is too well known to require elaborate explanation. The Sovereign chooses and sends for a politician who can rely on a following in Parliament sufficient to form an Administration. If the person thus consulted by the Sovereign fails to form a Ministry which will command sufficient votes in Parliament to obtain necessary supplies for carrying on the work of Government, successive statesmen are sent for until one is found who possesses the confidence of the majority of the Members of the House of Commons. When the politician thus chosen by the Monarch has accepted the duty of forming a SUPREMACY OF PREMIER 35 Ministry, he nominates his colleagues in the Government, whose names are submitted to the approval of the Sovereign. Although the British Constitution is silent on the subject, it is a fact that members of a Ministry, other than the Premier, hold office subject to the pleasure of the Head of the Ministry : if, however, he is defeated in the Lower House, they leave office with him. All Cabinet Ministers, other than the Premier, may resign without destroying the Ministry, but when the First Minister ceases to retain the confidence of Parliament, he and his colleagues make way for a Ministry able to obtain funds to carry on the Government. Nothing contained in the two fundamental prin- ciples just set forth, and nothing belonging to the process by which those principles are translated into constitutional practice, destroys the responsibility of the Prime Minister for each of his colleagues, or annuls their responsibility for their own Depart- mental action. As a matter of Party convenience, however, a novel and wholly indefensible doctrine of collective Cabinet responsibility for Departmental failure has come into being. From the Ministerial point of view collective responsibility is convenient, because each Minister, however foolish or incapable, is thereby shielded from the natural consequences of his own folly or incapacity. Influential but ^6 IS CONSTITUTION TO BLAME ? incapable Ministers can thus be brought into a Cabinet protected by the theory of collective responsibility (which is no responsibility) who would be necessarily excluded if efficiency in the public service were secured by each Minister being held individually accountable for the successful administration of the Department entrusted to him. Collective Cabinet responsibility is a device by which Party politicians prolong their own tenure of office and their adversaries' exclusion by stifling inquiry and burking complaints, and thus evading punishment for all misdeeds which do not warrant the fall of a whole Cabinet. This plan damps efficiency as water quenches fire, and is therefore hostile to the interests of every man, woman, and child in the Empire. The plea of individual irresponsibility is nothing more than a trick of Cabinet trade unionism. It is as antagonistic to national interests as the doctrine of compulsory limitation of industrial output is hostile to the interests of both capital and labour. In a word, the interests of the Ministers sheltered by it are opposed to the interests of the nation which pays them. There is, however, another point in Lord Salisbury's lament as to the defective qualities of the Constitution which is worthy of consideration. Hitherto it has been the practice of Prime A PREMIER'S LANGUOR 37 Ministers to exercise control over all the Depart- ments of State. Sir Robert Peel devoted nearly the whole of his time to this function. The con- sequence was, in Sir Robert Peel's time, that the Departments were kept up to the mark. In more recent times the First Minister has been too busy to interfere with the Departments or to exercise control over the Cabinet of which he is the Head. Owing to the agreeable, convenient, political doctrine of Cabinet irresponsibility, letters may be lost or delayed with impunity. It is futile to complain. Or 26,000 lives and careers, with ;£" 1 00,000,000 sterling, may be squandered in South Africa, because a Minister had not the ability or the foresight to stop the import of arms into the Transvaal, or the courage to organise a fighting machine of our own which would have prevented the bloody and irritating humiliations to which the nation has been subjected since October 1899. The only remedy is the restoration of individual Ministerial responsibility and periodic inspection by the Prime Minister, to see that the work is really done. Lord Salisbury's resumption of the Premiership is a concession to public opinion. J. L. Delolme, a Swiss jurist who wrote on the British Constitution a hundred years ago, in the course of an intelligent survey of our institutions, declared that Party spirit in England "does not 38 IS CONSTITUTION TO BLAME ? produce those lasting and rancorous divisions in the community which have pestered so many other free States : making of the same nation, as it were, two distinct people in a kind of constant warfare with each other." This feature of tolerance in English political life, upon which we have continued to pride ourselves since 1688, has now gone too far. Degeneracy is visible even in Party politics. Parties are not really in earnest — except for office. Politics is a game to both. The mimic warfare in the House of Commons is without reality. Social relations between political opponents (except in rare instances, when an individual Minister gets himself disliked by his own efficiency), even when verbal accusations of unpatriotic conduct are freely exchanged, are left untouched. The consequence of the unreality of political life is that no Member of the House of Commons can act as if he were really in earnest without being frowned on by both Front Benches. The cumulative effect of this subtle and silent process of surrendering political initiative by private Members is the gradual accre- tion of power in the hands of a few members of a Cabinet that itself is not invariably in earnest. When things go wrong, the House of Commons, which is really responsible, has shown itself impotent to produce a change for the better. Influence, to be effective, is exerted from outside. Hence the POLITICS A GAME 39 House of Commons has lost reputation in the Commonwealth. During the past twelve months repeated examples of the breakdown of the British Constitution in the inefficiency of the public service have occurred, not in one Department, but in many ; not in war only, but in diplomacy and domestic administration. Probably more people have been directly affected by the incapacity of the Post Office than by the lethargy of the Foreign Office or the blunders of the General Staff. The lesson is the same in all cases. The Postmaster-General is not appointed because he understands administration, much less because he is an expert in the business of conveying correspondence from one part of the earth's surface to another. The Marquis of London- derry, for example, was appointed Postmaster- General because he was a great peer, of high char- acter, large possessions, and, being disaffected to the Government of the day, his support was precarious. His representative in the House of Commons was equally ignorant of Post Office administration, and was also formerly disaffected to the Party in office. He is the Secretary to the Treasury, a Department bent on extracting from the Post Office all possible profit, in order that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, also a Party politician, may not incur the unpopu- larity of imposing more taxes upon the people because the Post Office is efficient. A politician's 40 IS CONSTITUTION TO BLAME ? interests lie rather in giving satisfaction to the heads of the Treasury than to the customers of the Post Office. Were the interests of the nation alone consulted, it is almost, if not quite, self-evident that the prin- ciple underlying the administration of the Post Office should be that of efficiency, not profit. There are two opposing interests. It is the interest of the nation that efficiency should be the first object of Post Office administration. It is the interest of the Treasury, as opposed to that of the nation, that profit should be the aim principally sought for by the Postmaster-General. Since the interests of the nation and those of their rulers clash, it is natural that the nation, not Ministers, should go to the wall, since power rests with them : not with the people. The chiefs of the Post Office being political officers and ignorant of their business, it is only natural that their subordinates, the heads of Departments, should take liberties which would not be allowed if the Post Office were worked with a single view to efficiency, and not with an eye to the political interests of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Party he represents. It is futile to complain of the system under which not only the Post Office but all the other Depart- ments of State carry on the administration of the country and the Empire. The only remedy to be GOSCHEN'S OBITER DICTUM 41 found is in refusing to allow phrases about the original principles of the British Constitution to be used as a cloak to cover the self-interest of clever men, and in holding Ministers personally respon- sible for the incompetence of their Departments. Mr. Goschen, on February 2, 1900, declared, that if the Cabinet goes wrong the Ministry must be cashiered, and added, "nor can we admit that any single Minister should be singled out for opprobrium." Here is the gist of the whole matter. No single Minister is to be singled out for opprobrium. They are to receive the pay of their office and social esteem, with the prospect of being ennobled ; they are to quaff the intoxicating draught of conscious power — but they are not to be held accountable for anything that does not involve the fall of the Ministry. This claim of irresponsibility by Minis- ters is naturally followed by the irresponsibility of the permanent officials, since the latter alone possess the knowledge which enables the politicians to wield power without public disgrace. This arrogant claim for individual irresponsibility, which has hitherto been tacitly conceded by a negligent and dozing public, goes to the root of the causes of our failures in South Africa, of our undelivered letters, and of the incapacity of our agents entrusted with our affairs in foreign countries. Individual respon- 42 IS CONSTITUTION TO BLAME ? sibility of Ministers and officials must be restored to the place from whence it has been filched by the self-esteem and self-interest of the Cabinet trades union. From the top to the bottom of the chain of bureaucracy, each link must be known. Individual responsibility is not inconsistent with the British Constitution — an elastic instrument in the hands of resolute and sensible men. CHAPTER V POLITICAL HONOUR Five -AND -FORTY years ago the British people were at war with Russia. Then, as in 1899, the nation began the contest with a light heart. Stocks and shares rose. It was anticipated that the speedy collapse of Russia would follow the declaration of war. Then, as in the Boer War, stupidity and incapacity occasioned the loss of thousands of valuable lives. Money was poured out like water. Ineptitude and incapacity of the Government Departments encouraged, if it did not cause, the Sepoy Rebellion, just as the spectacle of failure in South Africa encouraged the Manchu advisers of the Chinese Empress and the French advisers of the Ashanti tribes to embark on the task of evict- ing the foreigner from their kingdoms. In 1855 burning indignation was expressed by the public. Proofs of administrative inefficiency made people furious. Unable to make out the real causes of the untoward events that had taken place, they were nevertheless resolved to find victims on whom 44 POLITICAL HONOUR to wreak their resentment. In 1900 some of the people were angry, but there was no flood of passionate feeling. Tite Barnacle laughed at the talk of reform. The Press controlled the public, and was itself controlled by bureaucracy. Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne once remarked that " the nation has been made drunk by oratory and is kept drunk by newspapers." The complacency and indifference of the House of Commons to- day over the betrayal of the country's interests, by incapable administrators, contrasts with the patriotism of the Legislature in 1855. Lord Aberdeen's Government was destroyed in conse- quence of the administrative incapacity of its members. Lord Salisbury's Cabinet, which would probably have fallen if Lambton had not saved Ladysmith, is strengthened, not by the confidence of the people, but by his opponent's greater in- capacity and by the paralysis of the rich. In 1855, Mr. Roebuck proposed a Committee of Inquiry. Lord John Russell, a member of Lord Aberdeen's Government, who was before all things an English gentleman, preferred to encounter the virulent malevolence of partisan fury to tamely acquiescing in the country's disgrace. He resigned his place in the Government. Nobody resigns to-day. Nobody is invited to resign. The Committee of Inquiry was appointed in 1855 : it reported ; the DECADENCE OF PARLIAMENT 45 Government turned out ; and for a time the errors and neglect born of a long peace were carefully investigated and redressed. To-day no command- ing personality in the House of Commons on the Government side has dared to challenge Ministers on the palpable and humiliating failure of our operations in South Africa. Our vaunted transport arrangements were excelled by those of Spain in 1898. As is the case with the House of Represent- atives in America, the House of Commons has lost caste in the country. It has parted with the power of the purse to the Treasury. No longer is Govern- ment expenditure criticised, much less checked, by the popular Chamber. No longer is necessary expenditure on defence insisted on. Ministers are supreme. The old principles of the Progressive Party handed down from the Revolution of 1688, and held first by the Whigs and then by the men of the type of John Bright and Lord John Russell, have vanished. The House of Commons neither does its own business nor allows other people to attend to theirs. It meddles with what it does not understand, and neglects the duties it is elected to perform. The two principal reasons for this de- terioration of the House of Commons are, firstly, the decadence of political character, owing to the lowering of the standard of personal honour ; and, secondly, the corrupting influence of the present 46 POLITICAL HONOUR system of bestowing national honours on men who have neither served the State nor shown themselves worthy of Imperial distinction. Now for the proof of these statements. It is a simple question of ethics whether a man can be false during part of the day and in a portion of his career and straightforward and truthful during the rest of his time. Everyone can answer this for himself. I hold that if a man is habitually and deliberately false in politics, diplomacy, or business affairs, he cannot limit the taint he imparts to his character. That the barometer marking the stan- dard of political honour is now low, and is falling, is a fact that may be ascertained by contrasting the characters of the great men at the beginning and middle of the last century with those of our present rulers. Pitt, Canning, and Lord John Russell may be taken as types of the earlier and the healthier school of British statesmanship. Lord Goschen and Sir Michael Hicks Beach may be accepted as representatives of the modern school. Com- parisons are not only invidious but inaccurate. There is, moreover, one test by which the standard of political honour may be actually determined. In 1634, when Milton wrote the Masque of Comus, it was in keeping with the spirit of the time that a lady should publicly plume herself upon her purity. To-day such things are taken for granted. ECSTASIES OVER LORD JAMES 47 No one now compliments a lady on her chastity. What virtue is to woman, honour is to man, but if a public man to-day acts in an honourable fashion we extol him to the clouds because his action, like a fine picture by Velasquez or Bonington, is rare, and therefore prized. The most conspicuous example of self-sacrificing adhesion to principle displayed by a politician in public life in recent years is that of Lord James of Hereford, who, in 1886, renounced the woolsack because he was unable to join Mr. Gladstone in his Irish policy. Lord James of Hereford was an honourable man. He refused to market his principles for a coronet and a place. This act of Lord James Hereford, however, so amazed the public, that from that time to this he has been the recipient of praise expressed in language that implies that his conduct was too noble to be capable of translation into the English tongue. If Lord James of Hereford disbelieved in Home Rule, it is clear that he did his simple duty in refusing to accept pay and place in order to assist in a policy which in his heart of hearts he believed to be injurious to his country. If this be true, praise of Lord James of Hereford for not selling his honour in 1886 is insolence as gross as flattery of a lady because she is not un- chaste. The fact that Lord James of Hereford is incessantly praised for not selling his soul and his 48 POLITICAL HONOUR country supplies the missing standard of political honour in the present day. The fact of his sacrifice was noble; the fact that he is praised for it is of ill omen. No longer is honour taken for granted. How can it be? In politics elementary morality has evaporated. It is held to be honourable conduct to lie for the Party. If a man lies in other depart- ments of life, he is found out and shunned. How is it possible for a Minister to indulge in mendacity in the House of Commons, or in the Departments, and to keep the rest of his character in a water- tight compartment ? Falsehood in politics or else- where saturates the whole character. The essence of a lie is intent to deceive. In politics and diplomacy short-sighted people think that Machia- velli is the highest type of statesman. He is the lowest. Lord Pauncefote has succeeded where the Russian Ambassador at Washington has failed, because Lord Pauncefote is an English gentleman who tells the truth. The Russian Ambassador has economised it. American statesmen appre- ciate this fact. The same may be said of all our great Ministers and all our great diplomatists. Upon their characters, and not primarily upon their abilities, their achievements and reputations rest. In political life straightforwardness is the exception, but unfortunately the only people who CHARACTER IN POLITICS 49 are really deceived by British statesmen are the British public. Foreign nations are not deceived, because they spend a large sum of money in secret service in England to find out the truth of things. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that everything that Ministers conceal so carefully from the de- mocracy is well known to our Continental rivals. Why, then, make the lie in politics an integral part of public life? The following are recent instances of intent to deceive in public life which are but examples of things which show the deterioration of our rulers. As the naval service is by far the most important matter affecting the future happiness and the homes of the people inhabiting these islands, I will take a few examples of what I mean in connection with Parliamentary prevarication in regard to our first line of defence. In 1873, Mr. Goschen represented that we had fifty-one iron- clads. A few weeks later, Mr. Ward Hunt demonstrated that we only had fourteen efficient ironclads. In 1889 and 1899 a return of the ships of Britain, France, and Russia was moved for. In 1889, H.M.S. Warrior was struck out of the list by Lord George Hamilton because she was obsolete and inefficient. In 1899, H.M.S. Warrior^ H.M.S. Belleisle (recently sent to the bottom in 4 50 POLITICAL HONOUR eight and a half minutes), and a score of other ironclads were included in the Admiralty returns of efficient ships by Mr. Goschen, because the names of these ships would help to swell the list and delude the ignorant House of Commons, and still more ignorant public, into the belief that the British Navy was stronger than it really is. This matter was pointed out by Mr. C. M*Hardy. A few days after this was done, Mr. Goschen said that he had removed the Warrior and three of the other worthless ships from the list of the Navy. In 1900, Mr. Goschen said that he did not propose to build more ships, because the pro- ductive power of the nation would not admit of it. The Navy League addressed letters to all the most reliable shipbuilding firms and armour-plate manufacturers in the kingdom. These letters cannot be published, but I have read them, and I state as a fact that Mr. Goschen's statement was not only untrue, but that he might have known it to be untrue at the time he uttered it. He is made a peer. One firm alone, Messrs. Armstrong & Whitworth, expressed their willingness to enter into a con- tract for the construction, completion, and delivery of three first-class ironclad battleships and two first-class armoured cruisers, and this OFFICIAL MENDACITY 51 in the teeth of Mr. Goschen's unexpended balances of four millions and a half sterling that were voted in three consecutive years for warship construction. Is it not melancholy that University education, Parliamentary prestige, and Ministerial privilege should be enlisted by a politician in the front rank on the side of deceit and against the interests of the people and Sovereign of Britain ? With regard to the Army, the late Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne (who was lucky to be in Downing Street rather than Holloway for his neglect in maintaining the national reserves of guns and ammunition), said that only six more regiments were needed in order to maintain the efficiency of the Army. This was prior to the conquest and disarmament of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. Lord Lansdowne declared, after the two Republics had been suppressed and disarmed, that forty or fifty more regiments will be permanently necessary. Lord Lansdowne knew in 1896 and 1897 that forty or fifty more regiments were necessary to make us safe, but he did not say so. The public and Parliament, not the Boers or the French, were deceived, and we know at what cost. We have all experienced the humiliation of Continental pity and contempt, simply because Lord Lansdowne either did not know the truth, in 52 POLITICAL HONOUR which case he was incompetent, or did not dare to tell the truth, in which case he was worse than incompetent, and should have been dismissed from Her Majesty's counsels for ever. Officials who show the white feather in civil life are no more worthy of protection than officers who are afraid on the stricken field. In 1900, Lord Salisbury declared that he could not be expected to know before the war began, and did not know before the war began, the preparations made by the two Boer Republics, because the secret service money was insufficient for the purpose. He implied, in fact, that he had been refused what he asked for and knew to be necessary. As a matter of fact, he did get all the money for secret service that he asked for, and there was a balance unexpended, returned to the Treasury. A copy of the memorandum issued by the Intelligence Department of the War Office to our generals was captured by the Boers when they inflicted on our arms an ignominious defeat at Dundee. That memor- andum proved the Intelligence Department of our War Office to be marvellously well informed, and yet our Parliamentary representatives sent thousands of our soldiers to an unnecessary death because they had not the courage to ask the public for leave to make the necessary "HONOUR" OF STATESMEN 53 arrangements for grappling with the realities of the situation. And yet we talk of the honour of our statesmen ! If a few Cabinet Ministers who deceived the people were to meet with the fate of Byng, it might restore a healthy sense of honour to administrative circles. Lord Lansdowne and Mr. Goschen, it is true, inherited the accumulated evils of decades and even generations of red tape, but even this does not condone the crime of deceiving the people and neglecting duty ; whilst the cant of appealing to the "honour" of the politicians of the common stamp is nauseating to men of sense. After the Terrible Week in December when we were thrice badly beaten by the Boers, and it was necessary to do something. Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener were properly sent out on the personal initiative of the Prime Minister. Next day a communication was inserted in the newspapers by the Secretary of State for War, to the effect that Sir Redvers Buller was not super- seded and that Lord Roberts' appointment was not intended as a supersession. As a matter of fact Sir Redvers Buller was superseded, and Lord Roberts' appointment was intended to supersede him, because supersession was necessary. No one was deceived outside these islands. The answers given by successive Under 54 POLITICAL HONOUR Secretaries for Foreign Affairs on the subject of the Waima case have been innocently, so far as they were concerned, but notoriously false, with intent to deceive. 1 have already published repeated and specific instances of untruthful- ness in connection with the massacre of British officers and men on British soil by Frenchmen, and the neglect of our own Foreign Office officials to take any measure for obtaining redress. Every- one knows that the Foreign Office is untruthful ; the serious point is that nobody cares. Political falsehood does not pay in the long- run. The truthful statesman may be unpopular to-day and even to-morrow, but if he is patient and cares for his country he will prevail. There is a magic power in simple truth. The public prefer it. It is underrated by those who are unaccustomed to its use. One politician with truth on his side is as strong as a Party without it. The time has come for the British Empire to be trusted. The people can bear bad news, taxation, and disappointment, as no other nation can bear these things, because they are brave and proud, but they insist, first, that the truth is told them, and that lies are kept for our enemies ; and second, that their rulers shall not only be conventionally men of honour but honest men. CHAPTER VI IS OUR "HONOURS" SYSTEM TO BLAME ? The desire to shine affects Jew and Gentile, gentle and simple, alike. Ambition to be distinguished from the crowd, by fame, not notoriety, so far from being the last infirmity of noble minds, is the instinct of a manly and active nature. To render good service to the State is a privilege that does not come to many people, and there- fore the materialisation of national gratitude in the form of a titular distinction is a reward more highly prized than money or ease. Owing to the degeneration of directing ability in govern- ment during the last two decades, honours, as now bestowed by our rulers, are debased in value. Men who serve the State are ignored, while subservience to a Minister, the glozing tongues of unprincipled sycophants, sheer importunity, the distillation of a lake of new spirits or the brew- ing of an ocean of chemical, if not arsenical, beer 65 56 THE " HONOURS " SYSTEM too often extract from the Prime Minister a knighthood, a baronetcy, a peerage, or an Order. Since the number of people whose names are known to the public are but one in 5000, while the unscrupulous rich abound, it is easy to per- ceive why the fountain of national honours is permitted to irrigate more weeds than corn. One thing is necessary to enable importunate nobodies to obtain national decorations. It is necessary that our rulers should use the honours system as a perquisite of office and for their own political advantage. There is no failure to comply with this condition. To the bulk of the population the bestowal of honours is a matter of no importance. The Birthday List concerns them not. The chiefs of the Army, Navy, Diplomacy, and the Law receive their peerages and their pensions. In this way a sufficient number of fairly good appointments are made, to enable Ministers to reward sycophants and financial supporters in the same coin without exciting popular clamour against a too palpable adulteration of national honours. Ennobling Lord Roberts enables Government to ennoble twenty nobodies. The honours system has done as much to taint our public life as the habit of treating politics as a game. The government of the Empire is something more exciting than DEPRECIATION OF HONOURS 57 poker and more interesting than bridge, but it is to this day treated as a game. Against the bestowal of honours I have nothing to urge. On the contrary, it is manifestly a national advantage to be able to express the gratitude of the community to one who has served the State by merely rescuing his Christian name from obscurity, or by enabling him to take pre- cedence of the undistinguished. It is not against the grant of honours, but against the want of method and the atrocious system of conferring marks of the King's favour, that men of sense protest. Anyone who will concentrate his thoughts on the subject for five minutes will agree that the gratification of mere social ambitions, or reward of Party service by the same coin as that given to men who have per- formed service to the State, is wholly indefensible. The effect of the present system is deplorable. Incompetent or discredited politicians remain in Parliament by " elevation " to the Lords. A hundred years ago political jobbery was more unblushing than to-day, but the statesmen who guided Britain through the great French War were not sordid in their jobs, nor was the in- fluence of German Jews and unsavoury finance permitted to influence the decision of the Minister when creating a peerage or conferring a Riband. 58 THE "HONOURS" SYSTEM In our days the political thief is adorned by a cross. Formerly the cross was adorned by a thief. Mr Terah Hooley sent in his cheque to Her Majesty's Government for several thousand pounds. It was only to be cashed if he received a baronetcy. Our rulers, strictly according to precedent, were unprepared with a policy. While the policy was preparing, the cheque remained in the safe custody of one of Her Majesty's Ministers for weeks, thus proving that the purchase of baronetcies is by no means an unthinkable pro- position by the Front Bench. Both sides are alike. During the long peace, when it did not much matter whether or not politics was a game, there was no reason why the managing directors of the British Empire should not accentuate their indifference to national honour by confiscating national honours for their own purposes. Things are different to-day. If we are to remain a great Power, we must shed the habits that make for impotence. Rewarding the unworthy is one of them. Neither side in politics can escape con- demnation. The bestowal of honours in recent years has been a sordid farce. The Navy, upon which we rely for existence, is neglected in the Birthday and New Year Honours List, while Mr. Goschen, who neglected the Navy, is made a peer. The Foreign Office, which relies on popular DISTINCTIONS FOR UNFIT 59 ignorance for its life, decorates and beknights itself until it is a distinction to be an undecorated diplomat. Men with the manners of an organ- grinder and the morals of his monkey are selected for distinction, while the naval officer or gallant Indian civilian, fighting famine with his own life, with no thought but for his country and her fame, is passed over or forgotten. If a Liberal Prime Minister is blameworthy for requiting hospitality with a coronet, his Tory successor singles out financiers and men of pleasure for hereditary honours, while some of the newspaper proprietors and editors, who are supposed to be the watch- dogs of the public, tumble over each other in their eagerness to wear the plush of political servitude. It is interesting to watch the criticism of a news- paper knight on the politics of his patron. It is thus that public opinion is medicated, the springs of truth poisoned, jobs hushed up, and incapacity condoned — in the interests of a Government. Occasionally a man who receives a peerage without having earned it, rats, bites the hand that lifted the coronet to his scheming brow, and illustrates to the present generation the wisdom of ^Esop in the fable of the Snake and the Countryman. Anyone who knows the inner political history of our times will recognise the originals of the portraits from whom these examples are drawn. 6o THE " HONOURS ' SYSTEM Degradation of honours was immaterial when politics was a game. Ruling the British Empire has now ceased for ever to be a game. It has now become the most serious work of the strongest and ablest minds we can discover. Although our rulers have not yet discovered the fact that politics is no longer a game, the nation will soon open their eyes. The outlook is black as Erebus. If the ship of State is to live through the coming storm, we can no longer afford to give to idlers and passengers the rank and privileges of combatant officers. In almost every direction administrative incapacity is not only accepted as the normal condition, but failure to anticipate probabilities with intelligence is de- fended by our rulers, as if want of foresight were the act of God; stupidity is decorated, folly rewarded. Some of those who dispense honours, being themselves incompetent, naturally protect and reward incompetence ; while capacity and energy are looked on askance. Fossil officialism is submerged in the Order of the Bath. Bad social influences are brought to bear on the Lord Chancellor, on the Prime Minister, on the Secretary of State for War, and on other Depart- mental chiefs. The consequences are, that to-day the Bench of the High Court is manned by worse lawyers and weaker jurists than at any time THE SIMPLE REMEDY 6i during the last century; among the Ambas- sadors or diplomatic agents abroad are only two really able men — and both of them were brought in from outside — Lord Cromer and Lord Pauncefote ; the Post Office Administra- tion divides its attention between quelling mutiny and organising a breakdown. The House of Commons is incapable of performing the chief duties it is elected to perform, viz., to prevent jobs, control Ministers, and be master of the nation's purse, partly because far too many Ministerialists are agape for honours to enable them to act judicially and conscientiously as representatives of the people. It is a curious coincidence that space for burial in Westminster Abbey is exhausted just about the time that our breed of great men becomes extinct, and we resort to the practice of conferring distinctions on the undistinguished, in order to perpetuate the rule of the incompetent. The remedy is simple. Let the services of every man who receives a national honour be recorded and published at the time the honour is bestowed. When this has been done, the effect will be magical. All national honours should, and shall, if Britain is to recover her ancient place, be given on the same terms as the Victoria Cross — for services rendered to the State. CHAPTER VII OUR CASTE SYSTEM When the Aryan race, to which the English be- long, penetrated into India, they distinguished themselves from the non-Aryan population by the epithet twice-born, namely, those who have passed through a second or religious birth. The self-styled twice-born to this day symbolise their superiority by investiture with the sacred cord. The aborigines of India were dubbed by the twice-born the "once -born." The twice -born Aryans in India (as in England) became divided in the course of time into three classes: the sacerdotal class called Brahmans, the ruling military class called Kshatriyas, and an agricultural class called Vaisyas. A sub- class of the Vaisyas were the Zemindars or the landlord caste. The once-born were called Sudras. In England the Brahmans are the State clergy; the Kshatriyas are the Foreign Office, War Office, and bureaucratic oligarchy, and those 62 CASTE IN INDIA AND HOME 63 who by education at one of the five public schools and two universities are enabled to wear the sacred cord of privilege. The English Vaisyas include the peerage, baronetcy, landed gentry, and political capitalists who can buy nominations to Parliamentary seats or titular honours from a willing Government. The English Sudras are the men on the tramcar, and comprise everyone who does not belong to one of the three castes. In England, as in India, the system of caste which at present exists has modified its original form. The pure castes have disappeared, and out of the intermixture of the others have sprung innumerable classes. The man who keeps a gig, for example, is separated by an abyss from the cyclist, even if he has a free wheel, while, descending lower still, the East- Ender who purchases his nether garments — "kickseys" in the vernacular — from the barrow of a peripatetic vendor in the Whitechapel Road occupies an inferior position to the man who purchases a full suit of bird's-eye neckerchief, bell - mouthed corduroy pants, and big -button velveteen coat. These gradations of caste in the East End are as real as those higher up in society, where a duke with a Garter looks down upon a duke with no Garter, while a new peer is regarded by an earl who is the fifteenth of his line 64 OUR CASTE SYSTEM with much the same sentiment as a sergeant of the Guards looks at a recruit. So ingrained is the system of caste among that portion of the Aryan race which has settled in England that the efficiency of our public service is seriously imperilled by the artificial distinctions maintained in the interests of the few. In England, as in India, caste has sometimes de- generated into a fastidious tenacity of the rights and privileges of station. The antics of caste take different forms in the valley of the Ganges and on the banks of the Thames. In Bengal, for example, the man who sweeps your room will not take an empty cup from your hand ; your groom will not cut grass. A coolie will carry any load, however offensive, upon his head : to save your life, he would refuse to carry you. That is the business of another caste. When an English servant pleads that such and such a thing "is not his place," the excuse is analogous to that of the Hindu servant when he pleads his caste. When an English Zemindar (the landlord caste) claims the front pew in church, the top of the subscription list, and refuses to associate with a tradesman or mechanic, his act would present itself to the mind of the Hindu as a regulation of caste. In England, as in India, caste enters into the most ordinary relations of life, producing DOMINANT NOTE OF CASTE 65 tyrannical laws, incapable administration, and results too anomalous to admit of generalisation. Feudalism was but the hierarchy of caste, and in the relics of feudalism that remain we may diagnose the formalism or red tape which, more than brains or persistent efficiency, ensures to the British official an enduring tenure of his place of profit and distinction. In England the dominant note of caste is that its members constantly intermarry, and generally devote themselves to some pursuit, profession, trade, or industry. The great and prosperous Jewish nation, for example, is a caste, so far as intermarriage is concerned, and because it de- votes itself mainly to finance. It would be foolish to deny that, whatever may be its result- ing evils, the caste system is also beneficial in some aspects. A high-caste " twice-born " Englishman, for example, belonging to the Zemindar or Kshatriya class is generally ad- mitted to make a better regimental officer, governor of a colony or dependency, and leader of men than the average low-caste man. Occasionally, in India as in England, a pariah rises to the top. But an impartial survey of the performances of different classes of men shows that, when they can be shaken from their indolence and love of pleasure, the aristocratic 5 66 OUR CASTE SYSTEM class, of good lineage and worthy traditions, perform the work of leading men both more easily and more successfully than Sudras or underbred people, however deserving or intel- ligent. Why this is I cannot explain, but the desire to be led or represented by gentlemen, other things being equal, is universal, and there is therefore more sympathy between the working- class population and the gentlemen of England than between any other classes in the community. Tommy Atkins, as a rule, is hostile to the "ranker" officer. In the Navy, experienced bluejackets, who can work quadratic equations and manage a Maxim or run a torpedo, cheerfully take orders from a midshipman raw from the Britannia, A man of thirty-one has recently been appointed to the Governorship of Madras with the hearty approval of sensible folk. If he had risen from the ranks, no amount of ability would have justified the Government in giving him the control of thirty - five million people. Ruling men, like vine-dressing, olive-growing, or seamanship, is in the blood. For sixteen or seventeen generations Lord Ampthill's ancestors have ruled. The traditions of his house belong to the history of England. With the consent and hearty approval of all who know the facts, Lord Ampthill's appointment to the Governorship LEADERSHIP OF GENTLEMEN 67 of Madras is an infinite improvement upon the old style of professional Governor, who was often a needy political placeman, who cared nothing for his work except so far as he could save out of his salary. There is no caste in other countries who are hereditarily expected to serve their country in camp and court, and to serve her unselfishly. To that extent their caste system is an advantage to the British in sending worthy rulers to their distant Aryan cousins across the sea. The fact that the desire to be led by gentlemen is almost universal may be derided by theorists, but its truth is notorious. If we look at the vexed question of land tenure, there again the caste element enters, and is not wholly without its advantages. Political leaders have industriously fostered the misconception that English land tenure is a solitary exception to the rule of European land holding, and that the people are excluded from advantages that would be theirs if once the system were abolished. If we ask what form of land tenure is the best, the answer can only be given by finding out which of them contributes most to the sum of national happiness. The owners of the great estates are in a better position to contribute to the welfare of the residents than are the smaller proprietors. They 68 OUR CASTE SYSTEM help tenants at a pinch, and assist them to tide over bad times. As a rule, they have more capital than the small owners. They expend it on a system that becomes a family tradition. There is more economy of labour and material. Profit is little, and, occasionally, no consideration whatever to the owner of the great estate. The fact that the agricultural labourer has no rung on the social ladder on which he can place his foot is no refutation of the statement that much happiness and prosperity will pass away when the great estates are broken up under the knife and fork of legal confiscation. If in certain Departments of national life our caste system is beneficial, there are others in which it is distinctly injurious, and even constitutes a national danger. The leading case in point at the present time is the refusal of the Admiralty to raise the naval engineers from Sudras, or "once-born," to the ruling military Kshatriya class, who are the " twice - born." No naval engineer is on the Board of Admiralty, and yet naval engineers are as necessary to the Navy as the combatant officers. The fiction that the dangers to which the combatant officer is exposed are not shared by the engineers and other idlers, as they used to be called, has been again and again dispelled during the last twenty years. No one can imagine that if a first-rate DRAWBACKS OF CASTE 69 engineer had been a member of the Board of Admiralty the coal question would have been neglected as is now the case, or that the Com- mander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean would be prevented from executing the manoeuvres he con- siders necessary. Although the naval engineers are admitted to mess in the wardroom and the gunroom of men-of-war, the disabilities of caste remain. The plutocratic caste is a growing menace to our Imperial position. Many of these gentlemen have no roots in the land. They inhabit town houses, and, if they own a place in the country, it is for display. Their investments being mobile, they themselves are cosmopolitan. The influence they bring to bear upon Governments is noxious, because the British Foreign Office learns to recognise the interests of rich men as those which alone require attention. Thus it comes to pass that the interests of the rich and the poor are by no means always identical, and the diplomatic, naval, and military forces of the Crown are utilised in the interests of the plutocratic caste — a proceeding which may, and sometimes does, injure the bulk of the people of England. The material side of life is emphasised, the soul of the nation is shrivelled as the fronds of a filmy fern when exposed to the fumes of an acid. There is no element of caste more injurious 70 OUR CASTE SYSTE.M to the welfare of the Empire than that caste of cosmopolitans who cannot care for country because the faculty has disappeared, from disuse. Still, caste is rooted among us, and has come to stay. CHAPTER VIII OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY I. THE INFLUENCE OF SMART SOCIETY There is one element which has contributed so largely to our humiliations and to the cost of the South African struggle that it merits separate consideration. The calamities and humiliations we have recently undergone are not due to the action of any public Department or section of a Department in which employment is open to all comers duly qualified. The Commissariat, the Army Service Corps, the Transport Department, and, above all, the Company Officers and the private soldiers, have done splendidly. There is ample evidence to show that the Army Medical Staff have behaved like heroes in the field and have done their utmost for the health and comfort of their comrades. Scandals and breakdowns, when reported, are associated with Departments where privilege and the influence of cliques, caste, and smart society are predominant. 71 72 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY The Foreign Office is a close corporation. Nine- tenths of the foreign work of the country is done by the Consular Department, the pariahs of diplo- macy. The Consuls belong to a different social grade to the professional diplomats. The latter are recruited from a small and highly privileged class. The failures of our diplomacy before and during war are of recent memory. The seizure of the Bundesrath and the Herzog on false in- formation, their subsequent surrender under the humiliation of threats from Berlin, and the subse- quent revelations as to arms and munitions being supplied to the Boers by the Germans, would have been impossible if the Foreign Office were organised on plain business principles and worked by men who lost their occupation if they were stupid or idle, instead of being assured of protection by their social influence, no matter how stupid or incapable they proved themselves to be. In the same manner the higher branches of the British Army, which had become a great social machine, have also been annexed by smart society. The Queen's uniform, compulsory on the private at all times, is eschewed by the officer ofif duty. This privileged caste has egregiously failed to justify its monopoly of good Army appointments, and one reason why fitness and efficiency have been sacrificed in the higher branches of the Army is PSEUDOARISTOCRATS 73 because smart society exercises a greater influence over our rulers than considerations of national safety. II The best specimens of a race, whether among men, pigeons, orchids, or horses, are only to be found where the laws of breeding and of culture are carefully obeyed. Bad smart society, destitute of culture, and not remarkable for breeding, assumes too much in identifying itself with aristocracy. The two have nothing in common. If a word may be coined to describe them, " kakocracy " is the term more fitly to be employed in speaking of the bad smart set. To be spoken of as " kakocrats " may yet be their destiny. It is only necessary to remember the character- istics of the best of our old governing families, in order to show that there is nothing in common be- tween them and the libertines and triflers who wish to be mistaken for aristocrats. Renegades with historic names are to be found in bad smart society. But their presence no more invests the inhabitants of our modern Pare aux Cerfs with aristocratic dis- tinction than the visit of Judas to his paymasters imparted apostolic sanctity to the High Priest. Treachery to their order, by misconduct, may 74 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY perhaps bring down the House of Lords, but the defection of a few among them from their duty is fortunately too small to enable the ruck of smart society to make good their claim to identity with the aristocracy. German Jews are often more prominent in smart society than English dukes. His Grace the Duke of Norfolk has been pro- nounced to be " not in society " by one arbiter of fashion. The system of land tenure and of primogeniture, which have allowed great estates to descend unim- paired from one generation to another, may have its drawbacks. There is also another side of the account. It secures to those dwelling on the soil material and moral advantages greater than any that are promised under any alternative system, and it enables the heads of great families to take part in public affairs without the imputation of interfering in politics for what they can get out of it. To the real aristocracy of the country I look for a remedy for the disease with which our nation has been infected by bad smart society. The subtle meshes of public opinion appeal as power- fully to men whose names are honourably inter- woven with the history of their country as to their less prominent fellow-subjects. The pruning of olives in the plains of Lombardy is said to require a training of three generations. There is no reason GOVERNMENT A SCIENCE 75 to believe that the art of government is more easily acquired than that of olive-dressing. Hence the importance of bringing young men into Parliament and to Government who are independent, patriotic, and hostile to the financial schemers and their " smart " parasites, whose influence has introduced the blight into our national life. The irretrievable mistake that was twice made by the French — once after their revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and again on the occasion of their great Revolution — was the execution or exile of their best men. We have retained our good families. The smart set are the worst enemies of the aristocracy, because they and their financial parasites provide raw material for wars and revolution. If, however, the smart set is to be " scotched," the great families must renounce their policy of silence, refuse to sanction by their presence the social saturnalia of the smart set, and come forward in person to insist on a higher level of decency and behaviour in general society, and a higher standard of efficiency being exacted from our public servants. If they neglect their duty, they will fall with the rest. What I wish to point out is, that inefficiency in certain Departments is due to inequality of oppor- tunity ; that public servants are sometimes chosen by favour rather than for fitness; that if the Empire is to be stable, a new departure is necessary ; and 76 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY that the malign influence of smart women on public appointments must be ended at all costs. The fundamental change required is to revise our views of government so as to secure the ablest men of high character for the public service, irrespective of birth or wealth. Business men and business methods are despised by those who owe their positions in whole, or in part, to the intrigues of smart society. The consequences are inevitable : muddle and costly waste in time of peace ; death and disaster in time of war. To eliminate the irresponsible society element from government is essential, in order to attract to the service of the State intellects that now devote themselves to making and working the great railways, organising fleets of mail steamers, and administering com- mercial affairs on a great scale. There will always be room for the aristocrat in public affairs. English- men prefer (other things being equal) to be led by men of good stock. Financial intrigue has acquired too much influence in public affairs. To counteract the evil, we need the combination of business men and of the true aristocracy of the land, and the assertion by the middle classes of their lost rights. On these grounds the qualification of candidates for Parliament should be more closely examined than has hitherto been usual. Folk with axes to grind should be rejected. There are far too many OLD PRECEDENTS 77 lawyers in the House of Commons, and although some of them are good men and true (so far as a man can be good and true who lives by hiring out his intellect to either side in a dispute), we are almost as much in the power of the lawyers as of smart society. The Lord Chancellor, for no par- ticular reason, gets ;£" 10,000 a year, and ;£'5ooo pension for life. The Attorney-General receives about ;£"i7,ooo a year. Captains Percy Scott, R.N., and Hed worth Lambton, R.N., who saved Lady- smith, get pittances. Why ? Because the average M.P. is either too much afraid of smart society to fight against such absurd contrasts, or is so identified with extreme views that his opinion carries no weight. The national reform most needed to-day is not in the machinery of voting, nor even in the type of candidate chosen by the electors. It is that the sleeping Demos should wake, resume the management of. national affairs, and send idlers and triflers about their business — peacefully if possible — but send them packing. There is one custom which differentiates the gay world of London from all that has ever gone before. Every dead Empire has had its bad smart set. In Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, and under the two Napoleons, bad smartness contributed its quota to the ruin of a nation. Smart society has existed 7^ OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY for centuries in England. When the occupants of the throne were themselves licentious, and bad smart society was in the ascendant, the nation rotted visibly at the top. In the days of Elizabeth, however, smart society, so far from being uni- versally corrupt, rose to a high level of distinction. Men of action then filled the public eye. Patriot- ism was honoured rather than despised. Efficiency was the vogue. If at all times and in every land the smart set diced, drank, and danced, and revelled in the roses and raptures of vice, in the Empires that are dead, and even when Charles the Second was king, they travelled outside their own set to raise money for their pleasures. We have changed all that. Nowadays the money-lender and the money-monger themselves belong to smart society. They ruffle it with the best. No longer is it necessary for smart people with straitened means and expensive tastes to repair to the Ghetto for cash. The foreign Jew is found at their table ; he entertains them in return ; and supplies them with what they lack — for a consideration. Here let me be precise. I make no reference to good Jews of any land, and they are many. One gallant Jew, whose ancestors had dwelt two cen- turies in this country, died for England on Spion Kop — gave his blood and life to buy the freedom GOOD JEWS AND OTHERS 79 that is won for all white men south of the Zambesi. The foreign Jew in smart society did not go to the war. His feelings are under control. He takes no sides ; rules his conduct by his interests ; and exploits prodigals on terms of social equality. Fortunately for the foreign Jew in smart society, the recent wave of Imperialism has been so closely identified with the name and fame of Mr. Cecil Rhodes that the worst aspects of Semitic manipula- tion of African finance have eluded notice. Mr. Rhodes has interposed a great personality between some of his associates and public opinion. But for this fact, and the protection of the smart set, foreigners of a certain type domiciled in England might have met with an outburst of national indignation. Some of the alien supporters of bad smart society already attract attention. In December last, after one of our earlier disasters, I met a well-known Member of Parliament, with an historic name, in a state of burning indignation. " What is the matter? " said I. " Matter enough," he rejoined. " Tve just left ," naming a well- known German Jew hanger-on of smart society, " and he said, * I like dis news ; it vill gif a goot shake-out to shtocks — dat iss healthy.'" While the bodies of Anglo-Saxon and of Celt were lying unburied on the veldt under the African sun, this Teuton - Semite philosopher could see no other 8o OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY aspect of the reverse to our arms than that it would " give a good shake-out to stocks." The influence of bad foreign Jews on bad smart society is so real a danger to the Empire that it would be miraculous that the Press had ignored it, but for the remorseless control exercised by society and by Jews over the expression of public opinion hostile to them. The Anglophobe Press abroad is written mainly by foreign Jews. In numbers, in wealth, in power, and in subtle influence over the whole community, foreigners, both poor and rich, are increasing by leaps and bounds. Material success is as truly the god of the smart foreign Jew as it was in the days when his ancestors worshipped the calf of gold. Material success has never yet become the British ideal. These German Jews, who have already captured rather than earned so large a part of the good things going in England, despise the smart society they use as instruments for advancement. They will not intermarry with them. This island of aliens in the sea of English life is small to - day. It is growing. Rule by foreign Jews is being set up. The best forms of our national Hfe are already in jeopardy. Having studied this question in every country in Europe, I look with amazement and sorrow at the facility with which foreign Jew financial schemers have fastened on our parasitic and INFLUENCE OF ALIEN JEWS 8i greedy, bad smart set. Even the French, whom we affect to despise ; the Russians, whom we regard as children of the seventeenth century; and the Americans, who have no aristocracy, haughtily decline to admit moneyed aliens who unite rapacity with display into the best society of their respective countries. As a promoter or expert in the flotation of companies, in deluding the public by inflating worthless securities with an artificial and effervescent value, and in the art of using smart society, there is no equal to the German Jew. His success in England is imperial. His appetite for titles, decorations, and social recognition has been whetted by what he has received. His power, though unsuspected by the masses, is non-moral and immense. ,^ When we survey other nations and perceive \ how weakness, self-indulgence, want of fore- sight, self-respect, culture and industry are en- abling astute, industrious, or unscrupulous Jews to destroy the power of whole classes, as in Austria or in France, it is impossible to watch without a shudder the union of alien Jew finance with English bad smart society. Such a combina- tion bodes no good. Neither party is patriotic. One has lost by satiety the love of country ; the other has no country to lose. When the history of our times is written, the sinister partnership 82 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY between foreign Jews with powerful intellects and British smart society with empty pockets and powerful connections will be revealed. Both partners regard patriotism as fertile soil from which money is to be made ; they respect women so little as to find them out of place anywhere but in places devoted to feasting or repose. The home-life of the pleasured classes is disappearing. These people have too much influence on the State. No law can redress the evil except the highest of all earthly laws — that of self-preserva- tion. If the Empire is to last, our family life must be protected. Ill Before the French Revolution began or bromide was invented, unpaid peasants were compelled to flog the ponds all night, in order that the sleep of the seigneurie might not be disturbed by the croaking of frogs. We know the consequences. Privilege asserts itself in other ways to-day. It snubs the "Colonials," insults Volunteers, con- dones incompetence, shelves good generals and advances rich ones. It is successfully deceived by Dr. Leyds. It feasted and fawned on the Jameson Raiders. Privilege liked the Raid: said that it was Elizabethan, It takes pay and pensions for THE FAMILY 83 work it does not perform. It jokes and dines when men were dying for us in the front. It chatters idly in Parliament at the hour when prompt and drastic action is needed to save the State. Any smatterer can pen a readable jeremiad. Pessimism needs neither imagination nor ex- perience. The one qualification of sterile Cas- sandra in her exercises on the field of prophecy — where all are equal — is indiscriminate denunciation of our national life and character. Pessimism is needless in our present troubles. The surgeon's knife is useful only to cut the proud-flesh from an otherwise healthy national organism. Smart society is the proud-flesh in a body politic for the most part sound and wholesome. The diseased area is spreading. Excision is the only remedy. To diagnose the disease, we must ex- plore its symptoms and lay bare the evil. The unit of strong nations is the family. All legislation, habits, ideals, policy, or ambitions that increase the welfare and multiply the number of happy families are good for the nation. Things that stunt, belittle, or ridicule domestic life are bad for the nation. This is commonplace, but bedrock truth. Turkey is what it is, mainly be- cause the harem replaces family life in the upper or wealthier classes. The note by which bad 84 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY smart society may be recognised is its contempt for family life^ — its loathing of domesticity. Home is hell. The restaurant is better. Luxury and over-feeding seven days a week kill desire for aught else but feeding and luxury. Plays and music-halls, restaurant - dining, eternal card- playing, and the racecourse produce satiety ; and satiety of the senses is the tomb of honour. The art of conversation in smart society is extinct. Slang shibboleths, composed of baby- talk and Italian or French tags to the Queen's English, form the dialect of the smart set. Dis- reputable women, who affect the conduct of Lais without her graces, are among the leading spirits of smart society. When the morals of the poultry- yard flourish in the atmosphere of the stable, it is only natural that the intelligence of the jockey should be applied to the problems of Empire. To enter the charmed circle, neither brains nor breeding, birth nor influence, are necessary. All that is required is money, and then more money — with an insolent contempt for the laws that are the unseen foundations of civilised society. A " useful " adventurer thus equipped can buy his way into illustrious circles as easily as he picks up a yearling at Newmarket. Every now and then an explosion takes place, and the public learns with bewilderment that cheating at cards INFLUENCE OF PRIVILEGED 85 is not unknown in smart society, or that women who are courtesans in all but name are no more tabooed to-day than they were excluded from the Pavilion at Brighton in the days of the Prince described by Thackeray as " the First Gentleman and most finished blackguard in Europe." The secret influence on government wielded by this Comus rout of Circes, sybarites, cynics, and financiers is subtle and profound. It is re- vealed to the public only in its effects. Legisla- tion, foreign policy, taxation, is not always settled in Parliament. The real decisions are sometimes made elsewhere: in smart drawing-rooms in the season ; on Sundays in country - houses ; in boudoirs and restaurants. Is a man "straight," a girl modest ; do they decline to bow the knee to bad smartness? Their reputation and chances are destroyed by the janissaries of a smart society, always on hire at their own price. The wrong class of American women — people who are not received in New York or Washington — are pushed into what is seemingly, but not really, exclusive society. During the last ten years the speculative financial element has become prominent in places where formerly it was despised. These capitalists are not in society for their health. They are on the prowl. They spend freely. Their largesse is an investment. As the modern nabob is com- 86 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY monly of alien extraction and of Eastern origin, he regards his adopted country with Oriental detachment of mind. Schemes are pushed by the force of public enthusiasm for Imperial expansion, which is adroitly manipulated for the benefit of unscrupulous financiers and their hench- men. Smart women without character, men with- out self-respect, and an Administration too effete, or preoccupied, to see that England's greatness is slipping away from her, are the allies of this infamous confederacy. It is not the custom of the English people to make futile changes. Still, nothing less than structural alterations will avail. The House of Commons is losing self-respect as it sheds its traditional functions. Parliament will necessarily continue to sink in national esteem until it re- flects the character and brain of Britain, as well as it represents Irish discontent, and the capitalist, alcoholic, and social interests of the United Kingdom. Through the Press and a reformed House of Commons alone can the nation strike home at smart society. Men can do anything they like, if they only want it enough. When public opinion wishes to pronounce its verdict against infamy and licentiousness in high places, to forbid the manipulation by smart society of national affairs, it is certain that those who wish SACERDOTALISM 87 the end can find the means. Yet the heads of the great families maintain silence. To them the country looks for leadership and deliverance. IV Since character is the prime source of national strength, any evil influence sapping national character menaces national efficiency. In dealing with our ecclesiastical system in its effects on efficiency, I do so purely from a secular stand- point With the religious side of Establishment I have no concern here. Still, no examination of the causes that have led to the deterioration of character and decay of efficiency in govern- ment can ignore the gradual rise of sacerdotalism, the vast ambitions nourished by a large section of our State clergy, and the influence of those ambitions on our national life. From a moralist's no less than a statesman's point of view, there is much to be said for the Established Church. By no other conceivable system could be planted out in every parish a godly and learned man who, with his family, presents an example of refinement and orderliness that goes far to create and maintain, throughout all ranks, a high standard of decent and moral existence; so far as an Established Church increases morality, and 88 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY raises the standard of public conduct, it is an instrument for efficiency. When, however, the tendency of an Established Church is to weaken moral responsibility, to confuse the issue between right and wrong, and to blunt the sense of truth and honour in the common people, then the efficiency of the nation is impaired, because the springs of national character are poisoned at their source. In these days of rapid travel and universal half-education the national importance of the State Church is obscured, and the direct personal interest of each English citizen in the State Church is apt to be forgotten. The history of the Church of England, however, is so in- dissolubly interwoven with the history of England that it is impossible to ignore it. The fabric of the cathedrals and abbeys of Britain belongs to the nation, not to that section of the community which professes the Anglican doctrine. The bishops are Lords of Parliament, and as such are the rulers, not only of Anglicans, but the nation. The revenues and regulations of the Church of England are subject to Parliamentary control, and the Legislature is responsible for the conduct and consequences of our prelatical and sacerdotal system. A strong party within the Church of England denies the rights of Parliament, and denounces as Erastian all forms of secular con- CHURCH AND STATE 89 trol. Still, the fact remains that the bishops and clergy of the Church of England are officers of State, and are subject to State control within well-defined limits, in the same sense as officers of the Army or Navy are under discipline. They have a duty to the State. The archbishops and bishops are political appointments for which the Prime Minister is directly responsible, in the same sense as he is responsible for the appointment of the Commander-in-Chief, the Governor-General of India, or the Junior Lords of the Treasury. The interference of Parliament with the Church of England since the time of Henry VIII. is written on many pages of the Statute Book, enters into every chapter of national life, and for good or evil is a marked characteristic in English policy. The most prominent feature in the ecclesiastical organisation known as the Church of England is, that it is a Protestant Church. The Coronation Oath, which refers to little else, emphasises the Protestantism of the English Church. The suc- cession to the throne is limited to Protestants. The Reformation is the most conspicuous land- mark in the moral history of England. Arch- bishops and bishops are consecrated, and priests are ordained, subject to their acceptance of certain doctrines laid down in the Thirty -nine 90 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY Articles. Not until that adhesion is given are the temporalities bestowed on them. The bishops undertake to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word, and they swear that they will correct and punish unquiet and disobedient clergy within their dioceses. Every priest expressly swears on the occasion of his ordination to teach the people committed to his care and charge the doctrine and sacraments, as this Church and realm hath received the same. They undertake to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines, and they promise reverent obedience to their bishops, undertaking to follow with a glad mind and will their godly admonitions, and submitting themselves to the bishops' godly judgments. The nature of the doctrine of the National Church is set forth in the Articles of the Church of England, which contain the true doctrines of that Church agreeable to God's Word. To these doctrines all clergymen subscribe. So far as my argument is concerned, the creed set forth in the Articles of Religion accepted by the State clergy is a matter of no importance. What, however, is of public concern is the fact that a large pro- portion of the State clergy, not only repudiate the doctrines to which they have subscribed, but teach their congregations the very creed THE FETTERS OF A CREED 91 they have expressly sworn to abjure. The 28th Article, for example, declares that Transub- stantiation cannot be proved by Holy Writ and is repugnant to Scripture, and that the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped. The 30th Article declares that the Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people. The 24th Article declares that it is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God to minister in a tongue not understanded of the people. The 31st Article declares that the sacrifices of masses were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits. The teaching of the most powerful section of the Anglican priesthood on those subjects is notorious. A considerable, if not the most powerful, section of the Church of England, including both bishops and clergy, accept and teach the doctrine of the Mass. They believe in the reservation of the Sacrament. They mumble the services to the people, that they may not understand, and they teach the doctrine concerning purgatory, pardons, worship, and adoration as well of images as of reliques, and also the invocation of saints, which they have expressly and solemnly repudiated when they signed the 22nd Article of Religion. If these things were done by the priesthood of 92 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY a sect or incorporated religious body dealing with their own property, the dishonour of such conduct would not be a national concern. Since, however, the English Church is an integral part of the English nation, the dishonour or untruth- fulness of State-paid ecclesiastical teachers is a scandal affecting the national character too in- timately to be ignored by anyone who considers for a moment what are the true foundations of national efficiency. The example of a priesthood accepting stipends and holding benefices under express contract to teach one doctrine and reject another, and then teaching the doctrine they have sworn to reject and denouncing the doctrine they have sworn to teach, necessarily results in the natural conse- quences of intellectual dishonesty. Too many of the bishops are in open or secret sympathy with their clergy, to enforce discipline. The direct consequence is, therefore, a divorce between religion and conduct. I am not presuming for a moment to suggest whether the Ritualists or their opponents are right or wrong. This is irrelevant. My single object is to point out that the character of the nation must degenerate where the clergy, or a large portion of them, are palpably and publicly dishonest. A clergyman who is receiving pay for teaching a doctrine which he DOCTRINE AND CONDUCT 93 believes to be untrue, and which he spends his life in denouncing, is precluded from teaching the principles of honour and straightforwardness, notwithstanding saintly or ascetic conduct. The lives of these clergymen are many of them self- sacrificing, filled with missionary energy, and burning with sacerdotal enthusiasm ; but, as they are not straight themselves, they cannot teach their congregations to be straightforward. Truth and honour are the two bedrocks of English efficiency. There are only two remedies for this state of things. One is to alter the Articles and re-cast the doctrine of the Church of England ; the other, to disestablish the Church and enable the priests to teach what they like. It is not possible to urge that non-Anglicans have no interest in the Church of England. This is a matter which deeply concerns the British Empire and every citizen in it at home and abroad, because the English Church is a part of the English nation, because the rulers of the Anglican Church are the rulers of the Empire, and because Parliamentary responsibility for the teaching of the State Church is inalienable, since Parliament is the final tribunal to which the Church and the nation alike can alone appeal. Whether the doctrine of the Church should be revised or the Church dis- 94 OUR MORAL INEFFICIENCY established is a matter of opinion upon which I will not venture to touch, but I appeal to the common sense of the people of England, to forbid the poisonous scandal of the present condition of the Anglican Church from contributing further to the degeneration of English character. The history of England is the history of defiance to the claims of sacerdotalism, and the priests who to-day claim powers that were taken from them, for good reasons, by our ancestors are supported by funds provided for the most part for the purpose of breaking sacerdotal aggression. Re- sponsibility for our moral inefficiency is largely attributable to the corrupting influences of foreign financiers and ambitious priests on silly women. CHAPTER IX OUR PHYSICAL INEFFICIENCY I. THE CULT OF INFIRMITY ^ TltB -^st element of efficiency is health. Since tiie majority of the English people took to living in»streets, with all that that means to health, their dependence on physical fitness for bread, defence, wages, and Empire has increased rather than dimin ished. Towns swell and villages empty, Wlour rulers continue to adapt the administra- tifm of an Empire that must either grow or die to'the systematic manufacture of infirm citizens. Unlike the Boers, we create a fighting machine out of a small and carefully chosen corps (Tdite, The maintenance of British interests could not be entrusted to men taken at random from the great towns. The vigour of the male population of the Transvaal was such that they contemplated without emotion a meeting with the flower of the British Army. A quarrel between two nations, 95 96 PHYSICAL INEFFICIENCY one of which lives mainly in the open air, and the other mostly in streets and tenement houses, suggests the reconsidering our own attitude towards the unfit. xneTiarvests of recent years have been reaped in "iiiany counties by bronzed veterans of fifty or^j»ore and by boys of fifteen. Country-born lal^»rers in the prime of life are now white- fa«©d workmen living in courts and alleys, for arsenical beer is independent of barley or hops, an^ wheat is bought more cheaply from pro- Bofics than it can be grown at home. This ppecess of village depopulation is unceasing.^ Wh^»' the present generation of elderly ajpculturists is extinct, it is difficult to imagine the source from which their places will be filled. ^ir the causes of the rural exodus I will not touch. Its effect on the stamina of our people, ai*d especially on the efficiency of our defenders, is s\ifi&ciently interesting to all who consider the raipid physical improvement of rival nations under ^ In 1884, 8,484,730 acres of corn under cultivation in United Kingdom. In 1898, 7,400,335 „ In 1884, 15,290,820 acres of permanent pasture. In 1898, 16,559,392 In 1884, 66,910,443 cwt. of wheat and wheat-meal and flour imported. In 1899, 194,297,767 cwt. of cereals and flour imported. AGRICULTURIST VANISHING 97 a system of general conscription antU protected agriculture. Even the education of ench. " Further evidence exists, however, as to the absence of any doubt on the English side as to the position of Waima. The papers and correspond- ence of the late Captain Lendy, D.S.O., one of the officers who lost his life at Waima, are now in the possession of his mother, Mrs. Lendy, Riverside House, Sunbury-on-Thames. These papers prove that the continued encroachments of the French into our territory not only led to the unfortunate encounter at Waima, but the fact of the trespass was commented upon by Captain Lendy in letters sent home prior to the unfortunate catastrophe. The following is a passage from one of his letters on the subject : — " * I am off to the bush to-morrow ' (he wrote hastily). * I am going up to Kuranko, and shall put police posts to within seven miles of the Niger. Hope we shall have an expedition. I have a nasty job before me, as rains are not over. My journey may give rise to some steps being taken, as the French are trying to grab our territory, and have the intention of doing what I am about to do. I hope to be in time. The French also wish to fight the Sofas, and so claim more land "by right of conquest." I am now going to work to the back of the Sofas, and place posts so that the French may not come farther. In dry season troops can go up and drive the Sofas, if necessary. It is a difficult and dangerous mission.' 176 OUR WORST DEPARTMENT " As the official defence of the French action at Waima has hitherto rested mainly on the assump- tion that the position of Waima was a matter of doubt, no less to the English officers engaged than to the French, I venture to point out that not a tittle of evidence is forthcoming in support of this allegation. On the contrary, the whole of the evidence available shows that Colonel Ellis's statement to Her Majesty's Government, to the effect 'that Waima is well within the sphere of British influence is, I think, beyond question,' was shared by the officers under his command. Under these circumstances, the reply of Mr. Curzon to Sir Charles Dilke's question in the House of Commons on the 1 8th of March last, if it be accurate, is not only not sustained by any evidence to which I have had access, but rests on evidence that has not been divulged. Mr. Curzon said that *the consider- ations which led Her Majesty's Government to this conclusion are the facts that, whatever the subse- quent geographical determination of Waima, its locality at the time of the incident was equally unknown to both the French and the British parties ; that the French also lost an officer and several men, and that the question has ever since, with the consent of both parties, been included among more general negotiations' {Times, March 19, 1898). If, however, there were any doubt, which I dispute, as to the fact that the position of Waima being well within the British boundary was known to the British expedition, such doubt was removed by \ WAIMA 177 the authoritative delimitation of the territory in question by Major Grant. At the present time, the fact that the conflict took place on British soil is not controverted, while such doubts as were subsequently raised in England as to the position of Waima cannot fairly be alleged to have been shared by Colonel Ellis and his officers. " The logical inference from these facts is that the French Government is responsible to the British nation for the actions of Lieutenant Maritz. But it is said that the whole affair having arisen out of a mistake, it is impossible to treat the matter in a litigious and hostile spirit, as would be justifiable only if the attack of Lieutenant Maritz had proceeded from malevolence or design. A moment's examination of this contention will show the fallacy it contains. The British officers and men killed by the French were killed, as everyone admits, by accident, carelessness, or mistake on the part of the French officer. The plea of accident, however, whether as regards private or international affairs, is no bar against such redress as may be found equitable under the circumstances. No railway company would be allowed to plead accident or mistake, if loss of life occurs through the negligence of a pointsman or the recklessness of an engine-driver. The British Government has not entered any such plea in respect to the claims of the French Fathers at Uganda. The French, therefore, are liable for damages in respect of the Waima affair. 12 178 OUR WORST DEPARTMENT " There may, however, be reasons of State which prevent the British Government from prosecuting their titular rights to indemnity and apology. With this branch of the subject I do not presume to deal. It may well be imagined that information is in the possession of Her Majesty's Government which renders it advisable to treat the Waima affair as one of a series of events that must be settled en bloc. It is true that the payment of ;£" 10,000 to France by the British Government, in respect to the claims of certain French Fathers at Uganda, makes it difficult for a private citizen to understand why the French Uganda claims are settled without demur, while British claims, the justice of which rests upon impregnable and unchallenged evidence, are repudiated by the French Government as far back as September 14, 1895. " From documents in my possession I am able to state that in 1895 the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, then Her Majesty's Ambassador to the French Republic, was not acquainted with the strength of the British case ; and that, before seeing the French Minister for Foreign Affairs on the subject. His Excellency's mind was charged with the theory, that the fact of some French soldiers and officers being killed at Waima exonerated the French Government from responsi- bility in reference to the claims of the relatives of the British slain. In order that there may be no doubt whatever upon this point, I quote from a letter in my possession, written by His Excellency WAIMA 179 on August 28, 1895, and addressed to Mrs. Liston, the widow of Lieutenant Liston : * In the unfor- tunate affair of Waima some French soldiers and officers were killed, and the French may urge that unless the English Government takes into con- sideration the claims of the French widows and children, it cannot entertain any corresponding claims on the part of English sufferers such as yourself. I submit this consideration to your notice, in order that you may not entertain any unreasonable expectation in regard to the results of the efforts I propose to make on your behalf.' It is not surprising that when His Excellency the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava spoke to the French Foreign Minister on the subject of the Waima affair, the French and English statesmen found themselves of one mind. The Marquis of Dufferin, writing to Mrs. Liston under the date of Septem- ber 14, 1895, says: *I have taken an opportunity of speaking to the French Foreign Minister about your petition, but, as I was certain would be the case, he said that as they had made no claim on behalf of the widows and children of their officers, they could not entertain any claim on behalf of ours.' " I respectfully submit that if the British Am- bassador had been properly instructed on the facts of the case, or even supplied with a copy of Colonel Ellis's despatch of the 25th December 1893, and still more if the evidence supplied by the late Captain Lendy's papers and correspondence had i8o OUR WORST DEPARTMENT been procured by the Foreign Office and supplied to the Paris Embassy, it would have been impossible that such a needless and premature surrender of the British case could have been made, before the official delimitation by Major Grant had finally determined the actual position of Waima. Since, however, Her Majesty's late Government relinquished in 1894-95 any idea of pressing the French for the indemnity justly due to the families of the slain, and left to their successors the responsibility of reviving the claim, their action in that respect cannot be held as jeopardising or diminishing the claims of the families concerned. As all of them are ladies, ignorant of the strength of their case, and inexperienced in dealing with Government Departments, they have been too hasty in accepting the statements made to them by the permanent officials of the War Department as to their position in the matter. The three families for whom I am concerned are those of Mrs. Lendy, Mrs. Liston, and Mrs. Wroughton. " With regard to Mrs. Lendy, the following facts set forth her position : — Mrs. Lendy lost both her sons in the service of the State. One died on active service near Buluwayo ; the other, a member of the Distinguished Service Order, was not killed in action, but shot down at Waima. On the 31st of May 1894, the War Office wrote to Mrs. Lendy as though she were the mother of an officer killed in action, and on the 22nd of May in the same year this lady was refused a pension, on the WAIMA i8i ground that she was not mainly dependent for support upon her son. Since Captain Lendy was not killed in action, but was the victim of the mistake of a reckless French officer, I respectfully submit to your consideration whether Mrs. Lendy's claim for an indemnity in respect of the brilliant and unfulfilled career of her son being absolute as against the French Government, is not equally absolute as against the British Government. If> for reasons of State, the latter refrain from pressing the claims of British subjects slain by accredited officers of the French Republic, Mrs. Lendy's claim is neither destroyed nor im- paired. " With regard to Mrs. Liston, her case is more pressing, but not more important, than that of the other ladies concerned. She is a widow with three children. She has been awarded a pension of ;£^I25 a year, on the theory that her husband was killed in action. He was not killed in action. Lieutenant Liston, in the ordinary course of events, would to-day have been a Major. He was a man of considerable parts, and, I under- stand, was looked upon as a promising officer by his superiors. An indemnity, therefore, not only in respect of the rank he held at the time of his death, but that which he might reasonably have expected to attain, is the only satisfaction of an equitable settlement of Mrs. Liston's claims. Had her husband died in defence of his country, and fight- ing for his Queen, however narrow the circumstances 1 82 OUR WORST DEPARTMENT in which his children might have found themselves, they would always have been able to look back upon their father's death as the most glorious by which a British subject can end his life. No such privilege is theirs. I ask on their behalf, and that of the widow, that Lieutenant Liston's family may be compensated as though he had died in a railway accident. " With regard to Mrs. Wroughton, I may state that she has been refused compensation, as in the case of Mrs. Lendy, but on the ground that she is in receipt of a pension from the India Office. Lieutenant Chard ine Wroughton was the only son of his mother, and she is a widow. The injury inflicted upon Miss Wroughton, who earns her living as a typewriter, by the death of her brother, is one upon which I need not enlarge. It is a real injury, and as such should be in- demnified by the British Government, in default of action on their part for the recovery of redress from France. Mrs. Wroughton, furthermore, received the following letter from Lord Rose- bery. It is written on Foreign Office paper, and is not marked private : — * February 12, 1 894. — I cannot but be deeply moved by your letter, and, little as it may seem, I beg to offer you the profound sympathy that I have felt for the relatives of those who fell in the deplorable affair at Waima, ever since I heard of it. But sympathy is intensi- fied by what you tell me, for I did not know how utterly bereaved you have been. You may WAIMA 183 be sure, however, that no one is more impressed by that catastrophe than I, and none more determined that it shall be probed and examined to the uttermost.' Everything has been probed but the pocket of the French Republic. Mrs. Wroughton has naturally construed Lord Rose- bery's letter as containing an official promise that something should be done. Nothing has been done. The expressions of barren sympathy of which she was the recipient from the late Government need no comment. " As it is now the fifth year since the occurrence of the Waima affair, I venture respectfully to express the hope that Her Majesty's Government will take into their favourable consideration the case of the widows, orphans, and other relatives of the British slain. — I am. Sir, your obedient humble servant, "Arnold White. "The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., " Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies." The answer received to the above was as follows : — "Colonial Office, '' April 21 y 1898. "Dear Mr. White, — Mr. Chamberlain desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of even date, urging that compensation should be given to the widows, orphans, and other relatives 1 84 OUR WORST DEPARTMENT of the British officers who were killed by the French at Waima on the 23rd December 1893, and to say that the matter is receiving con- sideration at the hands of Her Majesty's Govern- ment. — I am, yours very truly, " Ampthill." At the time of going to press, February 1901, the Waima affair is still unsettled, the case having been referred to an arbitrator of Belgian nationality. Belgium is a country saturated with Anglophobia. The grant of ;£"io,ooo to the French Fathers who lost their clothes and furniture at Uganda was not made the subject of arbitration, but the cash was paid by England to Cardinal Vaughan on behalf of the French Government. The Irish and Roman Catholic influence brought 'to bear upon the Government in the case of the Uganda affair accounts for the difference of treat- ment between the Waima and Uganda incidents. When British lives are lost on British territory by French magazine rifles, in the hands of French regular troops, the matter goes to arbitration, after seven years ; but when a few French priests lose their goods and chattels, England pays up without demur. CHAPTER XIII THE CONSULAR SERVICE Nominations for the Consular Service are wholly a matter of favouritism, and the Foreign Minister has power to exempt from examination whenever he pleases. In the case of a non-favoured person whom he has been obliged to nominate, a political supplementary examination is always insisted on. On examining the Foreign Office List it will be seen that a large proportion of Acting-Consular officers have passed through no examination. Some of the very best appointments in the service, including those of Consul-General, are held by men who have passed through no examination. As stated in the chapter on the Foreign Office, the Consuls really perform the main bulk of the necessary international work between nations and nations without which the world's business could not go on. Ambassadors are chiefly creatures of luxury and convention. In Consular appointments relationship to a Parliamentary Agent or connec- tion with some political magnate who served the 185 1 86 THE CONSULAR SERVICE Government were sufficient to supersede all other claims, although the favoured individual may have had no claims at all. On one occasion an im- pecunious foreigner was appointed to a most desirable post because he was a relative of a Parliamentary Agent. The system of appointing Consuls and settling their emoluments is indefensible. England, as a commercial country, really treats her Consuls, who are the agents and protectors of her commerce, worse than various other nations treat their Consuls, and much worse than England treats her diplomats. In the Consular Service the Foreign Secretary names a single man for a special vacant post. He does this on account of the special interest he feels in a certain candidate (on account of electioneering supporters or private relations), or because the candidate is backed up by political supporters or men of political and general influence, who may have good and may have bad reasons for pressing a candidate on the Foreign Secretary's notice. If the Foreign Secretary names such an individual for a Consular appointment, it is then in his option to insist on an examination of such candidate if he pleases. If we look at the first nine Consuls in the Consular List, only three passed through the examination. The Consul at Naples, for example, has one of the best appointments in the Consular COST OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 187 Service, and he was named and appointed Consul without any examination or any previous service. Mr. Roberts, of Barcelona, who has one of our best Consulates, also passed without examination, and a perusal of the Foreign Office List will show numbers of others. Many candidates contrive to get into the Consular Service by going abroad and getting engaged in Foreign Consulates as clerks. Then they get made Acting Consuls during the absence or leave of the Consul. Sometimes by interest, a death, or by the change of superintending Consuls, they get made Consuls. The whole Service wants reorganising and putting on sound lines. The Consuls really do the bulk of the necessary international work of the country, and the Consular body, amounting in all to 11 00 indi- viduals, cost the country some ;£" 18,000 a year, while the Diplomatic, who are quite unproductive, and who number 160, cost the country some ;£'269,ooo. The yearly cost of the Foreign Office Service is worked out thus : — Diplomatic Service ;i^269,5oo Foreign Office 74>482 ^343,982 Whole Foreign Office Service . . . ;^437,3i8 Deduct Diplomatic Service and Foreign Office 343,982 For Consular Service jC93i33^ 1 88 THE CONSULAR SERVICE But of this £93,436 the Consuls provided by fees £7Si039 in 1898-99, therefore the whole cost of the Consular Service to the country was £93A3^i minus £7S,039, which equals ^18,397. But the whole Diplomatic Service contains only about 160 members, while the Consular Service, including Vice-Consuls, contains about 1 100. Therefore the average cost of Diplo- matic, equals ;£'i68i each per year; average cost of Consular Office equals £i8y los. each per year. A brief summary of the duties of Consuls will show that the office is no sinecure and that the successful and efficient performance of the work calls for the display of business ability and tact which will alone ensure for England the respect and consideration of other countries. Consuls are maintained by the State in foreign countries, for the protection of its trade and vindication of the rights of its merchants. They are also required to keep the Home Government informed of all facts bearing on the commercial interests of the country. An English Consul should be conver- sant with the laws and general principles which relate to the trade of Great Britain with foreign parts, and with the language and municipal laws of the country wherein he resides. Further, it is his duty to protect his countrymen in the CONSULAR DUTIES 189 lawful exercise of their trade, to quiet their differences, to obtain the redress of injuries done to them — failing which, to report the matter to the English Ambassador at the capital of the country — and to forward to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs an annual return of the trade carried on at the different ports within his Consulate, as well as a quarterly account of the market prices of agricultural produce during each week of the quarter, the course of exchange, etc. The Consul must afford relief to British seamen or other subjects wrecked on the coast, and en- deavour to procure them the means of returning to England. The commanders of British warships touching on the coast are entitled to call on him for intelligence, and aid in procuring supplies of water, provisions, and the like ; and it is his duty to endeavour to recover all wrecks and stores of Queen's ships, whether found at sea . and brought into the port at which he resides, or thrown on the coast. A Consul can perform all the acts of a notary-public, all deeds executed by him being acknowledged as valid by our courts of law. The conscientious fulfilment of all these duties, many of which are arduous and have to be done in a trying climate, is no easy matter, and cannot be performed in a haphazard or careless manner. These duties involve attention to detail, and it is I90 THE CONSULAR SERVICE careful attention to detail that makes perfection. Consuls are divided into Consuls-General, Consuls, Vice-Consuls, and Consular Agents. Those men in the lower branches of the service should be per- mitted to know that their advancement depends entirely on the ability which they may show in their particular work and on their steadiness and good conduct. In the United States, literary and scientific men are frequently appointed to important Consulships abroad, Hawthorne and Bret Harte having, for example, been Consuls in Britain. In the British service the names of Charles Lever, William Stigand, Gifford Palgrave, and Sir Richard Burton are modern examples of such appointments. Consulships, as is well known, are much sought after, and largely filled by Jews. The tenure of office, although unpaid or remunerated with a pittance, carries with it a certain amount of social distinction, which is, after money, the one thing most eagerly sought after by many of the Children of Israel. Great Britain was recently represented at Frankfort, Vienna, and Berlin by foreign Jews, who were paid wholly inadequate salaries for the duties they had to perform. While on this subject, it may be said that little good will be done in the extension of British trade while so many of the Consulates are filled by foreigners. It is tolerably ALIENS AS CONSULS 191 certain that when Parliament accepts this view, and insists on the Consulates being filled by men of British birth, the number of Jews displaced from office will be sufficient to raise the cry that their supersession is the result, not of necessary trade policy, but of anti-Semitism — a charge that will be wholly without foundation. Jews make excellent Consuls when their interests and patriotism are engaged. Another disadvantage, perhaps largely due to our copious resort to the use of foreigners as Consuls, is Consular neglect of little traders and Consular toadyism towards big men. Thus many of the aliens who are appointed as English Consuls will go out of their way to serve a correspondent of an influential newspaper, in the hope of getting a " puff," while they turn a deaf ear to the require- ments of the small commercial man, although the latter may have important information to impart. But where our shortcomings are most clearly seen, is in comparing the class of men we employ with those employed by our great rivals, the Americans and Germans. The English Consuls in Berlin and Vienna are wealthy amateurs ; the German Consuls in London and Manchester are men academically trained in the science of national economics, and are versed in every detail connected with the commercial life of the nation to which they are 192 THE CONSULAR SERVICE accredited. Although Germany is a parvenu State, these gentlemen are imbued with the same patriotic spirit that was commented on by Colonel Stoffel in his memorable letters to the French War Office in the year 1869. They watch their national interests zealously. Once upon a time this was a marked characteristic of English officials abroad. This was before England was so largely repre- sented by foreigners, who are often unpaid, and while toadying capitalists neglect the poor men whose interests are not invariably identical with those of Dives. Consuls and diplomatists, in the first place, and before everything else, should be taught to tell the truth and practise straightforwardness. Hitherto, our Foreign Office has deceived the British tax- payer whom it ought to protect, and told the truth to rivals and enemies whom it ought to deceive. That art, which is called by some finesse, and by others diplomacy, has been used by the Foreign Office against their own countrymen. Bismarck showed that simplicity was more useful than astuteness, and that words are more usefully em- ployed when they accurately express the thoughts of a speaker or writer, than when they are used for purposes of dissimulation. One defect which runs through the whole of the Civil Service, namely, the absence of means for CONSULAR INSPECTION 193 dealing with inefficiency, which falls short of positive misconduct, also permeates the Consular Service. One of the greatest advantages enjoyed by private employers is that of dispensing with service that has become worthless. The State enjoys a super- fluity of worthless service, more especially in con- nection with the Foreign Office Department. What is wanted is more rigorous inspection. The best Consuls welcome it ; the worst strenuously resist it. Periodic and frequent inspection is necessary to keep all official organisations up to the mark. A strong sense of responsibility cannot be maintained otherwise. No censure of action or conduct should be attempted which is not well-founded and care- fully thought out. Both the Diplomatic and Con- sular Service should be taught to understand that their daily doings are carefully watched, and that while no interference with detail will hamper their action, dereliction of duty will be visited by prompt and stern measures of discipline. The lowest Consular Agent should be taught that he may rise to the top of the diplomatic tree. Appreciation of ability and the provision of opportunity to rise are essential features in successful administration. England in her foreign business continues to employ agents who repeatedly fail in achievement. Disaster is the inevitable result. The following is a statement (taken from the 13 194 THE CONSULAR SERVICE Foreign Office List) of the foreigners in the Consular Service: — Foreigners. Total Consuls-General. 9 out of 48 Consuls (Salaried) . 13 » 131 Consuls (Unsalaried) . . 19 » 43 Vice-Consuls (Salaried) . 15 » 98 Vice-Consuls (Unsalaried) . .207 „ 459 Consular Agents .... . 29 „ 49 I also append a list of some of the names of the unsalaried Vice - Consuls, showing the extent to which the British Empire is dependent upon aliens who are presumably affected by the Anglophobia of their respective countries for the transaction of Imperial business abroad: — Tavares Bisani Keun Bredenberg Reinhardt Studart Perez Kallevig Ponzone Diaz Gomes Matas Westenberg Hunot Steinacker Calocherino Enhoming Thiis Franco Christiansen Ganslandt Dimos Bendixen Tamponi Palander Lelievre Espitalier Muniz Naftel Fugl Sommerschield Breslau Lundgren Armeni Tomassini Galea Briglia Becker Schenck Santos Glas Parelius Vitali Verderame Behncke Douek Tavares Leonard! Jortin Catoni Schmidt Soucanton Deeposito Capety Schmidt Trifim Fauquier Del Rio Robilliard Keun ALIEN VICE-CONSULS 195 Giglio Weidner Bolinder Marino Bulow Cafarelli Pereira Burchardt Bresmes Consiglio Van Neck Ivens Dahl Abela Audap Sundt Schjolberg De Garston Neess Cassinis Myhre Felice Terras Michovsky Trifiletti Gautray Reichlin Pietsch Bergh Urioste Eliopulo Tonietti Leao Aparicio Toro Haag Akermand Westerberg Borg Rasmussen Calzado Joannidis Missir Placet Fleischmann Jacobsen Bucht Creel Padinha Pernis Bustamante Pecchioli Rosenlew Serpa Fontein Klocker Guardiola Schilthuis Monefeldt Berentsen Wolff Hahn Charlesson Soderbergh Yanes Hayemal Jeffes Finne Bruns Lietke Vogt Funch Korsraan Kessler Klein Costa Wolffsohn Nielsen Ravander Cricelli Bathen Leondaritti Muus Wahlberg Bemer Ohngren Holmboe Castro Alexachi Van der Goot Hollesen Hansen Sveaas Andorsen Lucan Micklasiewitz Joergensen Rizat Johannsen Wacongne Kolster Schoedelin Wingren Pieroni Renck Podeus Pieroni Amador Freitas Hockert Nathan Romaguera Niessen Kjeldsberg Larrea Hedengren Wikestrom Wallberg Giaver Christenson Roig Cerda Keogh Puntervold Kraunsoe Abrahams 196 THE CONSULAR SERVICE Bodecker Flensburg Schimmel Fernandez Roden Scheie Van Dyk Krogius Ladenburg Quintana Grech Siricius Devaux Dussi Ohlerich Falck Helander Reygersberg Schwarz Ceccarelli Schembri Escudero Canepa Abela I close this chapter by stating our most recent experience of the effects of the union between un- paid Vice-Consuls and Foreign Office inefficiency. One Hodgkinson, an unpaid Vice-Consul, was taken into custody on the 5th of November 1900 for having in his possession, without lawful excuse, a Government code -book for foreign telegrams. This code -book contained secret instructions as to how to communicate with the British Admiral in the event of the outbreak of war. It will be scarcely credited that when this Vice-Consul was dismissed, the Foreign Office official responsible for taking over Government property never asked Hodgkinson to surrender the Government code- book. He "didn't think it necessary to do so." This fact was sworn to by the witness Gurney at the Old Bailey Sessions on November 5, in reply to questions put by me as Chairman of the Grand Jury. And yet we are told that inspection of the Foreign Office system is out of the question " on public grounds " ! CHAPTER XIV THE TREASURY " I say that the exercise of its powers in governing other Depart- ments of the Government is not for the public benefit." — Lord Salisbury, January 30, 1900. The British Constitution suffers from fatty de- generation. This is shown in all the administrative Departments. Chief among these is the Treasury. Inefficient in itself, despite the intellectual capacity of many of its clerks, it is the cause of inefficiency in others. The Treasury clerk may use the language of Joseph to his brethren: "Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and also stood upright ; and behold, your sheaves stood around and made obeisance to my sheaf." The Treasury governs every Department of the Government. It claims a voice in all decisions both of administration and of policy. Cabinet Ministers, nominally supreme in their Departments, are impotent unless they can ensure the support of the 197 198 THE TREASURY Treasury. Its powers have increased, and are increasing, until Parliament itself in certain directions is impotent. In the old days the Lord High Treasurer had the custody of the King's money. So great was his political and social influence that James I., in 1612, cannily put the office into commission, just as Peter the Great dealt with militant ecclesiasticism by the Holy Synod. The Treasury Board now consists of four Lords Commissioners and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The First Lord has no Depart- mental duties. The three Junior Lords have as much to do with the British Treasury as with that of China. The Treasury is now no more than a name. That is our way. Formal docu- ments run in the name of " My Lords," who do not exist in fact. The real power rests with industrious, able, and ambitious clerks. There are two Secretaries, both of whom are usually Members of Parliament. The Finance Secretary is specially responsible for Civil Service estimates ; the Patronage Secretary is the chief Whip of the Party in power, conducts negotiations with importunate title-hunters or office-seekers, and attends to correspondence relating to appoint- ments. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is a political officer of the highest rank, is largely in the hands of the permanent officials of the TREASURY PERFECTIONS 199 Treasury, who enjoy high reputation for ability, employment in the Department being regarded as the Blue Riband of the Civil Service. The Treasury regards all other Departments, not only as inferior to itself but as ne'er-do-weels. It looks upon them as prodigals, if not as licen- tious squanderers of national funds. When Mr. Chamberlain went to the Colonial Office, it was fully expected that he was about to develop the Colonial Empire by liberal, systematic, and wise expenditure on the Crown Colonies, conducted on business principles under his own experienced direction. Little has been done. The Treasury stepped in. The Colonial Office has been severely criticised for the absence of men of Colonial experience from its ranks. The Treasury, not the Colonial Secretary, is the hindrance. Great obstacles are placed by the Treasury in the way of Colonial Office men desiring to serve in the Colonies. I have shown that one rejoinder of the mandarins of the Foreign Office to the criticism hurled at their heads is that the Treasury is to blame. The Foreign Office is vain and inefficient, manned by clerks with less knowledge and more self-esteem than those in the Treasury ; but in common justice it must be said that the incompetent persons who find themselves in the second - class diplomatic 200 THE TREASURY posts are kept there by the obstinate refusal of the Treasury to provide funds to let them go. Some of the " diplomatists " employed by the Foreign Office abroad are so incompetent that it would be cheaper for the country to pay them their salaries and let them stay in England. The omnipotence of the Treasury is thus not exercised for the public benefit. The Treasury Jove sanctions nothing that he can refuse. Its influence on the Post Office, Admiralty, War Office, Foreign and Colonial Departments, is mephitic and blighting as the fumes of sulphuric acid on orchids. The Treasury kills initiative, destroys ambition, neutralises ability, baffles fore- sight, and stretches to the length of its procrustean bed the best and the worst. When a great question arises, needing the exercise of high skill and great knowledge, it is decided, not by the Department which possesses the knowledge, but by the Treasury. The consequence is, that the Treasury has come to be regarded by the other cowering Departments as Mount Sinai was looked on by the Jews in the time of Moses, but without valid grounds for so doing. The result is that all the public Departments are not only tied and bound with coils of their own red tape, but the tape-coils of the Departments are further compressed by the cooperage of Treasury red TREASURY MIGHT 201 tape. As water is to wine, so is the red tape of the Departments to the red tape of the Treasury. When the office of the Lord High Treasurer was placed in commission, it was not contemplated that the two ultimate effects would be, firstly, to withdraw power from Parliament, people, and from Ministers, by placing the supreme direction of the Empire in the hands of a financial papacy ; and, secondly, to make a policy of drift and laissej" faire the only policy for average Ministers. A thousand years ago the Treasury was contained in a box, and the Lords of the Treasury were the people who kept the key or sat on the box. They have generally sat on it tightly ever since when they should have opened it, and they have opened it when it should have been shut. It is apparent to business men that a system under which four officials out of six composing the Treasury Board have nothing whatever to do with the Treasury is a bad system, because misleading to the public, productive of red tape, and tending to concentrate and increase the power in the hands of an anonymous and irresponsible bureaucracy. The most important duties of the Treasury are to look after the high finances of the country, and to assist the Minister of Finance with its knowledge and advice. Annual surpluses are manufactured by the bogus estimates of the 202 THE TREASURY Treasury officials. The country is made to believe that it is more prosperous than it really is, and the acumen and moderation of the Chancellor of the Exchequer is the subject of recurring paeans of praise from editors who desire knight- hoods, written at the instance of proprietors on the prowl for a peerage. The advice of the Treasury to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in our time has been unfortunate. Sir Michael Hicks Beach took off a tobacco tax only to put it on again within a couple of years. The aban- donment of the stamp duty on contract notes in respect of sales of produce is another feat performed by the Treasury. Every English subscriber to the Greek Loan had to pay i per cent, more than the subscribers in either of the other two guaranteeing countries. Step by step and year by year the Treasury has gnawed at the authority of Parliament, and undermined the autonomy of the other Departments, until its power has become overwhelming and dangerous. War has revealed the danger. Treasury finance is dangerous ; its control irksome but in- effectual. But, with all its power, the Treasury is no effectual safeguard of the public purse. The scandal in connection with the purchase of land on Salisbury Plain for War Office purposes would NETHERAVON 203 have been denounced in every other country but our own as a piece of corruption. Under Treasury auspices, and with the assistance of two statesmen of the highest honour, the taxpayers were made to buy land at three times its value under all the forms of law. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, who calls his critics " liars," will be unable to deny that the sale of the estate, of which he was owner, to himself, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, at double or treble its value in the open market, was an operation that did not redound to the credit of the Treasury. The forms of the accounts pre- scribed by the Treasury in respect to the purchase of Salisbury Plain were of an unsatisfactory character. But the Treasury is an abstraction, and cannot therefore be held to account. In- dividuals in the Treasury — they are unknown to the public — are responsible for the scandal of Salisbury Plain. The public has been assured, on the highest authority, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is innocent in the matter. We may conjecture, therefore, that the miscarriage of the War Office land purchase may be attributed to the same mysterious power which was re- sponsible for disbanding batteries of artillery, which were restored at enormous cost a little later. Various Acts of Parliament have increased the 204 THE TREASURY power of the Treasury, until it has been practically withdrawn from any effective control by the Cabinet. Forty years ago Mr. Anderson, then principal clerk, said that the source of all adminis- trative authority for expenditure was the Treasury. Mr. Anderson added : " The right of the Treasury to determine what the civil Departments may spend and what they may not spend, though modified occasionally by certain special enact- ments, is incontestable, and rests upon an un- broken prescription, which has, accordingly, the force of law." So far from saving money by the exercise of despotism, the Departments are driven into extravagance by over-regulation. The Post Office, which is popularly supposed to be under the control of the Postmaster-General, is merely a Department of the Treasury presided over by a Treasury clerk. No expenditure is authorised until the Treasury is consulted. Postal expansion is stunted. Ministers of State confess in private how their blood boils at the interference of the Treasury. On the platform they may cut a gallant figure ; in their Departments they are but henchmen at the beck of the Treasury Depart- ment. They wear the collar of Gurth. One of the means by which the Treasury has consolidated its extra Parliamentary power has been by planting out its clerks in other Depart- TREASURY COLONISATION 205 ments. Treasury clerks are the permanent heads of the Post Office, the Customs, the Inland Revenue, the Mint, and even the Exchequer and Audit Department. The result is, that the Treasury itself is chiefly manned by self-confident striplings, of whom not even the youngest is infallible. In the public service these lads com- bine omnipotence with levity, run the Empire by regulating the Colonies on strict Treasury lines, and • persuade themselves that what they do not know never happened. The Treasury not only monopolises the power to sanction ex- penditure voted by Parliament, but has the power to sanction expenditure which has never come before the House in any shape or way. On June 10, 1899, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, of whose compulsory liberality to the owner of the Netheravon estate I have spoken with a freedom that once characterised Parliament, at first posi- tively refused to make a grant of any compensa- tion to the families of the British officers who were slain by the French at Waima. Consider- able pressure was brought to bear upon the Minister. On December i, 1899, Treasury purse- strings opened, in spite of the Ministerial refusal in the previous June. There was no reason for the change but importunity. The Waima case is but an instance. It involved only a sum of 2o6 THE TREASURY ;^200, which, safely invested, gave Qd. a week to the suffering families. In the previous year, however, the Treasury sanctioned ;£^6o,335 ex- penditure by the Admiralty, not a penny of which ever came before Parliament. When the Admiralty took possession of the Bay of Wei- hai-wei, it suddenly occurred to them late in 1898 that they had not got Wei-hai-wei itself. The Treasury bought the town, cash on delivery, for ;S^i4,897, 17s. 46. Uncontrolled power is bad wherever it exists, and the uncontrolled power of the Treasury has been increased to such a point that at this moment no less a sum than i^8,ooo,ooo sterling is withdrawn from the con- trol of the House of Commons, and in respect of this large sum the representatives of the people are unable to move the reduction of a half- penny. Sir Michael Hicks Beach, who is one of our worst if one of our strongest Ministers (pace that little affair on Salisbury Plain), speaking at Bristol on May 16, 1900, was very angry because he found himself charged with obstruct- ing the War Office and Admiralty in reference to preparations for the war and in naval con- struction. He referred to these statements as "lies," and, presumably, to all those people who have given them currency as liars. As I am one SIR M. H. BEACH 207 of the people responsible for stating, on the best evidence, that the construction of British warships has been retarded and delayed, and as I am not in the habit of writing anything anonymously to which I am afraid to put my name, I can only state that the evidence upon which I made this statement is better than any evidence I possess that Sir Michael Hicks Beach made a speech at Bristol contradicting it. Now, the essence of a lie is intent to deceive. So far from there being any intention to deceive, I desire nothing but the truth, and I imagine that if the truth were to come out about the influence of the Treasury on the War Office and Admiralty preparations for the war, and on the general state of the Navy to-day, the Treasury system would be upset, that it would be deprived of uncontrolled and irre- sponsible power, and brought into line with the requirements of good administration. The fact that Sir Michael Hicks Beach's constituents pass resolutions of indignation and disgust at his critics proves nothing. Even his own ipse dixit emanates from a fellow-creature. Those who have followed what has been written will appreciate the impossibility of organising and maintaining military and naval strength on sound administrative lines, and with due regard to economy under present conditions. 2o8 THE TREASURY We must trust somebody to spend the national money. The proper people to trust are not the Treasury clerks but the Departments concerned, and we must take care to put the right men in charge. The Treasury never goes out of office. Individuals change; bureaucracy continues until the deadening influence of its ideas dwarfs the efforts of able men in other Departments to establish efficiency in the public service. During the last few months Anglo-Saxons have watched the process of consolidating Empire by the federation of the Australian colonies. Nowhere is the baleful influence of the Treasury more apparent in stunting Imperial development than in its dealings with the question of inter- Imperial communication. Left to private initiative, the bounty-fed German steam services to Australia and the Cape are destroying the profit, and therefore diminishing the speed, of the English services carried on by the British steamship companies. Any thoughtful man with a touch of imagination can see for himself that at this critical juncture of our relations with Australia, a wise Minister would foster any and every means of communication which would abridge the distance by hastening the speed of com- munication between the mother country and the Commonwealth. The Postmaster - General THE PREMIER'S BITTER CRY 209 is a mere figurehead, and is impotent. The expenditure of ^100,000 a year (which might easily have been saved if the Uganda Railway had been placed under the management of a competent man, instead of a Foreign Office clerk) devoted to establishing Atlantic rates of speed by the mail steamers to Australia, would do more to increase the good feeling and material gain of the Australian and British publics than anything to be thought of. The Treasury stands in the way. These un- travelled " honours " men in charge of the national purse — men who do not know their Empire — know that the power of England has passed into their hands. They act like chetties in an Indian bazaar: they think in coin. Ministers are im- potent. Lord Salisbury bemoaned his impotence, but, maddened with the Treasury, he blurts out, " I say that the exercise of its powers in governing other Departments of the Government is not for the public benefit. The Treasury has obtained a position in regard to the rest of the Departments of the Government that the House of Commons obtained in the time of the Stuart dynasty." After Lord Salisbury said this, Sir Francis Mowatt tendered his resignation, and the Prime Minister withdrew his imputation on the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his Chief of 14 210 THE TREASURY the Staff. Everyone was satisfied — except the nation. When, therefore, debates take place in Parlia- ment, and leading articles are written on questions of policy, the Treasury laughs to scorn the de- baters and the writers, because the real power rests with the Treasury clerks. A strong man is needed to take away from the Treasury the power it has usurped, and to restore that power to Ministers who can be held personally and directly responsible to the House of Commons. The Chancellor of the Exchequer poses in public as responsible for the Treasury. He is responsible, in the sense that a cork is responsible for the action and direction of a mill stream on which it floats. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is a puppet who knows nothing and can do nothing without the assent of the great financiers and the able and omnipotent bureaucracy behind him, which has gripped John Bull by the throat by monopolising the power of the purse. No better evidence of Treasury omnipotence is required than the Prime Minister's tremulous recantation of the heresy that dropped from his mouth when, in a brown study, he blurted out the naked truth. Perhaps he, a financial Cranmer, will one day revoke his former recantation, and finally stand by the Protestant doctrine of national finance to TREASURY OMNIPOTENCE 211 which he has once set his hand. However this may be, the first element of change in the path of administrative reform must be the extrication of national business from the Stuarts of finance, by trusting each Minister in charge of a Depart- ment with the amount voted on the Estimates. CHAPTER XV THE COLONIAL OFFICE The Colonial Office is one of the two chief nerve centres of the British Empire. The other is its neighbour — the Foreign Office. The origin of the Department is buried in no distant past; it is a mushroom of recent growth, and only assumed its present form in the latter half of last century. In former days Colonial business was transacted along with other affairs of State. During the earlier period of British history there is no mention of a secretary to the Sovereign. Until the reign of Henry ill., English kings transacted or bungled their own affairs. The earliest reference to the appointment of a great public officer to assist the Crown in the administration of home and foreign affairs was in 1253 ; not until 1607 is the first actual use of the title of " Secretary of State " found in English archives. In the forty - third year of Elizabeth, Lord Salisbury's ancestor, Sir Robert Cecill, as the 212 ITS ANCESTRY 213 name was then spelt, was styled " Our principal Secretary of Estate." His coadjutor, John Herbert, was described as one of " Our Secre- taries of Estate." Although the greater portion of the Colonial Empire is recent, Britain has possessed colonies since 1583, and Lord Salisbury's ancestor was concerned with Colonial affairs. At the end of the seventeenth century, in addition to the New England colonies and South Carolina, Britain possessed St. Helena, Gambia, the Gold Coast slave-trading stations, the Bermudas, Jamaica, Barbadoes, New Bruns- wick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The affairs of these colonies were overlooked by the Secretary of State until 1768, when increased business, arising from the troubles in America, led to the appointment of a principal Secretary of State for the American or Colonial Depart- ment. This appointment was only maintained for fourteen years. When the Colonial policy of George III. culminated in the independence of the United States of America, no further use was found for the principal Secretary of State for the American or Colonial Department; and, at the instance of Mr. Burke, an Act was passed in 1782 ingloriously abolishing the office. At that time the two other principal Secretaries of State divided the duties of government between 2 14 THE COLONIAL OFFICE them, the one administering the " Northern," and the other the "Southern," Department. In 1782 the terms " Northern " and " Southern " were discontinued, and the present nomenclature was adopted of the Home and Foreign Departments, the affairs of Ireland and the Colonies devolving upon the elder of the two Secretaries. On July II, 1794, after the series of the five great wars with France was well in progress, and colonies began to come under the flag, a Secretary of State for War was appointed, and the largely increasing business of the Colonies, which hitherto had been carried on in the Home Office, was nominally transferred to him. For sixty years — that is from 1 793 — the business of war and the administration of the Colonies were performed by the same Minister, and an object lesson on the intimate association between the Departments of War and Colonies was thus given for two genera- tions of our national life. Only in 1854 was the business of a Secretary of War separated from that of the Colonies. The Crimean fiasco liberated the Colonies when it was found that a great European war required the undivided attention of one whole Minister. Mr. Chamberlain's predecessors at the Colonial Office, from 1794 to 1899, have been in number forty -six; till 1854 they were Secretaries for War and Colonies. To make this brief de- COLONIAL OFFICE HISTORY 215 scription of the genesis of the Colonial Office in its present form completely accurate, it should be stated that the French War which was begun in 1793 was managed by the Home Department, but the very next year Mr. Dundas (afterwards Lord Melville) was appointed Secretary for War, and also nominally Secretary of State for the Colonies ; but the Departments of War and the Colonies were v^ot effectively united until 1801. The British Board of Trade, which was formerly known as the Committee for Trade and Foreign Plantations has ceased to have any connection with Colonial affairs since 1794. In the earlier half of last century control of the Colonies was an appointment regarded with scant favour by ambitious politicians. The post of Secretary for War and Colonies was generally offered to and filled by men on their promotion, who entertained but scanty interest in Colonial affairs. When Lord Palmerston, for example, was appointed Minister in 1809, he is reported to have addressed one of the permanent officials on his first visit to the Office in the following words : " Let us come upstairs and look at the maps and see where these places are." Later on, and indeed until the Seventies, no Colonial Minister made any mark on his generation. " These places " have now become the hope and strength of the British 2i6 THE COLONIAL OFFICE Empire, and public opinion regards the Colonial Secretaryship as the chief place in the Cabinet, with the exception of the Foreign Ministry and the Premiership. The Colonial Minister is one of the five principal Secretaries of State, the others dealing with home and foreign affairs, India, and war. His task is enough to weary Titan. He is directly concerned in the details of forty distinct and independent governments. In addition, there are a number of scattered dependencies under the dominion or protection of the King which do not possess regularly formed administrations. The line of demarcation between the duties of the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Minister re- sponsible for Foreign Affairs has never yet been accurately determined. For example, the British North Borneo Company, the Somali Protectorate, British East Africa, the Niger Coast, and the Uganda Protectorates — and until recently the Royal Niger Company — remain under the super- vision of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, while the Transvaal is the care of Mr. Chamberlain. Confusion, easily avoidable, arises from this method of dealing with different territories in Africa, and a considerable body of expert opinion has recently arisen which thinks that a Secretaryship for African affairs should now be created, for the same SCOPE OF RESPONSIBILITY 217 reason that a Secretaryship for India was ap- pointed in 1859. In addition to the forty distinct and independent governments for which the Colonial Secretary is responsible to Parliament, there is the Chartered Company of South Africa, a body which of late years has provided enough work for any ordinarily intelligent and industrious Secretary of State. Of the forty administrations to which reference has been made, eleven have elective assemblies and responsible governments. The remaining twenty -nine are under the more direct control of the Colonial Office. Colonies with responsible governments appoint Agents-General, who live in London, and who are, in fact, Ambassadors of the young nations. No small part of the duties of a Colonial Secretary consists in negotiating and conferring with these Ambassadors, whose growing influence dates from the first Colonial Conference of 1887. Few important decisions affecting the Empire are taken without consulting them. The constitutional position of the twenty - nine administrations for which the Colonial Secretary is directly responsible may be divided into three categories. First, the four colonies or possessions which have no Legislative Council, namely, Gibraltar, Labuan, St. Helena, and Basutoland. Secondly, the sixteen colonies where the Legis- 2i8 THE COLONIAL OFFICE lative Council is nominated by the Crown — that is, by the Colonial Secretary. Thirdly, the nine colonies where the Legislative Council is partly nominated by the Crown. Cyprus, which is not a British possession, but is legally subject to the Sultan, is also administered by the Colonial Office. It will thus be seen that the duties of the Colonial Minister, if efficiently performed, involve not only the possession of great business ability, but also the assistance of a highly trained and competent staff. The necessity for a separate staff for the administration of the Colonies and the assistance of the Secretary of State came home to our rulers in 1794, when the first part of the great French War, which added to the debt ;£'2 26,000,000, gave Ceylon and Malta to the Colonial Empire. When the second part of that war ended — which further raised the debt by ;^27 7,000,000, adding Tobago, St. Lucia, Mauritius, the Cape of Good Hope, Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice to British dominion — the position was somewhat similar to that of the United States to-day, where, in addition to the work connected with Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of State has become respon- sible for a new set of American possessions. The assistance authorised by Parliament to the Secretary of State for the Colonies is as follows : — The Parliamentary Under Secretary, who must THE STAFF 219 sit in one of the two Houses of Parliament, holds an office constituted in 18 10. With the exception of the seven years from 181 5 to 1822, this appoint- ment has continued ever since. If the Colonial Secretary is in the House of Commons, it is usual to appoint a peer as Parliamentary Under Secretary. In addition to the office of Parlia- mentary Under Secretary, an Assistant Under Secretary was appointed in 1 847 ; a legal adviser was added in 1867, this functionary being made an Assistant Undersecretary in 1870; a third Assistant Under Secretary was appointed in 1874 ; while two years ago a new post — that of Assistant to the Legal Assistant Under Secretary — was created. The whole of these high officials of the Colonial Office are staff officers, selected under the patronage of the Secretary of State. The subordinate administrators consist entirely of highly educated university men, who are ap- pointed to the Colonial Office after being tested by the severest examination to which the intellect of our public servants can be subjected. The establishment of the Colonial Office thus consists of — The Secretary of State. A Parliamentary Under Secretary. A Permanent Under Secretary. Three Assistant Under Secretaries. 2 20 THE COLONIAL OFFICE A Legal Assistant. A private secretary to the Secretary of State, with three assistant private secretaries. A Chief Clerk. Twenty-four principal and First Class clerks. Twenty-nine Second Class clerks. A large staff of copyists, who, by the way, are lady-typewriters. Messengers and temporary writers. The twenty-four First Class and principal clerks of the Colonial Office to-day are without exception men of mark. All of them are university men, and twenty-one out of the twenty-four possess the highest university degrees. Their intellectual culture is equal to that of the most competent and best known administrators of the British Empire ; and although Mr. Chamberlain himself is not a university man, and was not educated at one of the great public schools, it is noteworthy that every one of his lieutenants who bear the burden and heat of the struggle to administer the Colonial Empire are public-school and university men. Some of them are Balliol men, and owe to Dr. Jowett their intellectual outfit. Dr. Jowett's pupils take a leading place in the government of the British Empire. India, South Africa, and the House of Commons are each under the leadership of Balliol men. The qualifications which have POWER OF KNOWLEDGE 221 led Mr. Balfour, Lord Curzon, and Sir Alfred Milner to success are similar both in kind and degree to those possessed by the twenty-four principal and First Class clerks among whom is distributed the everyday administration of the business of the Colonial Empire. These twenty- four nameless representatives of the mother country are interesting both in themselves and as the effective portion of the machinery of government. They are "The Office." However Colonists, foreigners, or the public may talk of the Crown, Parliament, the Cabinet, or any other form of control of Colonial affairs, the mother country is concentrated and personified in these twenty- four gentlemen. It might at first sight be supposed that the power of "The Office" is exercised only by its chief. In its present occupant we have one of the most eminent of our public men, the strongest personality, and perhaps the most capable administrator of our day ; but it is erroneous to suppose that the high officer of State who holds the seals of the Colonial Depart- ment wields the power generally attributed to him. The average tenure of office of a British Colonial Secretary of State is under two years and four months. It is not to be supposed that a new Minister, who is immediately called on to consider many questions of the greatest magni- 222 THE COLONIAL OFFICE tude, and to arrive at hundreds of decisions on details involving local considerations of which he is ignorant, can exercise a wise discretion unless he leans upon the judgment of expert subordinates, each of whom, therefore, personifies the mother country to thousands and even to millions of fellow-subjects upon whose faces he has never gazed. The Parliamentary Under Secretary is as new to the business as his chief. It is thus evident that, except in matters of high policy involving new departures, the Colonial policy of Britain is largely directed by the permanent members of the Office staff. When the Colonial Secretary's personality is as strong as that of Mr. Chamberlain, the spirit of the chief is infused throughout the whole staff. But a strong Minister is rare. A large number of our Colonial Secre- taries were plain men who had the good sense to know their own ignorance. An amusing instance of this was blurted out by the late Lord Blachford, who, as Sir Frederic Rogers, passed eleven years of his life as permanent Under Secretary at the Colonial Office. In an interest- ing letter to Miss S. Rogers, he writes : " I like my chief (Lord Granville) very much. He is very pleasant and friendly, and I think will not meddle beyond what is required to keep us clear of political slips." Now, Lord Blachford was a DR. THRING'S CONCEPTION 223 Little Englander. He regarded Sir Bartle Frere as a "mischief." He snubbed the Colonists of New Zealand, bungled the affairs of the Cape Colony, and with the tacit connivance of indolent or incompetent Parliamentary chiefs, he contrived to inspire the Colonists with the rooted antipathy to Downing Street which time and Mr. Chamber- lain have not wholly dispelled. The spirit in which these twenty-four chief permanent officers regard their duties is a matter of national importance. Almost without exception they were trained at one or other of the great public schools, thus breathing from early boyhood the atmosphere of those institutions, and the tone and spirit inculcated no less by ancient tradition than by more direct methods of teaching. An example of what that spirit of modern British Colonial administration is may be learned from Stanley's Life of Dr, Arnold^ headmaster of Rugby ; and more recently from that of the late Dr. Thring, headmaster of Uppingham, who is the pioneer of modern methods in our great public schools. In the year of the Queen's first Jubilee, Dr. Thring pointed out to his boys how the life of a great English public school is linked with that of our race in distant lands, and how year after year the Empire is manned and governed from the great educational foundations, and how essential it was 224 THE COLONIAL OFFICE that this life should be high and true and pure. He added, in language applicable to both branches of the race : " The glorious national inheritance which they enjoyed was every hour widening. Woe to them who touched this inheritance with the hand of evil, and woe to them who betrayed. Woe to all meanness of thought or aim ; woe to all that forget the high duties which must ever be joined to the exercise of world-wide power and influence." With a staff imbued with this spirit it is not surprising that Colonial administration in recent times is effective, sympathetic, and reasonably successful. The business of the Colonial Office is divided into five principal Departments : — 1. North American and Australian Depart- ment, now controlled by Mr. J. Anderson, C.M.G. 2. The West Indian Department, presided over by Mr. A. A. Pearson. 3. The Eastern, Ceylon, and Straits Settlement Department, of which Sir W. A. B. Hamilton is the head. 4. The South African Department and the affairs of the South African High Commission, administered by Mr. H. W. Just. 5. This Department deals with the concerns of St. Helena, Sierra Leone, Bechuana Protectorate, DUTIES OF DEPARTMENTS 225 Basutoland, Gambia, Natal, Gold Coast, Lagos, and Malta. In addition to these arrangements for the dis- tribution of business there are three further divisions, which deal respectively with general and financial affairs, with correspondence, and with accounts. That the duties of the Corre- spondence Department are sufficiently diversified may be seen by the following brief r^sumd of the subjects with which it deals. It prepares and issues the letters on matters relating to postal affairs, copyright, telegraph and commercial business, university examiners, military com- missions, replies to circulars, governors' pensions, naval cadetships, flags, precedence, Civil Service uniform, foreign orders, together with general correspondence respecting Colonial defence, and the passing of charters, letters patent, com- missions, and warrants. The Accountant's De- partment is concerned with the preparation of Parliamentary estimates, accounting for Parlia- mentary grants administered by the Colonial Department, and correspondence in respect to such grants, and other matters affecting Imperial finance, receipts, and payment of Colonial pensions other than Governors'. The nine other Depart- ments are responsible for the Colonial Office library, where the archives. Colonial Acts of 15 2 26 THE COLONIAL OFFICE Parliament, minutes of the Legislative Councils of the Crown Colonies, and works of reference, both legal and general, are collected for the use of the executive officers. The Registering Department deals with the receipts and distri- bution of papers and correspondence. There is also a sub -registry for the North American, Australasian, and West African Departments. The printing branch, located in the basement, prepares important papers for Cabinet and Departmental use which are not sent to the King's printers or the Government printing office. In the copying branch lady-typewriters are largely employed. They are located in a large hall on the top floor of the Colonial Office, and are thus removed from all contact with the rest of the building. The Order of St. Michael and St. George has its habitat in the Colonial Office. The King is, of course, the head of the Order. The Grand Master and First Principal Grand Cross is H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge ; Sir Robert Herbert, who was formerly Under Secretary, is the Chancellor of the Order. Some of the work that is done for the Colonial Office is paid for, not in money, but by the bestowal of a coveted decoration. The Order of St. Michael and St. George is secretly known by the sobriquet of " The Monkey and the THE CROWN AGENTS 227 Goat," a title that doubtless originated in the mind of a disappointed applicant. Although not equal to the Order of the Bath, a K.C.M.G., or, still more, a G.C.M.G., is a distinction that is highly prized. It rescues the Christian name of the holder from obscurity, and entitles his wife to be addressed as "My Lady." Former Colonial Secretaries have not always exercised due dis- cretion in the distribution of the Order. For example, during the last Transvaal War, a few British sympathisers were invested with the C.M.G. — the lowest rank in the Order. One of them was a butcher, who wittily indicated his contempt for Great Britain and the Order he had acquired by affixing as a sign over his shop, " G. Ferreira, Butcher, C.M.G." But one word is needed to describe the Crown Agents of the Colonies, who act as commercial and financial agents in this country for such of the colonies and Colonial governments as do not possess Agents-General or Ambassadors in London. Until 1883 each colony appointed its own Agent in London, but then all the agencies were con- solidated into one office, with the exception of six Agents, who continued to represent some of the West Indian Departments. Colonies which have received responsible governments cannot avail themselves of the services of the Crown 228 THE COLONIAL OFFICE Agents, who transact business for thirty-nine colonies and protectorates, while ten colonies are directly represented by their own Agents in London. The Emigrants^ Information Office was estab- lished in 1887, by Queen Victoria's Government, for the purpose of supplying intending emigrants with useful and trustworthy information respecting emigration, chiefly to the British colonies, and is under the direction of the Colonial Office. It issues every quarter a large poster or advertisement, which is exhibited in all post-offices throughout the United Kingdom. This document contains a concise statement of the actual condition of the labour market in all the chief British colonies. In addition, the Information Office issues special quarterly circulars on the Canadian, the Australian, and South African colonies, which are sent free to anyone desiring them. A special circular is de- voted to the emigration of women, while handbooks containing full details of the conditions of life and general information concerning the great self- governing colonies are issued to the public at the nominal price of twopence each. In addition to this is a professional handbook, showing the necessary qualifications in the Colonies for clerks, governesses, commercial travellers, mounted rifles, notaries - public, nurses, physicians, policemen. MR. "MOTHER COUNTRY" 229 railway servants, surveyors, teachers, and veterinary surgeons. Having served since its commencement on the Voluntary Committee which administers this Department, under the control of the Colonial Office, I am able to speak with some confidence of the admirable work it has done — chiefly of a negative sort — by preventing unscrupulous adventurers from misleading the poorer classes in their attempts to find a new home across the sea. The message of this Department to the people is the cry of an eternal " Don't go." The mother country appears to Colonists in far- off lands as a mysterious, powerful entity which is loosely conceived of as the British Isles. Investi- gation of the meaning of mother country, however, narrows that conception into successive stages, each smaller than the other. The authority of the United Kingdom is delegated to Parliament ; Par- liament hands over to the Executive Government the Colonial questions of the day ; the Cabinet does not interfere with the Colonial Secretary, who, in his turn, does not find in his own Department or in that of his Parliamentary Under Secretary materials for a decision. The mother country is found in various places — sometimes in stuffy back rooms. In the attic or the basement of the stately pile in Downing Street you will find all of the mother country that really exercises supremacy 230 THE COLONIAL OFFICE and actively controls the vast and widely scattered possessions of Britain. How important it is, therefore, that the history, the capacity, and the training of the individual, into the narrow limits of whose personality we find the mother country shrunk, should be of the highest type procurable ! The first and most essential element, after that of character, is that Mr. Mother Country should enjoy a permanent tenure of his office. The introduction of politics into the British Colonial Office would inflict more injury on the Empire than defeat in a pitched battle by sea or land. The principal officials of the Colonial Office have their political opinions like other Englishmen, but I do not know of a single instance where a Gladstonian sympathiser or a convinced Unionist allowed his opinions on burning public questions of the day to interfere with the loyalty of his service to the Minister who is his chief. A hundred years ago the case was far otherwise. Largely owing to the example of Mr. Gladstone, the higher branch of the English Civil Service, of which the Colonial Office contains some of the most brilliant represent- atives, has completely purged itself of all those partisan elements which in France and some other countries practically destroy the influence of the mother country in Colonial administration. If there is one quality more than another which C. O. ADMINISTRATION 231 is required in Colonial administration, it is that which makes a man a gentleman. He should respect himself, be specially courteous to Colonial visitors and others, who have rarely enjoyed the same educational and social advantages as himself. At the present time the business of the Colonial Office is transacted in a manner that is a model to the other Departments. Letters are answered in a day or two which, if addressed to the Foreign Office, would lie unnoticed for a month. Visitors with business to transact are courteously received, patiently listened to, and are sent away with the conviction that the country's affairs are handled by business men. The result is that the Colonial Office has a high sense of esprit de corps, which extends beyond the limits of Downing Street, and is shared by the fifty-six Colonial Governors, who fill a larger place in the public eye than the clerks in the Colonial Office. Modern Governors are now really little more than splendid and dignified clerks at the end of a wire, whose real masters sit in little rooms in London, and draw but a fraction of the salaries paid to the docile satraps of Britain. During the last few years Colonial governorships have altered in character. Formerly, when the Colonies were regarded as expensive encumbrances, a political failure in the House of Commons, a discontented or incompetent colleague in the 232 THE COLONIAL OFFICE Ministry, was thrust upon Colonists who, although compelled to pay the salary of an unwelcome re- presentative of Queen Victoria, were not consulted in his appointment. Another class of Colonial Governor who looked forward at the close of his career to the enjoyment of the plums of the pro- fession was the man who had worked his way up from the government of some small West Indian or Asiatic possession to the full-blown dignity of an Australian or South African governorship. Governors of the great colonies to-day are obliged to be rich men. A man who only spent his pay on the entertainment of the inhabitants of New South Wales or Victoria would be regarded very much as a Lord Mayor who, during his year of office at the Mansion House, provided his guests with temperance drinks and retired with savings from his salary. The governorship of an important colony was recently offered to a peer, who cabled to his predecessor to know how much in excess of the salary the tenure of office would cost him. The answer was as follows : " With strict economy you may do it for ;^i 5,000." One distinguished Governor, who was very popular, during his term of office spent no less than ;£"70,ooo in addition to his salary. Sometimes his outlay was wasted. Desirous of giving the Colonists an example of the way in which a ball supper was served in London, A GOVERNOR'S OUTLAY 233 he provided, at great expense, a number of delica- cies which came out by the mail steamer. Among them was ;£'40 worth of fresh salmon. This was duly prepared by the Viceregal chef^ but nobody touched the delicacy. The viands the Colonists preferred were boiled turkey and roast beef. To these they were accustomed, and a profusion of food to which they were habituated pleased them better than the provision of unlimited quantities of strange delicacies. There are still, however, instances where administrative capacity is of paramount import- ance, as to-day in the Cape Colony. Sir Alfred Milner is not supposed to be a CrcEsus, and the standing salary of £^QOO a year for the Governor of the Cape Colony is insufficient to maintain his position. He accordingly is allowed to draw ;£'3000 a year as High Commissioner, and a further ;^iocx> personal allowance from Imperial funds. The great self-governing colonies now insist upon the names of their future Governors being submitted to them before the actual appoint- ment is made. A few years ago Sir Henry Blake was appointed to the governorship of Queensland, and by some unfortunate accident, much to the annoyance of the Queen, the information leaked out before the Colonial Ministers had been con- sulted. The people of Queensland would have 234 THE COLONIAL OFFICE none of Sir Henry Blake, who, though a brilliant administrator and valuable public servant, was constrained by circumstances to relieve the then Colonial Secretary from the awkward position by offering his resignation. The position was then offered to Sir Henry Norman, at that time Governor of Jamaica. Sir Henry Norman had had a long and distinguished career in India, which, in the opinion of the Queensland Ministry, warranted them, after some hesitation, in accepting His Excellency as Governor. During Sir Henry Norman's tenure of the Queensland governorship he was offered the viceroy alty of India, and accepted it, but on second thoughts decided to stay in Queensland, as he considered that the Governor- General of India should belong to one of the great families, and command the general support of public opinion and the Press. The Queensland Colonial community, innocently not suspecting the real reasons that induced Sir Henry Norman to withdraw his acceptance of the greatest prize in public life obtainable by a subject of Queen Victoria, expressed their conviction that the real cause of Sir Henry's withdrawal was his sense of the great charm and paramount import- ance of his occupancy of Government House in Brisbane. The duties of Governors are regulated by a REVISION NEEDED 235 long series of standing orders, which settle their appointment, pay, functions, and powers in the most minute detail. The manner in which their visits are to be paid and received by various ranks of military and naval commanders, the precedence they are to enjoy, the uniforms they are to wear, and the powers they are to exercise are all set forth in great opulence of detail. Notwithstanding the excellent quality of the Colonial Office staff, the organisation I have described stands in need of reform. It is not framed in accordance with the needs of the developed Empire. A glaring case of the inadaptability of the Colonial Office in its present form to do the work of the Empire is to be found in the recent visit of the Australian Delegates to England. With an efficient Department this visit would have been needless. The British Empire woke up one Monday morning to find that a Federation Bill, iron-clad, and complete in every detail, was to be presented to Parliament a prendre ou h laisser. Since the Colonial Office has no Colonist within its portals, and the Agents- General for the Colonies are Ambassadors whose energies are bespoken by the affairs of their own people, it is not surprising that the Colonial Office was caught unprepared. Nobody exists whose duty it was to warn the mother country of events 236 THE COLONIAL OFFICE in which she is concerned. It is not unreasonable for the people of Britain to expect that the Colonial Office should have anticipated and pre- vented the unseemly squabble between the lawyers on opposite sides of the world ; a squabble which contains in it the seeds of a separation or the germs of Imperial Federation, according to the impression made upon the Australian mind of the directing ability of the mother country. A Colonial Office that does not contain a Colonist cannot be regarded as an efficient Department. Finally, a further change in the direction of efficiency required in the Colonial Office is the detachment of African business from the Colonial Department, so that the confusion arising from dealing with the different territories in Africa by the method in vogue may cease. A Secretary of State for African affairs should be appointed, for the purpose of dealing with Africa, for the same reason that a Secretaryship for India was appointed in 1859. The Foreign Office bungle with the Uganda Railway, the absurdity of Foreign Office methods of administration, and its uniform record of failure, rebellion, and expense are sufficient grounds for placing the African affairs for which it is now responsible in less incompetent hands. The Dark Continent now needs a Minister all to herself, and a Council on the model of the AFRICAN MINISTER NEEDED 237 Indian Council. Until these changes are brought about, the Colonial Office, which is the most efficient of all the public Departments, cannot be deemed wholly free from the taint of in- efficiency. CHAPTER XVI THE WAR OFFICE WANTED— A MAN " I should like to say clearly and openly that I start from this point, and I think I have verified it sufficiently, that the whole system of reports, regulations, and warrants under which the Army now serves has grown up entirely for the benefit of the War Office clerk, and to find work for the War Office rather than to provide control over the Army."— Sir Redvers Buller. When the man in the street considers the problem of Imperial defence, he is apt to lose his footing, and, wallowing in a muddy sea of detail, large principles are hidden from his sight. The War Office has been unjustly, because indiscriminately, attacked. In no previous war have our soldiers been better fed or better clothed, better doctored, more tenderly nursed, or more swiftly and com- fortably conveyed to the seat of war. A military system that can accomplish these things is not despicable. But the whole has been blamed for the vices of a part. A military system that turns WAR OFFICE CRITICISM 239 the tram conductor, the newspaper seller, and vestry employ^ into the fighting line at a fort- night's notice, with scarcely three per cent, of absentees, may not be ideal or a perfect system, but it is one that has worked well at a pinch, and that has come to stay. When dealing, therefore, with the defects of the War Office, we must be careful to distinguish between those parts of it which have worked well and deserve praise, and those which have covered the nation with humilia- tion and involved the taxpayer in the expenditure of unnecessary millions of money, while causing the futile sacrifice of thousands of lives. The strictest examination and the most perfect re- construction of the methods of the War Office will be of no use if the things that have gone wrong in the present war are entrusted, under the new system to be created, to the people who have mismanaged the old one. But we must be careful to distinguish between the things that have gone wrong and the things that have gone right, and to differentiate between the men who have done well and the men who have done ill. Provided centralisation was unavoidable, it cannot be denied that the purely financial side of the War Office has been extremely well done. But centralisation and the social despotism of the smart set are the two curses of the Army. 240 THE WAR OFFICE The Indian and Egyptian Armies, being exempt from the bureaucratic control of Pall Mall and the influence of smart women, are in a state of reason- able efficiency. The Army in South Africa, until it was rescued from disaster by our great Indian General, was rapidly falling into confusion, because the methods of Pall Mall and the preference of ill-educated men of birth or wealth over trained men of ability, were accountable for nearly all our reverses. The home Army is strangled by red tape, wielded by hundreds of civilian clerks, who have managed to snatch the real control of the Army out of the hands of men whose business is war. All power is concentrated in London. A General Officer commanding a district in the United Kingdom is not trusted to expend a larger sum than ;f i, on his own judgment. A White Star captain, with a salary of ;£^8oo a year, may be trusted with the unfettered expenditure of ;t20,ooo. The New York agent of the late Mr. Ismay is allowed to control ^^400,000 a year. A British Lieutenant-General is trusted by the civilian staff of the War Office to the extent of twenty shillings ! A story illustrating red tape is related by an engineer officer. In the course of his duties, which involved travelling over the country, he sent in a bill which contained a charge, " porter, 6d." When he therefore claimed a return of the EXAMPLE OF RED TAPE 241 sixpence he had expended, he was told by the War Office authorities that alcoholic drinks were not to be included in the travelling allowance of officers. He rejoined that he was not claiming for alcoholic drinks, but for the hire of a man to transport his .baggage at a station. Upon which the sapient official rejoined that in future he should not claim for porter, but porterage. On the next occasion on which this officer, who was a wag, was travelling on behalf of his country, he sent in a bill which included the item, " cabbage, 2s." The bill was promptly returned by the War Office authorities, with the statement that green vegetables were not to be included in the travelling allowance of officers. The officer replied that he did not mean to imply that he had bought green vegetables, but that he had taken a cab, and that as when he had asked for the hire of a porter he was instructed to call it porterage, he could only presume that he was carrying out their Lordships' wishes in claiming for the return of the sum he had laid down on the transport of his person and goods from the station under the head of " cabbage." The real trouble in the British War Office is that the regulations and warrants under which the British Amy now serves have grown up entirely for the benefit of the War Office clerks, and serve 16 242 THE WAR OFFICE to find work for them at the War Office rather than to find control for the Army. If the ridicul- ous regulations were abolished to-morrow, the War Office clerks would find in practice that they have nothing to do. The Indian Army and the Egyptian Army are free from the control of the War Office, and hence success in the field is organised more cheaply and with greater certainty than is possible under the cumbrous forms of Pall Mall. The Duke of Cambridge was the embodiment of military Toryism. Change, in the view of His Royal Highness, was in itself an evil, and the conse- quence was perpetual refusal to adopt necessary and incessant modifications of the existing system. Hence the smart society side of the War Office to this day clings as far as it dare to the obsolete traditions of the earlier part of last century. The fierce criticism, however, poured upon the War Office of late years has taken effect in such matters as recruiting and the comfort of the private soldier. The monopoly of good posts by incompetent men still continues. While we have extended our Empire in all directions, we have allowed the Army to become altogether too weak to protect our great and in- creasing interests, and we add to its weakness by clerical domination. Within the last few years, READINESS FOR ATTACK 243 however, the Navy has been strengthened. But no Navy, however strong, could alone defend the Empire, which is scattered throughout the world, requiring numerous garrisons for its coaling stations. There can be no question as to the need for maintaining our supremacy on the ocean ; but we also require an Army of moderate size and perfect in quality and readiness for action to defend these islands and to hold our positions and territories beyond the sea. It is a curious / fact that, although we are the most peace-loving nation in the world, our Army is almost always at war somewhere or other. Year after year the necessities of our Empire, and the aggressions of frontier tribes who love war and hate peace, force us to fight, and it is therefore essential that we should always be ready for such attacks. Every year adds to the duties and responsibilities of our Army abroad, while no corresponding addition is made to its establishments at home. The British Army is the most expensive army in the world in proportion to its numbers. The experience of the war has been to prove the great value of the Militia, of the Yeomanry, and of the Volunteers. Their value has quadrupled. The most economical and most effective methods of strengthening the Army will be to improve the efficiency of what have hitherto been called the 244 THE WAR OFFICE auxiliary forces, which have proved themselves in all essential respects to be equal to the best of Regulars. This will be a blow to the social domination of the smart ring, who regard the best posts in the Army as their private property. It is also desirable that officers shall be compelled to wear their uniform when off duty in exactly the same way as a private does ; that the expenses of regimental officers are cut down to such a point that able men who are poor can make a career in the Army. No increase of men, and no expendi- ture after the war is over, will be of the slightest use if the whole social condition of the British Army is not revised from top to bottom, and the bureaucratic junta at the War Office, which preserves for smart people the plums of the ser- vice, be rooted out ruthlessly. A social revolution is involved. Parliament is impotent unless the people are in earnest. If we are to hold our own against a great Power, much less two of them, it is essential that the Army shall be organised and run on business lines, and that the social influences which have proved so disastrous and humiliating in South Africa shall be destroyed. The War Office, except in those matters previously referred to, has lost the confidence of the country. The organisation of the Army is deplorable. The Army Corps system had broken down before Lord Roberts laid COST OF THE ARMY 245 his magician hand on the dilapidated machine. The cost of the Army is enormous, and the cost of the Army will be more enormous if the War Office, as at present constituted, is entrusted with the task of the reorganisation. No patriotic Member of Parliament should authorise by his vote the ex- penditure of a single pound until he is satisfied that the millions required will be wisely expended by the expenditure being entrusted to capable men. War Office officials are not only not born fools, but are not seldom men of more than average ability. Their intelligence has been sharpened and developed by the best education obtainable in Eng- land. They are industrious, able, and in private life men of honour. In spite of this, their action too often annihilates individuality, neutralises ability, encourages lying, makes foresight futile, and sterilises the germs of worthy ambition. Why IS this ? The reason is, because the degeneration of bureaucratic governments is due to a disease called routine. Whatever becomes routine sheds its vital principle. No longer does a mind direct the rules that govern routine. The War Office goes on working mechanically, though the work intended to be done remains undone. The wrong men are appointed, and all the results of sinister corruption are produced by men who, as individuals, are of 246 THE WAR OFFICE stainless character and of the highest honour. What is wanted, therefore, at the War office is not so much a new system as a Man — a Man who will be a law to himself; will restore life and energy to the dry bones ; will purge the War Office of the bad influence of smart society; and who will, in fine, make the General Staff as efficient as the Commissariat, while bestowing as much sym- pathetic attention to the reorganisation and en- couragement of the Militia and Volunteers as has hitherto been devoted to military tailoring. The Man, when he comes, will be known. This is the sign by which he will be known. Officers of the Army will be compelled to wear their uniforms on or off duty, on the same conditions and at the same times as are prescribed in the case of privates and non-commissioned officers. This act will drive many popinjays from the Army. But when we get our Man he must be backed. The first duty to be performed by an efficient head of the War Office, when we get one, is to determine what duties the British Army is required to fulfil. It is not until an answer has been given to this question that the conditions under which the Army is best fitted to fulfil its duties can be settled. In the case of the Navy we know that hitherto its duties have been to beat the fleets of any two Powers, to hold the command of the THE DUTY OF THE ARMY 247 sea against them, to protect the great trade routes of commerce, and to defend our shores and the shores of our Colonies from invasion. The two- Power standard is now obsolete. Nobody has ever yet laid down in principle or detail the duties which the Army ought to be able to perform. Disquisitions on the subject abound. Nothing authoritative has ever been settled. For a score of years we have maintained by rule of thumb a miscellaneous force of 100,000 Militiamen, Volun- teers, and Yeomanry. The purpose for which they were maintained has never been explained by authority. We do know, however, that what- ever may have been the original object of main- taining the auxiliary forces, their despatch to South Africa to take their place in the fighting line alongside the Guards and the First Army Corps was never contemplated. The coming strong Man, then, will have first to settle what it is the Army is to do. Policy and strategy must be coupled. The second point is to bring to a close the perennial controversy as to the duties devolving on the Army in India, the Army in the Colonies and the coaling stations, the Army in the United Kingdom, the Fleet, and the Marines. Competi- tive theories flourish as to the importance of the component elements of our defensive forces. 248 THE WAR OFFICE Until this competition is settled, harmony is im- possible, and the expenditure of no money will get us any nearer the solution of the problem. As a matter of fact, the Fleet is starved. No expeditionary force can be sent from these shores to meet white men in the field without calling on the Reserves. For many years we have spent twenty millions and more per annum upon an Army which is really no Army at all. The principal reason for this is because it has never been settled what the Army has to do. The alliance between the Army and society is so complete that no agitation from outside, short of revolutionary social change, is likely to have the slightest effect in producing economy and order unless the Prime Minister himself uses the whole weight of his character and position to place the defence of the Empire on a business footing. The present heads of the War Office are people who have failed to do what they were appointed to do, and they show no sign whatever of under- taking their great responsibilities in a serious spirit. The Permanent Under Secretary, during the Boer War, said, in reference to the perform- ances of his own Department, " Where has all that thought been exercised? Within the four walls of that much abused institution, the War Office. Excuse me for giving this loud crow. THE ARMY AND SOCIETY 249 but I am at this time particularly inclined to cock-a-doodle-doo." The crowing of the War Office in igoo will be interesting to the historian of the future. The complete evacuation of the chief places in the War Office by the whole of their occupants is indispensable to adequate reform. CHAPTER XVII COLONISATION AS AN AID TO WAR It has been commonly remarked by the opponents of the Unionist Government that the war in South Africa might have been prevented. What they mean by this is, that if certain despatches had not been written, a more conciliatory tone adopted, or concessions made to Mr. Kruger when the Government at last stood firm, war might have been avoided. This is foolishness. Any time during the last five years the pear has been ripe ; its fall inevitable. On the other hand, the sup- porters of the Government say that war was in- evitable. War, it is true, was inevitable, having regard to the want of foresight shown by all our rulers after Majuba. Impartial examination of popular feeling in the Cape Colony and in the late Republics since the Convention of 1884 and the Warren Expedition of the succeeding year proved war to be inevitable, unless steps had then been taken to make it impossible. Those steps 250 DUTCH FEELING IN 1885 251 might have been taken. If England had had, not a Metternich, a Stein, a Bismarck, a Pitt, or a Canning, but even a Lipton or a Whiteley instead of a Granville, a Hicks Beach, or a Kimberley as Colonial Minister, there are two things that might have been done to prevent the great struggle which is not yet over. One was to veto the importation of armaments that could only be used against the suzerain Power ; the other, to stock South Africa with sufficient voters from the mother country to prevent the Cape Colony maintaining a Bond Ministry in power, and thus giving to Afrikanderism the virtual alliance of the Cape Executive when hostilities broke out. I do not speak on this subject as one who is wise after the event. In 1885 the results of a personal investigation of Dutch sentiment in South Africa convinced me that a war was inevitable unless the Englishry were reinforced by settlers from the mother country. To do so effectively, a sum of a quarter of a million was required to plant our British settlers through- out the Cape and Bechuanaland. Had this been done, disloyalty would only have found its ex- pression through the Opposition — not by the mouth of the Cape Ministry of the day, since the new English voters would presumably have 252 COLONISATION AID TO WAR voted against Krugerism, and hence no Bond Ministry would have acceded to power. I vainly urged this view in public at the Society of Arts and in other places : and was laughed at for my pains. Now, after spending ;f70,ooo,ooo sterling on a war that might have been avoided by the expenditure, fifteen years earlier, of a quarter of a million, everyone is converted to the doctrine of colonisation when it is too late. Had our rulers in 1884 and 1885 been men educated in business, accustomed to look ahead, they must have seen clearly that the two Conventions, by exasperating the English garrison and inflating Afrikanderism with insensate pride, rendered war inevitable, unless the policy of the Conventions was supplemented by a judicious expenditure on practical colonisation, or the maintenance of a garrison of overwhelming force. Mr. H. O. Arnold Forster, M.P., has been en- trusted by the Government with the duty of inquiring into the subject in South Africa with the view of seeing to what extent it is possible to settle a portion of the Army now in the field on the soil of South Africa. No more suitable appointment could have been made. What is, however, depressing is the reflection that by the time the report is made — and it will be an admirable report — and the period for action MR. H. O. ARNOLD FORSTER 253 arrives, the psychological moment will have passed. If any considerable number of the men who fought in South Africa were to be effectively retained and settled there, it is obvious that the machinery for their retention should have been ready to come into operation without a day's delay at the close of the war. Any period of sus- pense will be spent by the majority of the men in loafing and discontent, and discontented, celi- bate settlers are useless, for it must not be for- gotten that the object of the present colonising proposals in South Africa is not, in the first instance, philanthropic anxiety for the welfare of the Colonists, but a prudential and purely selfish consideration on the part of the British public, with a view to prevent their being troubled with hostilities in the future. In a word, the proposed colonising measures differ from the majority of others in modern history, inasmuch as the predominant motive that gives them birth is not altruistic, but selfish ; not benevolent, but prudential ; not philanthropic concern for the wel- fare of others, but a wholesome apprehension as to the inconvenience and expense of another war. It is essential to look facts in the face. No scheme will succeed that is not preceded by clear thinking. The record of all colonising ex- periments is invariable failure, when the original 254 COLONISATION AID TO WAR intentions of the framers are contrasted with their fulfilment. Still, the best brains of the country- have never yet been concentrated upon this ex- tremely difficult problem of successful colonisa- tion. Men like Sir Alfred Milner, and Mr. Arnold Forster, M.P., have not hitherto been employed to deal with a question that has been left in the hands of men with first-class hearts and fourth-class heads. There are certain prin- ciples which must underlie this, as all colonising schemes. The first is that the unit of colonisa- tion is not the fighting man, but the family. Without family life colonisation is war without its glory. It is a continual struggle with repul- sive and incongruous occupations which no celi- bates will pursue from any other motive but that of religion or gold. It is unreasonable to expect that religious enthusiasm will animate the bulk of the proposed settlers. The hope of great gain only comes from gold or diamonds. The formation of domestic ties, therefore, is the motive that will alone appeal to the average settler-elect. Thus the marriage of settlers must form an essential and initial part of any colonising scheme that is destined to succeed. The men who will come under the operation of the Government scheme may be classified under four heads. First, the men desirous of FOUR CLASSES OF SETTLERS 255 staying in the country, possessing a little capital, having some knowledge of agriculture, and suffi- cient intelligence to shape out a career for them- selves. To deal with this class will cause little trouble. All that is wanted is a passage for their wives or sweethearts, the gift or loan of land, oxen, and implements, or the guarantee of a small pension for a limited term of years. When the war is over, there will be a good deal of land to dispose of. Confiscated farms and Crown lands, both in the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, will be at the disposal of the Government. In the north-east corner of the Cape Colony, the hotbed of disloyalty, there should also be a considerable number of con- fiscated farms available for the men who have risked their lives for the Empire. The second class will be yeomanry and others more or less acquainted with country life at home, but penniless, or at all events destitute of means to settle, without intelligence and initiative sufficient to command success unless under com- petent direction. For this class it is advisable that a number of settlements should be provided where, in groups of thirty or forty families, the tillage of land under irrigation can be conducted under all the conditions of village life. Irrigation and access to markets are two essentials of success. 256 COLONISATION AID TO WAR A schoolhouse, which could be used as a church on Sunday, will be the social centre of these village communities. The settlers in them will be rationed, but will receive rations only as a condition of work. The sale of produce will be credited to the settlers after deduction of actual outgoings. The cost of education, medical attendance, and spiritual oversight should be left to voluntary contributions or defrayed by Government; not in any case charged to the settler. These settlements will be harbours of re- fuge which will enable the men and their families to gain some insight into Colonial methods. Oppor- tunities for employment elsewhere will be sought for by the more ambitious and active spirits, thus making the group of settlements a system of conduit pipes through which the Army settlers will be fitted for agricultural and civil life. Every facility should be given to men joining these village communities for marrying, and, in the event of the men being already married, the wives and families should be allowed to join the head of the household. The village system in Russia, the " Mir," will give many hints as to how to deal with these village colonies. The English flag should be hoisted over the school- house every morning. Intoxicating liquor should be rigorously excluded in the interests of good FOUR CLASSES OF SETTLERS 257 administration. Kaffirs should be excluded from the settlements at night, that the English children may grow up uncontaminated by native habits. The third class with which the Government scheme will have to deal will be men, mostly from the Reserve, already provided with a useful trade, such as carpenters, engineers, plumbers, farriers, workers in leather and glass, cart-makers. For these men the reconstruction of a new country will provide ample occupation. The only difficulty in their case will be the provision of work and wages, pending the arrival of the enormous masses of raw material that will be required for the reconstruction and duplication of railways, build- ings, and other necessary equipment for a large community of white men. The preparation and construction of the cottages, schoolhouses, fences of the conduit-pipe settlements referred to under the preceding head, will give full employment to these men until their absorption into the main body of the community. The fourth class to be dealt with will be the Regulars, who have little or no knowledge of anything but soldiering. They will come out of the Army as they went into it, for the most part without saleable knowledge of competitive value. Many men join the Army because of trouble with the fair sex. Many more join the colours because 17 258 COLONISATION AID TO WAR they have quarrelled with the conditions of life : others, because nothing better offers. Training with the colours in the line is not like that of the engineers or marines — educational and formative of civic qualities, and therefore these form the most difficult class to deal with. Except in rare instances, it is not desirable that these men should be re- tained in South Africa. They are more likely to be at loose ends, to become discontented. They will infallibly attribute their failure to the authorities. Brandy is ninepence a bottle at the Cape. Soldiers are, for the most part, street-bred people, with no knowledge or taste for agriculture, and the thrift- lessness of character, for which our race is noted, is generally to be found developed to the largest extent among men enlisted from the great towns. The failure of previous colonising experiments teaches us that no systematic scheme for settling people from the northern hemisphere, under a new heaven and a new earth, can possibly succeed unless the work is undertaken as a process and pursued patiently and continuously for at least twenty years. A considerable proportion of failure is not only likely, but inevitable. However, the families who take root on the soil will quickly develop a magnetic attraction of their own. The secondary immigration thus created is the most valuable product of immigration begun under COLONISATION A PROCESS 259 State auspices. No Government can itself conduct the actual details of State colonisation. The introduction of middlemen and sub-contractors is inevitable. It is necessary, therefore, to recognise that the hope of gain is the only motive which will attract capable intermediaries, and as it is important that these intermediaries should be people of character, it is desirable that they shall be well paid for their services. Every white man, woman, and child who settles in South Africa will buy £4. worth of British manufactured goods every year. The introduction of British settlers in South Africa, therefore, is an investment for the mother country, and involves the creation of a new market for British goods. The Government of Lord Liverpool in 18 18-19 spent ;£'70,ooo in dumping down a number of ill -provided and neglected settlers in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony. The property of the descendants of these settlers is worth to-day over ;^20,ooo,ooo sterling. The investment of money in successful colonisation is probably the most remunerative in which any country can engage. The facts about colonisation, which ought to have been studied and in readiness for use, have never been collected, and only when action is imperative, inquiry begins. Can there be a more telling comment on the lack of foresight with which we are governed ? CHAPTER XVIII THE NAVY " The defence of the country is not the business of the War Office or of the Government, but the business of the people themselves." — The Prime Minister to the Primrose League, May 9, 1900. Hitherto the British people supposed that their Government was a Committee chosen from Parlia- ment by a Minister chosen by the Queen and paid a living wage in order to direct things which the people cannot do for themselves. The Prime Minister disputes this notion. Parlia- mentarians have long wrangled over the limits of State control and interference, but the most ardent individualist among them has never yet questioned the duty of the governing Committee of the nation to undertake the business of national defence by sea and land. So great is the con- ventional influence of wealth and station, and the just weight given to tradition and character in Great Britain, that the Prime Minister of the late Queen, speaking in the metropolis of the Empire, GOVERNMENT AND DEFENCE 261 repudiated the first duty of Government without causing a panic on the Stock Exchange. Lord Salisbury's remark is sheer anarchy — it is the crazy doctrine of Kropotkine and Stepniak. National ^defence involves compulsory co-opera- tion. The general formula governing the in- dividuals who take part in national defence is not, " Do this, or leave your place and take the consequences," but, "Do this, ^ or you shall be made to do it." The element of compulsion necessarily involved by discipline renders the Executive Government the only body which can possibly perform the function of national defence. Compulsory co-operation involves the suppression of individual will. Breaches of subordination are, according to their gravity, dealt with by punish- ment. The understanding between the individual engaged in defence and the community is, in the words of Mr. Herbert Spencer, to " Obey in everything ordered, under penalty of inflicted suffering and perhaps death." Chronic or im- pending war generates a militant structure not only in the Army and Navy but throughout the community at large. A militant structure involves business principles. When, therefore, the Head of the Government renounces the business of defence and thrusts the responsibility upon the people at large, there is reason for 262 THE NAVY complaint, on the ground that the masses cannot organise for defence without upsetting the regular Government, which confesses its inability to protect the nation. Lord Salisbury's words were primarily directed to the business of rifle-shooting. The anarchical arrangements he proposed would probably lead to greater slaughter than any that would be caused by a successful invasion. But that is not the most bewildering part of the case. That the Prime Minister of England in the year 1900 should nourish the idea that the successful defence of our homes is to be accom- plished by turning our street-bred population into inefficient burghers on the Boer system is a marvel. The homes to be defended by Rifle Clubs, if ever they are attacked, will be attacked indirectly from a distance and on the sea. The presence of the enemy will be made known not by the rattle of Pom- Poms or the hoarse cries of a foreign soldiery looting and ravishing as they pass, but by the neglect of the butcher, the milkman, and the baker to call for orders in the morning. Defeat at sea would starve these islands and reduce their inhabitants to compliance with the enemy's terms in far less time than was consumed by the sieges of Kimberley or Ladysmith. When, therefore. Lord Salisbury THE NAVY AND WAR 263 tells the people that " the defence of the country is not the business of the Government, but the business of the people themselves," it is high time that the people understood what the actual condition of their first line of defence really is. I have spared neither pains nor money to find out the truth for myself. The Navy is not ready for war. Our war fleets are not on a war footing: cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliaries are lacking, and cannot be improvised, organised, or trained when war breaks out. Vice-Admiral Sir Harry Rawson, speaking at Glasgow two days after Lord Salisbury's renun- ciation of responsibility, said — " He wished he could honestly feel that the condition of the Navy was entirely satisfactory. He could not do so. He believed that what they had got was good, but they had not enough of it to meet the combination which, judging from what they read in the Continental papers, they might have to meet. Speaking to a community of business men, he urged that we were only partially insured against the risks of war. He was not a politician, he was not biassed, he had no Party feeling, but as a naval officer he could not hide from himself that we had not enough battleships and cruisers to meet any emergency that might arise. There was nothing that could better insure the country than a 264 THE NAVY strong Navy. A Navy which could defy com- petition from any combination meant peace, a Navy of doubtful strength meant sooner or later It is clear that the Admiral and the Premier cannot both be right. If the Admiral is right, the people have no means of remedying the defects of the Navy except through the Govern- ment. The two facts connected with the Navy are, first, that the executive officers and men of the British Navy form the most splendid fighting maritime service the world has ever seen ; and second, that the politicians and civilians con- cerned in the administration of the Navy neither give the fighting officers what they ask for nor tell the truth to the nation as to the facts of the Navy. Our war fleets are not ready for war. Officers are too few, and are not well educated. Men and ships are deficient. Not only have we too few ships; many of those we have are not safe. I am informed on high authority that eight ships of the Royal Sovereign class, two ships of the Centurion class, and seven ships of the Admiral class are to-day fitted with wooden decks of three-inch Dantzig fir, laid direct on the beams with no plating under- neath. The fire mains to be relied on for ex- NEW INVENTIONS 265 tinguishing the inevitable fire are exposed and would be shot away in action. Officer after officer has strongly represented the facts with- out effect. Admiral after admiral has vainly endeavoured to procure a change, and although my informants would get into serious trouble if their names were known, they are performing a patriotic service in appealing to the public to stimulate the civilians of the Admiralty to action in this matter. We cannot even relieve our anxieties by reflecting that the navies of other nations are in the same precarious condition as regards the presence of inflammable material in their warships. Then as regards the deception practised upon the House of Commons and the public as to the actual condition of the Navy. The glory of the sea-going branch of the naval service is reflected on the politicians and civilians concerned in its administration. The latter are governed largely, some more and some less, by political rather than national or service considerations, while their foresight is shown by the attitude invariably taken up towards every new invention. The following is an extract from an elaborate minute written by the First Lord of the Admiralty in 1830, in reply to a request that a steamer might be employed for the conveyance of the 266 THE NAVY mails between Malta and the Ionian Islands. Vice-Admiral Sir George Cockburn, M.P., Vice- Admiral Sir Henry Hotham, and John Wilson Croker, M.P., were among his colleagues: — " They felt it their bounden duty, upon national and professional grounds, to discourage to the utmost of their ability the employment of steam vessels, as they considered that the introduction of steam was calculated to strike a fatal blow to the naval supremacy of the Em,pire ; and to concede to the request preferred would be simply to let in the thin edge of the wedge, and would unquestionably lead to similar demands being made upon the Admiralty from other Departments." Compare Lord Melville's refusal to consider the question of steam with Mr. Goschen's refusal to consider submarine boats, and you will have an idea of the intellectual continuity of the political controllers of the Royal Navy. This, however, is not the gravest charge against the political element at the Admiralty. The annual speech of the First Lord of the Admiralty in submitting the Navy Estimates to Parliament is of the nature of a prospectus issued to the shareholders in the United Kingdom. In the City the best prospectus is that which most successfully extracts money from the public by dwelling on the strong points of a proposed company, and sup- THE NAVY ESTIMATES 267 pressing or touching lightly upon the weak ones. If the prospectus misleads the public by misrepre- senting facts, the directors who have lent themselves to such a procedure are exposed to the risk of prosecution. When, however, the prospectus is issued in the form of a speech by a famous poli- tician to the House of Commons, and material facts are suppressed or misrepresented so as to deceive the nation, then impeachment is the theoretical remedy : a peerage the probable result. The last time that a statesman was impeached was in 1806. We no longer impeach or hang bad rulers : that sort of thing is over now. Cabinet collective responsibility protects the incompetents, and has abolished impeachment and efficiency together. In 1872 and 1873, Mr. Goschen asked Parliament for money to provide 42,665 tons of new ships for our Navy. What he did produce was 32,391 tons. The following year he was to have produced 8505 tons of new ironclads, but provided only 5592. He then went out of office. In 1895 he came back again. Take the last three years. He came down to the House of Commons three years ago, and said that so much money was wanted for naval construction. Parliament voted it. It was not spent. Next year he did the same thing. In introducing the Naval Estimates for 1899 he 268 THE NAVY qualified them as moderate, as moderate as was compatible with safety, and yet in 1900 he con- fessed that of these moderate estimates ;£'i,400,ooo had not been spent. In three years the unex- pended money for construction amounts to ;£'4, 5 00,000. The money which should have been put into new ships, stated by the First Lord of the Admiralty to be required, has either been unspent or diverted into other channels, and this in spite of the fact that Mr. Goschen has seriously informed the country year by year that his estimate was the very lowest necessary for procuring an adequate provision of new ships. Furthermore, we were told as one of the reasons for not increas- ing the Shipbuilding Vote that we were able to build more rapidly than our rivals and possible adversaries. The annual farce of voting battle- ships which can never be laid down bids fair to become a tragedy, as we are warned by the Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, which is not a Channel Fleet, as its place is 1500 miles away in time of war. In the Boer War we over- estimated our own strength and underestimated that of the enemy. It is certain that in the Naval Estimates, which have not been realised, the Government has fallen into the same error. While the British naval construction, said to be necessary by the First Lord of the Admiralty every year, is NAVAL CONSTRUCTION 269 not done, foreign Governments have their warships constructed in British yards without difficulty or delay. Sir John Briggs in his memorable work relates how Sir Robert Peel was deliberately misled by Admiralty officials as to the strength of the Navy. Now, if a Prime Minister is misled, what chance has the public of eliciting the facts? What is required is the restoration of elementary morality into public life. The Admiralty issue annually to Parliament and the nation comparative returns of our own and foreign fleets, which are Chaldee to the uninitiated and an insult to those who know the facts. In these returns year after year are included obsolete ships, armed with muzzle-loading guns, such as no Admiralty dare put in line of battle against the Corbet^ Amiral Baudiuy and Formidable of France, or the Branden- burg and Kaiser Friedrich in. of Germany. I went to sea in the Sultan in August 1900, and returned aghast at the necessary consequences of employing such guns in a British battleship. Does not the public deserve better than this? We are not afraid to know the facts nor unwilling to pay for what is necessary. The unswerving, patient, and exemplary support given by the public to the Government, demands truthfulness in relation to the defensive forces of the Crown. 2 70 THE NAVY There is no desire to hinder or hamper the men at the helm, nor to blame them idly, but what the man in the street desires, and, so far as he has the power, is determined to have, is that he shall not be kept in the dark as to essential facts or deceived by interested officials. We have been caught napping in the matter of cordite and other muni- tions generally. In the British Empire the per- manent asset of greatest value is the character of the people. Speaking at Bristol, in May 1900, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that, " In this question of economy was wrapped up much of the future prosperity of the country." There is a close connection between economy and efficiency. Much of the inefficiency of political naval administration is directly due to the absence of a capital account. Every year a large revenue is provided for the Board of Admiralty to spend, but there is no valuation of existing stock, no writing down of values in obsolete ships, badly constructed ships, boilers chosen in haste, or a Queen's yacht, the construction of which has been miscalculated. If any Government were really in earnest about efficiency, one of the first things that would be done would be to institute a capital account for the Navy. This work would be done in an office, and would not affect the NAVY CAPITAL ACCOUNT 271 fighting branch. Periodical valuations would stimulate efficiency by revealing errors and ex- posing waste. When Governments were changed, the effect of the capital account of the Navy would be to stimulate strongly the incoming Administration to special pains in seeing that no over - valuation was made. The principal changes that are required at the Admiralty are, first, the full recognition of the individual responsi- bility to the public of the Minister at the head of the Department, and to him of each of his subordinates ; secondly, the institution of a capital account under an independent audit, un- controlled by the politicians ; and, thirdly, the renunciation of the habit of deceiving the nation by returns that are untrue, by statements that are misleading, and by promises that are not kept. Critical moments in the life of nations not seldom escape public notice. Only after the lapse of years a later generation discovers the signifi- cance of events which were regarded as indifferent or immaterial by their predecessors. The present loss of our former sea power is a case in point. Study of the facts relating to our own and foreign navies shows that we have lost the command of the sea ; possibly, not irreparably ; but that it is gone for the time being is beyond question. In other words, if maritime war were to break out, 272 THE NAVY with a possible coalition of Powers, for the first time since 1814, foreigners would be able to dispute with us the control of the ocean highways with excellent chances of success. After holding the command of the sea unchallenged for the better part of a century, Britain has lost it, with the silent acquiescence of our rulers. Five causes are con- tributory to this result : — First, our recent naval programmes for men, ships, and material have been insufficient. Secondly, the programmes proposed by the responsible Minister and sanctioned by Parliament as the least compatible with safety have not been carried out. Thirdly, the ships that were included in our Naval Estimates, although laid down, have been delayed on the stocks or when under equipment, until some of them will be halfobsolete before they are complete, and fourteen of the promised battle- ships are not yet included on the strength of the Navy. Fourthly, other nations have ostentatiously and successfully increased their programmes of naval construction, thus still further diminishing our relative strength, until our relative weakness is the thing to consider. Fifthly, a new and resolute claimant for sea power has arisen. LOSS OF SEA POWER 273 I will say a word on each of these five head- ings :— 1. The proof that our naval preparations have been insufficient is to be found in the opinions of every admiral afloat in responsible command of a sea-going fleet. 2. The second point is proved from the Parlia- mentary Returns, Mr. Goschen's excuses, and notorious facts. 3. With regard to the delay in the completion of our battleships, the following are the facts : — The Implacable^ at Devonport, was delayed by the non- delivery of her guns and mountings ; the Albe- marle^ building at Chatham, was to have been launched in August 1900 — she was not ready for launching before December. In the meantime, the two new battleships which formed last year's programme will be delayed, and one of the new ships sanctioned by the last Parliament is only nominally begun after the new Parliament meets. At Devonport, the launching of the Montagu is also delayed. The Glory^ by the time she was commissioned in December 1900, had taken over four years to build. Five years ago the Majestic and the Magnificent^ larger ships, were built and ready for sea within two years. On the other hand, the Japanese have succeeded in getting the Shikishima and the Asahi completed, although 18 2 74 THE NAVY launched nine months after the Albion, and a year after the Goliath. The Asahi was launched after the Formidable and Irresistible, and on the same date as the hnplacable, yet not one of those three English ships is likely to be ready for sea for some time, though the Japanese ships are in commission. A third Japanese ship, the Hatsuse, launched months after our own ships, which are half com- pleted fixtures, is now on her way to Chatham to be docked. English contractors are able to build for foreign nations: they are either not asked or are unable to build for the British Government. It is necessary there should be some plain speaking. One reason is the unfair treatment of English contractors by the Admiralty. Contractors dare not complain, or they would be removed from the Admiralty list, but the revelation of the plans of one contractor to the agents, of another is no uncommon practice, while the red tape with which orders are given out indicates the intellectual and moral deficiencies of a Department that needs overhauling by a practical business man in the prime of life. The net result of five years' Admiralty policy is that, until our Navy has been considerably in- creased, we are dependent on diplomacy for the safety of our seaborne trade. 4. The energy thrown into naval affairs in France GERMANY'S FLEET 275 and Russia since Fashoda, and in preparation for events in China, is shown from the fact that the British Fleet is now third in point of strength in the China seas, though British interests are greater than those of the rest of the Powers put together. British battleships are wanted in home waters. 5. The universal antipathy of the German people towards this country has already found expression in the doubling of their fleet. Within a few months the Reichstag will again be asked to increase the German Fleet by 50 per cent. A German combination with France and Russia is not outside the region of practical politics. The three Powers but yesterday combined to exert pressure on Japan, and may do the same against England to-morrow. German friendship is to be depended on as much — or as little — as that of France or Russia. The naval weakness of Britain is notoriously the subject of earnest protest by some of our ablest admirals afloat. German efficiency has already secured a formidable and homogeneous fleet. Already Germany holds the Atlantic record for speed. Her system of mail subsidies has secured a large portion of Asiatic and Australian trade. Her rate of increase in shipbuilding, for the first time in history, has exceeded that of Great Britain. Germany has already stretched out her hands for 276 THE NAVY the trident. Neither France nor Russia is im- patient to assist us to recover the supremacy which we have listlessly allowed to slip from our hands. The conclusion is irresistible. The management of marine affairs for five years has been incom- petent. The result of that incompetence is that we have lost the command of the sea. Nothing less than the vigorous demand of a determined people can change the situation. What is gained by repeating " Britannia rules the waves," in the face of the fact that during the period of two years and a half previous to October 1900 Great Britain added three new battleships to her Navy, while France added five vessels of the same class during the same period of time ? The capacity of our private contractors for turning out vessels of the highest class for foreign Governments accentuates the failure of the Admiralty to obtain delivery of ships ordered for the British nation ; while the decadence of the Mercantile Marine and the ever - increasing swarm of foreigners employed therein, point clearly to the absence of any masterful and dominating intellect in the centre of affairs, applying itself continuously and exclusively to the duty of maintaining British sea power. Parsimony in coal and extravagance in gold- DRIFT IN MARITIME POLICY 277 leaf, insufficient sea training of officers, and the Laputan method of teaching men to become seamen on shore ; the retention of muzzle-loading guns, neglected gunnery, and failure to attract the highest engineering skill at the Admiralty, are all counts in the indictment against our rulers. If drift is their maritime policy, wreck is our in- evitable fate. Mr. Ritchie, M.P., speaking in the House of Commons on February 28, 1899, made use of the following words: "Take, for instance, the question of a war — the question of a war where the Naval Reserves were called out. What would be the result, under present circumstances ? The result would be to deplete British ships of British seamen ; and, instead of being partially manned by foreigners, they would, under exist- ing circumstances, be altogether manned by foreigners. That, I think, is matter for very great regret, and if any suggestion can be made to remedy that state of things, or to endeavour to remedy that state of things, which the whole House regrets, then the House would do wrong not to consider any suggestion that might be made." Contrast these remarks of Mr. Ritchie with the preamble of the Merchant Shipping Act, y & 8 Vict. c. 112: "The prosperity, strength, and safety of this United Kingdom and Her Majesty's 2 78 THE NAVY Dominions do greatly depend on a large, con- stant, and ready supply of seamen, and it is therefore expedient to promote the increase of the number of seamen, and to afford them all due encouragement and protection." To meet this state of things with the assertion that " Britannia rules the waves " points rather to a maritime Yorktown than to a repetition of Trafalgar. The Prime Minister's speech about Rifle Clubs on May lo, 1900, suggested insensibility to the conditions of our national existence rather than appreciation of the inexorable law of sea power. There is no reason to believe that the First Lord of the Treasury, any more than the Prime Minister, has a quicker comprehension of the conditions that govern supremacy at sea than he exhibited in the earlier part of the year in regard to the operations of the British Army in Africa. Even the Colonial Secretary, at the Fishmongers' Dinner on October 24, 1900, carried his Imperialism no further than to say, " No, Britannia still rules the sea (cheers), and, with humble excuses to the Navy League, I think she will continue to do so." Why, in 1899 ^^^^ was precisely the opinion of every one of the nineteen Cabinet Ministers in regard to the military might of Britain. Anyone who doubted PRINCIPLES OF SEA POWER 279 it was then dubbed " alarmist " or " hysterical." Sir Michael Hicks Beach stated at Liverpool on October 24, 1900, "As for the Navy, large sums have in recent years been spent in increas- ing it, until it was more powerful than ever." What is the fact? It is, relatively to foreign navies, weaker than ever. In none of these Ministerial statements, therefore, is there any sign that our rulers appreciate facts or are acquainted with the organic principles of sea power, or they could not honestly ignore our arrears of shipbuilding, the decadence of the Mercantile Marine, or the grave warnings of our fighting admirals, by phrases that are entirely misleading. The present condition of the sea power which Britain theoretically possesses is akin to that of her presumed military predominance in the Cape Colony before the Boer War broke out. The Government were told the truth, both by the responsible General on the spot and the responsible General at home. The truth was unpalatable. Nevertheless, the despotism of facts required the mobilisation of the Empire soon after these warnings had been neglected. A naval Colenso, Magersfontein, or Stormberg would be irretrievable. No mobilisation of the Empire, no maritime Roberts, no drafts of 28o THE NAVY material, purchases of ships, or frantic outlay could retrieve a disaster to our fleet of battle- ships. Time would not permit. Means do not exist. In South Africa, more men who could shoot and ride, more mules and rifles, more traction engines, more guns and stores were available. We cannot improvise one destroyer, nor buy the missing cruisers and battleships when they are wanted. The lesson to be drawn from the parallel, therefore, is that naval war differs from war on land by its quality of sudden- ness, the irreparable character of fleet disaster, and the permanent results of victory. This quality of suddenness makes all the difference. Landsmen accustomed to view our naval un- readiness with a quiet mind, because preliminary failure and privileged muddle are characteristic of our race, and have generally been overcome in our land wars, unwarrantably presume on the conditions prevailing in war on land to dispense with essentials of success for war at sea. It is this element of suddenness that neces- sitates our two great fleets being maintained on a war footing. Our Mediterranean and Channel Fleets are dangerously deficient in essentials ; namely, in cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliaries. The vessels laid up at Portsmouth, Devonport, and Chatham will be hastily commissioned when STRATEGY AND POLICY 281 war breaks out ; but these vessels when mobilised are not efficient. What a burden to throw on an Admiral — suddenly to pitchfork on him a mass of crude material at the moment when his time and his energy are required, not for drill, but for war ; not for educating captains and training fleets to act together, but for striking the blow that shall save or lose the Empire. The two great reforms required, accordingly, are that the two principal fleets should be made ready for war, and that our strategy should be adjusted to our national policy. That is the pith of the whole matter. When war breaks out, there will be no time for mobilised ships and hired auxiliaries to be brought into play. The vital blow would already have been struck. If the enemy had not struck the blow, we ought to have struck it. It is no secret that French naval strategy to-day has broken with the de- fensive traditions of the past. Their fighting scheme is based on taking the offensive. Measures have already been adopted which indicate and emphasise this fact. These measures have been publicly proclaimed by their chief naval authorities as their one chance of success against England — namely, to catch us unprepared. More important even than the building pro- gramme, neglected for five years by refusal to 282 THE NAVY face facts, is the necessity for placing the fleets we have on a war footing. It is not right that the Admiral in command of the Mediterranean Fleet should be obliged to use battleships as cruisers. This has been done within the past year. To deprive the Mediterranean Fleet of necessary cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliaries is a blow at the heart of the Empire, struck by those responsible for its protection. Note to Chapter XVIII The following is a statement of facts which I have obtained from a naval officer of great experi- ence. It is borne out also from another source, and reflects little credit on successive Boards of Admiralty for many years : — " In my opinion, other things being anything like equal, money spent by Commanders and First Lieutenants does go a long way in forward- ing the advancement of those fortunate enough to possess it. " Little, or perhaps none, of the expense incurred on paint materials, gold-leaf, ornamentations, etc., adds to the efficiency of a ship as a fighting machine, though of course greatly improves the appearance of a ship. " Then, again, men's time is often wasted by the NOTE 283 undue attention devoted to appearance when it might be employed for real useful purposes. Often during evolutions and ordinary ship-work things might be carried out much more smartly if such a lot of attention was not used in looking out for paint-work and finery. For example, fire- engines and carriages used for landing are perhaps enamelled and decorated. Instead of hoisting these out from the ship into a boat in a hurry and making an evolution of it, men are afraid of damaging the enamel and decorations by knocking them against the ship's side. "The report after an Admiral's inspection is always on the mind of a Commander and First Lieutenant, as they know upon this report may perhaps depend their whole future career. The appearance of a ship is taken a great deal into consideration in these reports. " I have been quite recently told by a Com- mander that Commanders of sea-going battleships spend about ;£'ioo a year on their ships, and that on commissioning a new ship, more than that for the first year. My Commander spent about £20^ a year. " The First Lieutenant has also to spend a good deal on the lower deck and flats, but not so much as a Commander, and no doubt often gains pro- motion by doing so. The Gunnery Lieutenant is another person who really has to spend money on cleaning gear (emery paper, etc.) for his guns, shot hoists, etc. I myself used to spend 5s. a month 284 THE NAVY on the after barbette because the allowance of emery paper, etc., was insufficient to keep the guns as clean as others I had seen. "In my opinion, the establishment of paint allowed a ship is nearly enough — not quite — for this reason. A ship's painting surface is measured and a certain amount of paint allowed to paint that surface all over once every four months by an experienced painter. But as a bluejacket is not an experienced painter a little extra should be allowed for waste. Regulations provide for further supply of paint on special occasions. "If the Admiralty do not require any part of a ship enamelled, or gilt put here and there, why should officers who can afford it be allowed to do so? The Admiralty could surely issue an order that a ship should remain as officially fitted and painted, superseding a commanding officer that disobeys it. " Cleaning materials allowed a ship are • really quite enough for cleaning and keeping clean parts of a ship that are bright on commissioning. I am now referring to brass and steel work. But Com- manders, First and Gunnery Lieutenants, always scrape and brighten parts which need not be, and sometimes which are not supposed to be. For example, you often see the muzzles of guns scraped and burnished, when, as a matter of fact, there is an order against this practice. " Officers do not spend money on a ship without an object, and the object is, no doubt, to make NOTE 285 their superior officers think better of them by having a smart and clean - looking ship. If Admirals and Captains do think more of an executive officer for this, which I believe they do, then the outlay must favour officers with private means. It must also prevent poor men from taking up a promising appointment where they would have to compete with well-to-do men, such as a Commander on the Mediterranean station." CHAPTER XIX EDUCATION If the object of national education is not only to enable the nation to hold its place but to correct the temper, cultivate the taste, and reform habits which prevent Britannia from maintaining her station as a World Power, then the neglect of our rulers in this Department is no less lamentable than their administrative shortcomings. The reason is plain. The majority of our rulers are themselves half- educated. Their "culture," of which they are so proud, is futile. Foresight would be more useful to the State. No nation can engage in the international struggle for life with any prospects of success when governed by men who ignore the first principles of business. In the course of the last century Britain has discovered the rivalry of many neighbours. It is no longer sufficient to rely on the sublime UNIVERSITY TRAINING 287 instincts of an ancient race. It is necessary to correct our national faults ; to look ahead and prepare for all emergencies that can be foreseen. The principal faults of our race are overweening confidence, insensibility to the feelings and wishes of others, and a certain brutal insularity of senti- ment that renders us as a people an object of almost universal dislike among the quicker-witted people of Celtic and Latin blood. The " culture " of the " Souls " does not concern itself with these things. The English are wont to deride Scottish insensibility to humour. Their own callousness to fine shades of difference is constantly the subject of American comment. Thickness of hide is an advantage only to animals and nations which dominate by force. Sympathetic handling of international or domestic affairs is not incul- cated in the education of the governing classes, and the diplomatic mistakes and failures of Britain are too often the result of an education that refines one phase of intellect without de- veloping scientific imagination or touching the heart. During a recent session of Parliament the English world has been startled by the exhibition of temper displayed by Mr. Balfour in dealing with the question of the sufferings of the sick and wounded in South Africa, brought before the 288 EDUCATION House and the public by Mr. Burdett Coutts. Mr. Balfour is a specimen of the finest product of modern university training. He is a philosopher by taste, a politician by birth, and he represents the latest expression of modern English culture. Yet temper, petulance, and effeminacy were exhibited by Mr. Balfour, not only over the hospitals question, but in the dark days of 1899, when he shocked the serious and working portion of the nation by an exhibition of that indifference and levity which is the note of modern culture. No " cultured " person is supposed to feel deeply upon any subject. Enthusiasm is bad form ; between earnestness and fanaticism there is no dividing line. This is the modern creed. Mr. Balfour, the individual, is less to blame than the system of education of which he is the result. Wealthy young men, who have been tended and valeted from their youth up, waited on by servants, driven by coachmen, and fed on dainties, sleeping on soft beds under watertight roofs all their days, learning the world mainly through books, which are but the reflection of other men's ideas, can never become real men, or the efficient rulers of real men, because solitude, hardship, suffering and sorrow, communion with nature, self-dependence, and contact with the realities of life are necessary to the formation of strong EDUCATION AND CHARACTER 289 character among leaders of men in critical times. Mr. Kruger can barely write his name, but there is a sense in which he can claim more of the higher education than Mr. Balfour. Englishmen to their hurt, mainly owing to the trades unionism of the two universities, dislike and despise all education that does not conform to the schools. No one can deny the charm and grace of the finished product of our universities. The dead languages and the higher mathematics as gym- nastics of the mind are to the modern statesman what masts and sails are to the modern naval officer. No one denies that in the past and under the old conditions that have vanished for ever, Latin, Greek, and the pure mathematics have produced men able to cope with the difficulties that formerly confronted the nation. Since October last, however, we have discovered that Dutch rural simplicity is also compatible with great qualities; that the qualities of foresight, determination, and flexibility of adaptation are lacking in our rulers ; and, further, that the qualities that have enabled the British to beat the Boers have not been displayed by our statesmen, but were supplied by the privates, the company officers, and, in some instances, by those generals who have learned their trade in the bitter school of life — not at the Staff College. The failure of modern 19 290 EDUCATION education to give us an efficient governing class has been revealed in the failures of the Boer War. Worse remains behind. The same confident self-esteem, reliance on the magic of a shibboleth, and the belief that money and the common people will extricate us from all difficulties are beliefs that still find their stronghold in the minds of our rulers. We are in a fool's paradise about the Navy, about our financial system, and about our education. It is inevitable destiny that unless the nation reads the handwriting on the wall, and transfers the control and direction of its affairs to serious men of business knowledge and capacity, the humilia- tions and failures of the Boer War will be repeated on a scale immeasurably greater. The touchstone by which national appreciation of the failure of our educational standard will be tested will be when the Government declares its intentions as to profiting by the lessons of the Boer War. All the present signs point to an intention of forgetting what has passed, going on as we are, and of refusing to profit by the few hours of grace that remain. II. THE MIDDLE CLASSES Turning to the middle classes and comparing their lives and the result of their lives with the GERMAN EDUCATION 291 middle classes of Germany or the United States, where education exists in a higher form, and is imbibed in a larger spirit than in England, there is one startling difference to be seen. The indi- vidualism of the British enamours them with the process of muddling along in business as in statesmanship, prevents combination for national ends, and leads them to acquiesce in the rule of incompetent administrators who will before long plunge them in irretrievable disaster. In Germany the result of education has been to give to the efforts of the nation the solidification of a single organism. Stein, who conceived the German educational system, was also the parent of its military organisation. The consequences of the English educational system are to be detected more clearly in the British Army than elsewhere. Even the Prime Minister is ignorant of the first principles of national defence, if his public speeches are the measure of his knowledge. Germany is beating England out of the field, be- cause German education enables the German people to study things at their roots, to see things as they are, and to adapt their national methods to their national needs. German commerce already provides for the sustenance of 20,000,000 German people no longer dependent on the soil, because German educa- tion has enabled all classes of the Kaiser's subjects 292 EDUCATION to work together for a common end. In other words, the competition of Germany with England is the competition of an effective organism with a heterogeneous multitude of half - educated in- dividuals. The capacity and racial instincts of the English people are probably superior in quality to those of the Germans. English colonis- ing capacity, courage, equanimity in defeat, and terrible power when roused, all point to the essential soundness of the middle classes, if only their energies were directed and their capacities trained in accordance with the modern needs of the Empire. Britain waits for a Stein. The lads who are turned out of our great public schools learn, for the most part, to be gentlemen ; that is to say, to avoid self-assertion, to consider others, to suffer pain in silence, and die like men when occasion requires ; to tell the truth, and to excel in some form of manly sport. But they do not learn foreign languages, and science is generally known as " stinks " or " rot " in the public schools, although science and the interchange of thought with other nations are the head and the shaft of the spear that will alone enable Great Britain and her Empire to defend her place as a World Power. The education of our naval officers is defective, and within a few years our Navy may be tried as highly as the Army. The education of the lower THE EDUCATION ACT 293 middle classes, especially of the girls, is capable of great improvement, but the spirit of unrest is in the air, and a change for the better cannot be long in coming. III. CONSECUTIVE THOUGHT The classes engaged in manual labour are educationally a long way behind the workmen and labourers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, and the United States. Even in France and Austria and parts of Italy the work of the handi- craftsmen compares only too favourably with the work of the British artisan. The agricultural labourer in Britain is ceasing to exist. The Education Act of 1870, which was the conception of townsmen's brains, has raised ideals and formed ideas which have struck a blow at the heart of native agriculture. The existing form of land tenure, the jealousy and ambition of the lawyers, which prevent the simplification of land transfer, have turned the peasantry off the soil. The educational system given them too late has brought into existence a crop of scrappy literature which has generated impatience with the habit of consecutive thought. The energy of people who cannot think consecutively is wasted. There is, 294 EDUCATION however, more hopefulness in the educational survey for the democracy than for their rulers. During the present Parliament much has been done by tireless and almost unknown workers to improve the educational system. Few people know the priceless service rendered to the Empire by the teaching staff of the Board schools, worthily represented in the House of Commons by Mr. Yoxall, M.P., whose Memorandum on the present position of Primary Education in England and Wales is appended to this chapter. They are the salt of the earth. They get little praise, and none of the prizes of public life. In thirty years' time we shall begin to reap what has been sown, if the Empire lasts so long. That our educational system should be entrusted to a man of pleasure, who is also responsible for Imperial defence, and to a cynic whose disappointed ambitions have soured him, is a telling comment on the manner in which the formation of national character is considered by our rulers. The Duke of Devonshire is endowed with many great qualities, and has had in the past a high sense of public duty, but his most enthusiastic admirers could scarcely claim for him fitness for the task of forming a nation's character. Sir John Gorst is the only member of the Fourth Party who has not done well for him- self, and the contempt of our rulers for education NATIONAL CHARACTER 295 is effectively shown by the way in which they have flung to Sir John Gorst the Vice-Presidency of the Council. In the time that is coming I hope to see the Head of the Education Department as highly paid as the Lord Chancellor, as an expression of national recognition of the thing that makes a nation. The history of the German nation is the history of Education. Few people are sufficiently enamoured with Germany to wish to copy slavishly even her successful institutions, but no impartial student can fail to appreciate the close relationship between the military and commercial prosperity of Germany and the philosophic basis of her educa- tional system. The Army tailors have given to English staff officers the same uniform cap as that adopted by the Germans. The decoration of the outside of their heads with Teutonic trappings is a good educational beginning, but it is to be hoped that our military authorities will not permit the staff cap to be the only item adopted from the German military school. Nominally a democratic country, British educa- tion is not democratic. In other countries, and especially in the United States, the democratic idea in education has taken root. In the system of schools established in the great Republic, the rich man's son and the poor man's son are trained side by side. In England, the Board schools are 296 EDUCATION shunned by all parents who can afford to send their brats elsewhere, and the consequence is a social chasm between employers and employed, which bodes ill for the future. It is a remarkable feature in the educational history of Europe that national suffering or calamity has been the prime motive force for the reorganisation of the educational system. The sufferings of Germany at the hands of Napoleon led to the reconstruction of her education, and it was the German schoolmaster, through the hand of Moltke, that overthrew France in 1 870. When defeated by Germany, France reorganised her schools, and although centralisation is pushed to an extreme, a great change for the better has taken place in the training of youth. The American Civil War led to great searchings of heart on educational subjects, and the immense weight, wealth, and social position of educationists in the United States are partly attributable to the heart-searchings of the nation at the close of the Civil War. Russia and England are the only great nations in Europe destitute of a national system of education. A sound educational system involves elementary, secondary, university, and technical training. Early specialisation implies a low standard of knowledge, as the more complete the special preparations for EMPIRE AND EDUCATION 297 the occupations of life the later does technical education begin. Our elementary system of primary education is not responsible for our industrial and commercial defeats of recent years. It is the absence of secondary and technical education that has contributed to the obsolescence of British machinery throughout the kingdom. The inefficiency of our secondary schools has been disclosed by our commercial backwardness, and by the want of faculty displayed by British officials, both military and civil. The public schools are palpable and miserable failures. The education of a boy who has passed through Winchester, for example, can only be said to begin after he has left the College. Parliament has betrayed the nation in the matter of education. The mere fact that the Charity Commissioners, whose indolence and incompetence are proverbial, are the body entrusted with the administration of the Endowed Schools Act is a proof of the incapacity and want of patriotism of the British Parliament. The real fact is, that the British nation is not yet awake to the necessity of education, and the consequence is that educational questions are left largely in the hands of theorists, of interested persons, and of ambitious people whose interests are not identical with the interests of the nation. With the Duke of Devonshire and Sir George 298 EDUCATION Kekewich mainly responsible for education, the British nation and the British Empire are at a disadvantage. The Board of Education should be abolished and remanned with a new crew, because the wars of the future will be won or lost according to the capacities of the chief educational authority of the Empire. Note to Chapter XIX. By J. H. YOXALL, M.P. MEMORANDUM ON THE PRESENT POSITION OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN ENGLAND AND WALES I. Curriculum, — This is only just now being placed upon a reasonably satisfactory footing. Twelve years ago proposals of reform were brought forward, including the following items : — 1. Abandonment of the examination of each scholar in each subject upon one fixed day during the year, as a mode of testing the work of a State- aided school. 2. Substitution, in place of that of casual and unexpected visits to the schools, by Inspectors, who would watch the work amidst its ordinary daily conditions, feel the pulse of the school, ascertain its tone, and test the work here and there by questioning a class, or individually the elder scholars. 3. Abandonment of rigid classification of NOTE 299 scholars according to age and standard of examination last passed. 4. Substitution, for that of a natural and educational classification, by the teachers who knew the children, irrespective of age or what was often the accidental passing or non-passing of the set examination previously instituted ; together with the recognition of the almost obvious fact that a child may well be in one class for arithmetic and in a higher class for English, and vice versa. 5. Abandonment of assessment of grant to a school according to the percentage of examination passes, and of the separate grants, which varied according to the number of subjects taken in a school, given upon the quantity rather than the quality and thoroughness of the work undertaken to be done. 6. Substitution for that of a Block Grant, payable to a school which reached the minimum of efficiency, and not variable, or hardly variable at all, by increase to a school which overtops that minimum. Because the circumstances of schools in slums and suburbs, remote villages or semi-urban rural districts, vary so much, their finances, their equipment, the distance travelled by the children, the parentage of the children, the sanitation of the locality, etc., that what was barely efficient work in a well-circumstanced school would be highly praiseworthy, and worthy of greater remuneration, if any variation at all were to be J oo EDUCATION made, in a school less favourably circumstanced. Variation, however, is obviously difficult to rightly value. 7. The consequent detachment of teaching and learning from sordid incitements to earn cumulative grants, rather than to teach and study thoroughly and suitably. The last item in this series of reforms was obtained this year only, and only from now onwards can the proper effect of the rational scheme of curricula, classification, and inspection be expected to begin to appear. Since 1862, when Robert Lowe instituted the cast-iron and Procrustean system known as "payment by results," which really meant payment according to mechanical results, produced in a brain-labour- saving way and tested as unintelligently, the associated Elementary School Teachers have been the one and only set of people in the country who have agitated for and worked for these reforms. They have not come at the instigation of Uni- versities, or a Government Department, or from the National School Society, the British and Foreign School Society, the Wesleyan Education Committee, or even the great School Boards. Most of these and the Press were hostile to the change ten years ago, and some newspapers remained hostile up to the triumph of the last instalment, viz., the Block Grant. Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, even, were most of them opposed to the change, and one of NOTE • 301 the tasks which the National Union of Teachers had to accomplish before these reforms could be brought about was to curb and bring within reasonable limits the power of these Inspectors. As I said from the Chair of the Union in 1892, " Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools was the most autocratic and least responsible official west of Russia." That the teachers' representations and desires, now universally acknowledged to have been wise and laudable, were able to triumph at all was due to the fact that the Permanent Secretary of the Education Department, Sir George Kekewich, is the least red-tapey of officials and one of the most common-sensical of men. He had in Sir W. Hart- Dyke in 1886-92, and in Mr. A. H. Acland in 1892-95, Vice-Presidents of the Department who were in sympathy with schools and administrative reform, and he was able, therefore, to accept one by one the proposals above sketched, and he, it is only fair to say, was warmly backed by the Rev. T. W. Sharpe, the then Senior Chief Inspector. Happily, these reforms have been brought about without dislocation and friction, and from now on we may anticipate something like a proper result for the money and the labour expended on the schools. During the last three or four years Her Majesty's Inspectors have begun to acknowledge in their annual reports to the Department the good effects intellectually of such changes as are already in operation. The school work, they 302 EDUCATION report, is less mechanically accurate, perhaps, but vastly more intelligent and formative of character. Of course there are a few of them who do not accept that view. II. A number of remaining difficulties in the schools themselves. — About one million children who ought to be on the books of Public Element- ary Schools are entirely absent from them, and of those whose names are upon the books i8 per cent, are absent from school daily ; children who are present at school are in the great majority of cases taught in classes 50, 60, 70, and 80 strong, and in some cases even under great School Boards the numbers in the classes run up to 100 and over. Obviously these classes are too large for properly effective teaching of children whose parents are uneducated or demi-semi-educated, and who come to school without a vocabulary and receive little incitement or assistance towards education at home in far too many cases. That is not the whole of the mischief. These large classes are in a majority of cases taught by un- trained and uncertificated teachers, and even by pupil teachers (who are children set to teach children), and by a class of persons known as " women over eighteen " who are willing to teach in a school for a pittance, and who to do so need possess no diploma, certificate, training, or adequate degree of education. There are 16,000 of these women employed. NOTE 303 It is also a fact that a large proportion of school- rooms, classrooms, and playgrounds are unsatis- factory, and that maps, books, diagrams, pictures, musical instruments for accompanying drill and singing, desks, and stationery are sadly to lack. It will be seen, therefore, that although curricula and inspection have been reformed, the non- attendance, the irregular attendance, the large classes, unqualified teachers, and bad premises and imperfect equipments, are all obstacles to any- thing like complete efficiency. III. Organisation, — The faulty premises, bare equipments, large classes, unqualified teachers, are due mainly to what is known as the "dual system." That is to say, the extension of State Aid alike to Board Schools and privately managed Denominational Schools. The friends of the Board Schools system oppose the enlargement of State Grants to Voluntary Schools. The friends of Voluntary Schools oppose at School Board Elections and upon the School Boards themselves in every possible way the additional expenditure of rates upon Board Schools, because the more efficient the local Board Schools the less efficient relatively the local Voluntary Schools. Assisting these two checks is the check of the ratepayer, who, whether he be Board School man or Voluntary School man, objects almost equally to an increase of the School Board rate. The dual system and its administration at the centre are 304 EDUCATION very fruitful of evil. The School Board cannot set up a Board School if the Board of Education recognises even the most defective Voluntary School in the locality as providing a sufficient number of places for the children there resident. Only very slowly are the defective Voluntary Schools weeded out. The number of School Boards grows a little year by year, but mainly by the setting up of new microscopically small School Boards. The parochial area instituted in the Education Act of 1870 is the parent of the mischief I could never understand why Mr. Forster did not adopt the Poor Law area at that date, but at anyrate now there are the County Council area and the District Council area avail- able. Hitherto, however, all efforts to get a larger minimum area than the parish for a School Board have failed, and the result is several hundreds of School Boards ridiculously small, with all the cost of machinery, of triennial election, meetings of the School Board of five members, remuneration of the clerk, expenses of office, correspondence, etc., for a School Board governing one small school. The political aspect of all this is baneful to education. Under Mr. Acland, the outcry was that the Education Department hampered and worried Voluntary Schools. Under Sir John Gorst, the outcry is that Board Schools and School Boards do not obtain fair play, and Voluntary Schools are allowed to be dogs in the manger. Mr. Acland caused great excitement in Parliament NOTE 305 and elsewhere because he insisted that every Voluntary School should have a porch to serve as a cloakroom. Her Majesty's Inspectors are loath to impose upon Managers of Voluntary Schools the necessary structural changes or better equipments, because it is quite likely that under the present administration their demands may be overruled upon an application to the Board of Education of a Bishop or a "churchy" M.P. IV. Influence of this upon the teacher. — It follows that teachers both in Board Schools and Voluntary Schools are limited very often in their request for additional staff, additional maps, stationery, etc., which they consider necessary to the efficiency of their schools. The School Board wants to keep the rate down, the Voluntary School Managers cannot obtain subscriptions to eke out the grant. In thousands of cases, therefore, the zeal and energy of the teachers are deadened, and a make- shift, hand-to-mouth scholastic existence goes on. Moreover, it is almost the rule in Voluntary Schools to require the teacher to render services as organist, choirmaster, Sunday-school teacher, secretary of parish clubs, and in rural districts lay parish factotum, into the bargain for his work in school. The Church school teacher i$ in the hollow of the hand of the clergyman to a large extent. The clergyman may dismiss him without right of appeal, although his work in school is efficient and his life without reproach, if he is 20 3o6 EDUCATION not properly subservient, or energetic in parish matters, or if the clergyman's wife and the school- master's wife don't hit it off. Similar insecurity of tenure applies to teachers employed by small School Boards. One of the reforms on the point of accomplishment is some method of appeal by teachers against wrongful dismissal. V. Higher Elementary Schools. — Higher Primary Schools were instituted in Germany eighty years ago, and in France fifty-five years ago. The first Primary School in England dates back no further than 1876. There are now some 80 Higher Grade Board Schools which have come into existence almost surreptitiously, from a legal point of view. They are said to have no legal sanction under the Education Acts. Nevertheless, they were built, staffed, equipped, and maintained with the consent of the Education Department and the Science and Art Department until three or four years ago, and received grants from these Departments as institu- tions worthy of support. Four years ago, however, upon the private representations (it is believed) of the masters and governors of a good many semi-efi(icient local Grammar Schools, made to the effect that these Higher Grade Board Schools were drawing into themselves the children of the middle classes who would otherwise have gone to the Grammar Schools, a policy of pin- pricks was adopted, by the Science and Art Department in particular, the conditions of grants NOTE 307 were made more onerous (not the curriculum), and step by step it has been difficult to keep existing Higher Grade Schools going, and impossible to open new ones. The last instance of the kind is not more than two months old, where the Directory of the Science and Art Department appeared with a new condition, viz., that Science and Art grants could not be paid to School Boards unless the School Board received fees for the classes, or a subsidy from a Technical Education rate. In May, however. Parliament adopted what is called a Higher Elementary School Minute, which was supposed to remove the grounds of this friction and legally establish in this country the principle of Higher Primary State-aided Schools. This Minute has, however, been so administered by the Board of Education as to almost nullify it so far, and School Boards such as those for London, Bradford, Burnley, and Nottingham are in arms against what is being done. There is a good deal of talk about "overlapping," and of delimitation and drawing a line between primary and secondary education. The secondary education of one age is the primary of the next. The proper continua- tion of an Elementary School education is not the Grammar School education at all. So long as we are too snobbish to have all children educated up to ten years of age in a Public Elementary School there must be overlapping — that is to say, some of the instruction in the two classes of schools must coincide (to use the mathematical expression). 3o8 EDUCATION To say that no Public Elementary School should teach anything recognised as being proper to teach in Grammar Schools is absurd, and to propose to remedy the mischief arising therefrom by distribution of scholarships in Grammar Schools is inadequate and impracticable. We do not want 90 per cent, of the children who go to Public Elementary Schools to pass via Grammar School to a University ; the passage ought to be via a Higher Elementary School to an institution of technological or commercial higher instruction. All this hampering and hindering of School Boards, therefore, in the provision of Higher Primary instruction, is harmful to the commercial and industrial interests of the country in the most extraordinary degree. CHAPTER XX CONCLUSION As I write the last lines of this book the Queen's reign ends. The Victorian era of comfort and progress already belongs to the irrevocable past. Herself the most efficient of the servants of the nation, the Queen's legacy to small and great is the priceless example of Efficiency she leaves to her people. Efficiency is the basis, and possibly the reason, of all moral law: the Queen's great reign was efficient because obedient to the moral law. If we were all like the Queen, the British Empire would be safe. Unfortunately, facts dispel tranquillity. Portions of the nation are decadent. To the class of the decadents our rulers belong. In foresight they are as deficient as in purpose. But for the obstinacy of Krugerism, England might have been engaged in a struggle against a Continental alliance. Our institutions would have been found 310 CONCLUSION wanting. We should have listened to Lord Lansdowne unconsciously disclosing his own ineffi- ciency to the House of Lords and revealing the fact of his being "struck" with our deficiencies in troops, horses,, guns, stores, and ships. In that case we should have had our Colenso, our Storm- berg, and Magersfontein on a larger scale. We may even have them yet, for our rulers are not in earnest. The middle class is becoming, to a large extent, a class of pleasure - seekers, aping their social superiors in food, dress, habits, and occupation. The working classes artificially re- strict their output of labour, while the waste- making tyranny of drink exercises a despotism over many of the poor and too many of the rich. Our mandarin system resembles too closely that of the Chinese, whom we profess to despise, to enable us to say with certainty that we shall be in time to avert the knife of the butcher, even if we began to amend our ways to-night. Measures of preparation are costly and, therefore, unpopular. The fibre of the ruled and the rulers alike has been softened. We have surrendered to talkers and triflers the positions that should be occupied by men of strength and determination. We suffer lies in Parliament. Upon the liars peer- ages are conferred. Idlers in the public offices are presented with pensions in their idleness. CONCLUSION 311 Inequitable taxation exempts millions while pressing heavily on the middle class, which is the bone and sinew of the nation. Incapable administration is the rule, and condonation of administrative failure invariable. The interference of the fair sex in affairs of State is unchecked by the half disasters and whole humiliations of the African War. Bad guns and munitions are hastily bought in Germany, though but a few years ago we reduced our artillery, and during the Crimean War produced the whole of the munitions that were required. Diplomacy is packed with fine gentlemen who despise trade and traders, who are the backbone of the Empire. The House of Commons is negligent of the public purse, while too many of its members are agape for social distinctions or for undeserved honours to execute the primary purpose of a free Legislature. Our education system is many years behind that of our rivals. The national physique is enfeebled owing to bad housing, new spirits, sophisticated beer, and the depopulation of our fields. Free trade in contagious disease corrodes the lives and careers of our young men and their future descend- ants. Ninety thousand weaklings in the Regular Army are unfit for foreign service. Worst and most disgraceful fact of all, our two main Fleets are unready for war, while our Admiralty is 312 CONCLUSION engaged in giving particular directions as to how the men are to wear their medals, and in lay- ing down the law that when officers are wearing white trousers and shoes they are on no account to wear white socks. Nero fiddled when Rome burnt. Our rulers feast and idle while Eng- land rots. We cannot continue in existence for twenty years if we pursue the course we now follow. What is to arrest our Gadarene rush down the steeps of inefficiency to the sea of national destruction ? Two great changes are needed, but they require neither legislation nor taxation. Restore responsibility, and enforce it on high and low ; and, secondly, open a career to talent. These are hard sayings, but worthy of all acceptation, for nothing else can save us. When a career is opened to talent, the effete and futile House of Commons, that interferes without knowledge and enforces taxation while neglecting control, will be replaced by a worthier miniature of the nation. The privileges of the Guards, a plutocratic Cavalry, the social distinctions between first - class and second-class clerks, the promotion of rich naval officers, not because they are efficient, but because they can afford to buy gold-leaf and polish the anchor bitts, will be done away with. When responsibility is defined and enforced in the case CONCLUSION 313 of each member of the public service, no more will munitions be shipped at Trieste as hams, transhipped at Gibraltar as shell, and the whole transaction cynically denied in Parliament by officials who rank as " honourable Members." No more will German guns be bought by Portuguese intermediaries. England will make her own guns, and use them when they are needed. No more will the secret Foreign Office code be saleable by unpaid alien vice-consuls to the highest bidder. England's Diplomatic Service will be manned by English gentlemen, who will get the promotion they deserve, and who will be paid a proper salary for the hard work they will perform for the country. No more Nelson relics will be stolen. No more will senile incompetence mismanage the Ordnance or the Navy. When war breaks out, our fleets will be ready to fight, and our army will be ready to take the offensive. Patriotism will be taught in our schools, and the gospel of Efficiency will be our national cry; for we know that the land we love is perishing, and that its decay is not due to the irresistible decree of Providence, against which mortals may fight in vain, but that the fall of England is due to the misrule and self-esteem of men who love them- selves more than they love their country. To sum up. 314 CONCLUSION 1. Restore knowledge to her rightful place in Administration, and let the nation know the experts' estimates of requirements. 2. Define each man's responsibility, from Minister to messenger, and hold him accountable. 3. Exact the highest standard of efficiency from all. 4. Punish the unworthy without delay. 5. Dismiss quickly the unfit and the unsuccessful. 6. Reward promptly the men who render extra- ordinary service to the State. Duty is due to the State ; and no man should be rewarded for doing it. 7. Inspect all Departments at uncertain times and by surprise visits. 8. In bestowing honours let the nature of the service be stated when the honour is conferred. 9. Honour the schoolmaster, and bring education up to date. 10. Cease to raise drink-sellers to the peerage. 11. Sterilise the unfit. 12. Keep an eye on sacerdotalists', lawyers', and stockbrokers' influence on Government. 13. Appoint no more Commissions of Inquiry unless their recommendations are acted on. 14. Forbid M.P.s to bribe their constituencies by " charities " or subsidies. 15. Choose Ministers for personal fitness. CONCLUSION 315 16. Despise rhetoricians. 17. Suppress tolerance for that form of " humani- tarianism " which consists of reviHng this country and belauding the enemy. Thus and thus only will the Empire be re- engined. There is no time to lose ; but the change desired will only come about when each of us is strenuous and efficient in his own sphere. If we bestir ourselves now, even at the eleventh hour, we may say, in Milton's words — " Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks ; me- thinks I see her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam." PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED EDINBURGH. A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS OF METHUEN AND COMPANY PUBLISHERS : LONDON 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. 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