Daily British Whig (1850), 11 Sep 1915, p. 16

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PACE SIXTEEN A Er ---- THE DAILY BRITISH WHIS, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER / 11, 1915. 8 ought ~~ Means Power To a Nation Lord Haldane Says That Germany Has Organization But Lacks the Power Which the Will of a Free People Confers--Ideas are the Source of Strength. Lord Haldane, the famous philoso- pher and former War Minister, offers some criticism 'of some writings by H. G. Wells on Democracy and War. He writes: Mr. Wells' acute analysis lays bare several things that are beyond dis pute.. It is true that in conducting war, democracies have often labored under much. disadvantage. "But it is important to observe that this is not necessarily so. The confidence of France in her army leaders and the thoroughness with which the French nation has placed. its resources at their disposal, seem to leave little to be deaired. No doubt it is.more dif- ficult for a country of free- citizens to organize itself than it is for an absolute Government to organize a population which claims no rights and is willing to obey.! But the difficulty in the first case is, as the history of modern France shows, far frum being insuperable. Given faith in itself and its cause, "and also intelligence, a democratic nation will organize itself with a power which is unrivalled. For the highest level of national energy is attained wheré the people are pene- trated with the enthusiasm and pas- sion which direct responsibility brings into being. If it possesses ideas and has great leaders to choose from, a democracy will not fail in organization. Organ- ization even for war depends for ex- cellence not on control from without or above, but on ideas and leadership. It was so In the greatest days of Rome. It has been so with France. Even in ideas and leadership a demo- cracy can, as history has shown, be prepared in advance. The leadership and the ideas may arise in it as easily as in an absolute State. Mr. Wells seems to me to be right when he goes on to point to the organization which has developed in Germany as being due, not to the céntring df gov- ernment in the Emperor, but to th: characteristics of the people, and to a form of State Soclalism which these characteristics have made possible. 1 go further, for it seems to me that a democratic country like our own is at least quite. cual of producing something which is bascd on individ ual responsibility and initiative, and can give us the element that is really valuable in the State Socialism of a country like Germany without its drawbacks. ; Source of Organization A free people will do all that a people that is not free can if it pos Sesses compelling ideas. For history shows that the compelling power of ideas over those who possess them is greater than any other compelling power. The possession of ideas is, In a vigorous people, the real source of organization. It is so in the busi- ness of individuals, and it is so in the business of nations. Moreover, where ideas are lacking no change in the form of Government can make up for their absence. I have long thought and preached that the real problem in this country is the development of thought ideas everywhere, even in our Cabinets. We are a very prac- tical people in the sense t when an emergency comes we act with shrewd- ness and decision. But it is not our y to trouble ourselves about pos- le emergencies until they do come, then we are, ae a rule, unprepared to an extent Shat would be ruinous to any but people like the Anglo-Saxens, "whose way it is to drive through at whatever cost and unnecessary loss. This war may jn certain events help us to better habits. If so there will be some consolation for the frightful suffering which it is inflicting. Where Germany Fails I believe that all the nations en- . gaged have met with misfortune, due to lack of ideas, Germany suffered from the lack which is characteristic \ War party was too restricted to admit of. complete grasp of the s'tuation with which she was confronted when she provoked a conflict with half the . The mind of her people was too little disciplined by the sense of personal bility for affairs to enable it control that party. In this country we were defective in 3 5 receptive to ideas. citizens have never been the same way, nor has ai to eat on their » y for them. comes to take sfock, k the wonder will be, not that if unprepared, but that we ly a a A A A NII PAS TRL] TS I NY , MIA AL A NECESSARY Manager: "You'll be. able to lift that go into strict tratning."--Jack Wal AAAS et Keeping Union Jack Floating In Nigena PRELIMINARY all right, Mr, Bull--only you must Iker, in Lendon Daily Graphic. I~ Splendid bravery of British Force Which Fought Under Great Dis- advantage--Native Soldier Of- fered to Charge Alone. A sit Yom plucky defence on the puri a small. British, post In Nigeria, which, out-numbered by. five to one, defeated a German force and alterwards eflected an orderly retire- ment in drenching rain and often shoulder deep in water, nas come to light. The object of the enemy wus to cut off the river route of the Brit. ish, to capture the important town of Ibi, on the Benue, with its larga quan tities of stores, and also to dnstroy the telegraph junction at that place for the purpose of isolating the Brit ish columns operating against thc Ger mans to the north of the Cameroons. Major Churcher, who was in charge at Ibi, was specially detailed to watch tha~terman frontier. The Germans spread the report/that they had aban- doned their post at Kentu, with its hill fort near the boundary, and that they were retreating, but Major Churcher heard that, on the contrary, a strong force of the enemy wss ready to cross the frontier. A day or two previously Lieutenant Waters had arrived at Takum with 650 Nigerian Police. The garrison at once stood to arms, six of the eight bleckhouses which had been hurriedly Arected belng manned. Th- time was an anxious one, as there was no Maxim and none of the police had ex- perienced rifle fire, but for the sake! of. reassuring the natives the. two white officers had to pretend that the position- was really safe. - When the Germans were seen approaching in strong force through a Lass 900 yards distant, the British opened fire and inflicted great damage on the enemy, who were in close. CA Maxim was brought into action by the Germans, but a well-placed shot kil its officer. very hot engagement ensued, and firing was continuous for six holirs, the hands of the officers and men being burned by the over heated rifles. The enemy made: a series of rushes, but never got near: er to thé blockhouses than 300 yards, and at sunset retreated. They threw away their Maxim, but left behind a strong rear guard. % The British force, for the.first time under rifle fire, had been wonderfully steady, and one native corporal ex- pressed his anxiety to charge the Ger mans by himself. The enemy suf fered heavily in killed and wounded, but not- one of the defending forces 'was hit. At sunset drenching rain commenced to fall, but as it was fear ed that the enemy would be'rekifore ed, the British 'officers ordered a re-| tirement on the river fn: order to de- fend Ibi. This wes omplished tn the datkness, the had been without food for ours. aud marching with no water for.18 hours, in single file though swamps and rivers, often immersed to their recks, until six hours later they reached the river. Here a position was entrench. tid arrang ments. Wg had crossed. From made | British were sent for tL. Bri , be - to be re 3k --_---- ------ { VAGARIES OF CENSOR ) Berit Soma asini ison The Vienna - Arbeiter-Zeitung is a thore in the flesh of the Austrian cen- sor. Scarcely- a day passes without its columns appearing in a curiously mutilated condition. Yet every now and then something appears. in its columns which seems to have escape the cemsor's watchfulness. Thus, it had a paragraph dealing with a re mark of the semi-official Reichspost, in which this journal condoles with the Pape because ~f the alleged inter- ference with {is cerrespondencs. The Reichspost declared that this was a slap in the 'ace of 300,000,000 Catho- lics, an ection which would embitter the Christian world, and wound their inner Jonjings, The Arbeiter-Zeitung throws scorn on this in the following words: "Certainly. The watching { over the correspondence of the Papal chancery is the most: terrible thing in all this terriblo war, and the .action which, more than any other, must fill the minds of 200,000,000 with the greatest sorrow!" ¥ The Arbeiter Zeitung draws atten- tion to the treatment it receives from the censor, but its position is not nearly so bad as that of the Agram Tageblatt, which once appeared with eighteer white spaces. In a report of a session of the Croatian Diet there are seven white spacks, one of these, over. a column long, evidently con- taining the speech of gn anti-war delegate, the other six spaces appar- ently containing references to the speech. An amusing illustration of the censor's methods is found in the fact that portions of the speech de livgred in the Diet by the Banus, or Governor, were deleted. As the cen- sor is an official in the Banus' chan- cery, the 'incident is interesting. ---- A MAN OF UNTOLD WEALTH Ameer of Bakhara 'Has Largest "7 "dPrivate Hoard in the World aly, % -_ = "The largest private hoard: in the world is probably owned by the State in. Central Asia. According to the Turkesstanskive Kraj the Ameer possesses in his stronghoid a vault 215 feet long, 45 feet wide and 20 high. completely filled with gold bars and coined gold. Some. years ago the Ameer had another vaiit built to hold his savings, and the new storehouse is now also almost full. There Is at the Bokharan has served for generations and in which all revenues and expenditures are supposed to be put down, but also for generations it has never been checked with the "cash in hand." - Grafting is the easiest thing in the world in Bokhara. The Amiéér's of- fielals draw no salary. They are ap- pointed on the understanding that they must keep themselves on what . make fof their toward rR ee hy of police in the prot. Ameer of Bokhara, the Russian vassal | court an enormous cash book, which' Field In Field / Splendid Record OF Leeds | nd Wor kshop 3 Leeds, writes the Lord Mayor, is "doing its bit" by supplying all sorts of guns, from the moaster. weapons of our battleships down to the crack- ling"machine' guns acd the service rifies. It has begun producing large quantities of shells; also such ex- plosives as "T.N.T." and lyddite (pic: ric acid). - Leeds can pride itself 'on having been first in the field with a munitions of war schen Leeds se- cured a el. making 1 long by 32 yards wide, hundred cupants, all tur shells as fast as ever they Leeds helps the guns by m aeroplanes that do such bri servation work, and building locomo- tives, traction engines, steel transit motor-driven vehicles. £ ro reasor to be ashamed of its fighting record. The: strength of the Leeds lads in khaki is an army corps of 40,000 men, 2,000 are serving with the regulars (army .nd navy), and over 12,000 with the new armie . She boasts a "Pals" battalion and a "Bantams" battalion, the latter some 1,400 strong en the Leeds' regime ded may well be pro d of its 8 with a strength of, rous ficers and "en Busy and Generous Of boots and clothing Lecds is turn- ing out vast quantities of these in- dispensable articles. The dye and chemical companies of-Leeds are very busy trying to cope with the demand for dy-s. for khaki, etc. their hands have enlisted that there has Pe a serious shortage of labor; whild it has been difficult o get suf: ficient supplies of raw materials from such places abroad as Jamaica. For the wounded, Leeds has open arms. Apart from ithe regular hospitals, large buildings, such as the Heading- ly Teachers' T- ning Coliege, have been coaverted for the use of the wounded; whilst owners of private mansions have been only too ready to place them at the disposal of the doc- tors and their charges. Leeds' "silver. bullets" has five ng out battalions y, 5,000 of- are worth s {of able-bodied men. So many of! | mentioning, says her Lord Mayor. We have some 1,600 Bolglan refugees in the city. Many of these are housed in private homies. The Belgian Con- sul's Relief Fund and the Lord May- or's Belgiai Famine Fund /have re ceived strong Support. Recently the Marchioness of Aberdeen visited the city speaking on behalf of Ireland's children. "Paddy's" fighting spirit 'is isuch that Ireland is almost denuded There are only old folk and chidren left, and distress {1s widespread, and Leeds has begua ito send aid. Hard Hit But Chirpy Lord Mayor the pinch in As in most other laces, our professions! men, hotel keepers' and restaurateurs, costum- {iers, and purveyors of articles-of lux- ury have been hit, while one or two of our staple industries are suffering severely. For e¢xample, in normal times Leeds did a big printing trade, but this has fallen off greatly owing to the decrcase in advertisements. {Then in the early months of the war our smaller engineering firms were rather seriously . afféeted, but they quickly adapted themselves to the al- tered con.itions, and are busy pa munitions work, Best of all, the war has brought Of course, says the again, Leeds has feit some directions. where, a remarkable rapprochement, or "rally round" of all classes. Re- cently at a pack meeting { Town .Hall the principal speakers >atholic Bishop of Leeds, and' the President of the Leeds Free Church |©f any age may Le called out to as- Council. There may not be peace on earth, but in this country there is cer: tainly good-will between - man and | man. Leeds has retained its charac- | ic "chirpiness," like Private Lonsdale Despite scanty food and | other hardships, Lonsdale remains | "chirp." In a recen' letter to his ife, | he remarked 'that there were only | some 770 Sundays between him and his native city! A AA A AA A A A AA AA A AAA AA NANA AA ANIA ARAN TAKING SUVLA HEICHTS One Gallipoll Landing Swifély Secured After Stubborn, Fight... H. Ashmead Bartlett describes the operations of the Australians and New Zealanders; with a view to seizing tho Kojacheman' TIfeights, running 'north: east from the Anzac positions. Land- ing at Suvla Bay, the New Zealanders, including the Maoris, using bayoneis only, drove thé Turks before them throughout the night through diffienlt ravines, 'where Turkish snipers wern numerous: The death toll of the ir- vaders was severe. "Next dap mueh ground was gained, but the advance was ultimately held up by the Turks' rifles and machine guns. The fighting was renewed on the third day at close quarters, and was desperate. The Turks finally fled, leaving the New Zealanders in Jossession of the high- est point yet gained on the peninsula Counter-attacks were - repulsed by the military and naval artillery. Dur- ing five days the landing and advance at Anafarla Bay, supported by artil- lery, were successful, occupying a wide front on the hills beyond the Salt Lake. The enemy's position on the Anafarla ridge, however, remained un- touched. The problem was how to take it. The Turks made a'most ski} ful use of the broken country. Their artillery sought the Sritish reserves and. shelled the roads leading round the lake, pushing f.rward the majority of their men as tirailleurs into the | a a ea at broken ground. front.f¢ Tess men, knowing every inch of the ground and carrying no kit except rifles and cart- ridges, used the cover that offerad it- self to them and proceeded to snipe our lines from all angles. They fought with the greatest courage. The British, however, continued to gain. A strong north wind was blow- ing and either through the bursting of sells 'or by design of the Turks the scrub caught 'fire and the flames spread with amazing rapidity. The flames and smoke swept diagonally through the Britich front and forced our infantry to abundon the advanced positions. It was a strange sight, for in all directions you saw Turkish snipers and British infantry crawling out of the serub, turning their backs to one another, and running tc get out of the track of the flames. The fighting and sniping continued all day and throughout the night. Great fires lit the darkness, backed by clouds of white smoke, from the midst of which came the incessant rattle of machine guns, while further south the booming of guns and the bursting. of shells on the tops of the hills showed where the other part of our army fought its way from ridge to ridge to join hands with our troops. On the Anafaria However in six days the complete line | between Anzac and newly-conatructed | landed forces at Anafarla Bay was es- | tablished. The commanders voiced unstinted praise for the 'troops. en- gaged in the struggle. front therc was much desultory fight- | ing, quite unlike anything now seen in Europe, but recalling the Boer war. - other European DEEDS i OF BRAVERY © BYBOY SOLDIERS Mere Boys Winning Honor in This, as in Other Wars--Welling- ton and Gordon Began Young--Three *'Crosses'* For Industrial School Lads SOLDIERS BY BIR] The Cossacks are for the most part | descendants of the military caste of | the old communities that held the | vast spaces to the south of what was | then Muscovite Russia, and only | gradually did these southern terri- | tories come. ander the rule of the | Czars. The present Cossacks hold | their land on military tenure--that is, | with the: obligation to serve in tlie | army -instead of thd, payment of rent. They remain liable to serve as long as they live, and their training, at first at home, begins when they are 19, At 21 they enter the first cate- gory regiment of their district, in| which they reruain for four years. These regiments are permanently em: | bodied and may be employed.in any | part of the Empire. - The men then pass into the second category regi | ment for another four years, with a| like period in the third category. The m. of the second cateory remain at | ment and horses; in the third they | have their equipment but no horses, ¢ in the! and must put in three weeks' training! | every year. | were the Vicar of Leeds, the Roman | id the reserves, frcm which war casu- Finally come five years alties are filled up.. And a Cassack sist in the defence of the country, SCULPTGR-SOLBIER War Sensations of a Remarkable! Franco-English Artist A brilliant young Frenca sculptor has died in the French trenches-- Henri Gaudier-Brzeska. The loss to! English art is heavy, for although he was a Frenchman and died fighting in the French army, his active life as an artist was passed wholly in Eng- land. That life was short, but it was rich in achievement, for he belonged | to a race apart from the sculptors of | his generation. His imagination was | arduous, Two years before his death | he was still working all day for al meagre wage as a clerk in a shipping | office; and when the present writer knew him he was in the habit of ris-| ing before five in the morning and! spending the hours before office time | in sketching the birds in St. James's | Park. He worked on after office hours until late in the night, modelling. is | endurance, as it must needs have] been, was = marvellous, for these la-| borious days were only the compara-| tively easy culmination of a Hard life | that began when he ran away as a| boy from his peasant home in Middle France to be an artist at all costs. | Some of his sculptor's sensations® in' the trenches are described by himself. | "I have been fighting for two months and [ can now gauge the intensity of life. Human masses teem and move, are destroyed and crop. up again. Horses are worn out in three weeks, die by the roadside. Dogs wander, are | destroyed, and others come along. "The bursting shells, the volleys, wire entanglements, projectors, mo- tors, the chaos of battle do not alter in the least the outlines of the hill we are besieging. A company of part- ridges scuttle along before our very trench. It would be folly to seek ar- tistic emotions amid these little works of ours. This war is a great remedy. In the individual it kills arrogance, self-esteem; pride. I have "made an experiment, Two days ago I pinched from an enemy a Mauser rifle. Its heavy unwieldy shape sfamped me with a powerful image o fbrutality. I was indoubt for : long time whether 4Scout, Yves Meval, sneakéd it pleased or displeased me. that 1 did not like it. . "l broke the butt off and with my Kaife I carved in it a design, through 1 found | which 1 tried to express a gentler or- der of feelirg, which I preferred. But I will emphasize that my design got | its effect (just as the gun had) from a very simple composition of lines and planes." War Bores Alfonso iid Fdéw poople realize that the King | of Spain ha: reigned longer titan any A vereign, with the exception of thé King of Montenegro, | and the Emperor of Austria. This is accounted for by the fart that. King | Alfonso was born a Kmg. King Al! fonso is said to be looking rather blue | over the continuance of the war. He! loves the, limelight and cannot get fn-| to it. . Nobody outcide his own domin- | fons gives him a thought now; he can-| not travel, and money is tight. Sol there is simply nothing doing, and his | lively Majesty is bored to death.' To | add to his troubles," Madrid is rather | , and he is most smphatic-| ally pot. : rend | China Must Rely on Self Youth is always at the front, writes Tighe Hopkins, in the "Daily: Chron- icle," London. "And what should you like- the Queen to do for you?" the Princess asked the bugler boy; sitting by his bed in Netley Hospital = should like Her Majesty to sond me back to the front, miss," said the boy. This was Bugler Dunn, of the ls: Royal Dublin Fusiliers, aged 14. How many drummers and buglers hav: won the Victoria Cross for Valor, | cannot say, but the number is a fair one. The youngest of this shining band was Drummer. M:gner,. of the 33rd Foot in Abyssinia. At the sumauit of a rocky path . great wall was rearsd, eight feet high. "Set me w-top of 'er," sald Drumpier Magner, and a giant set 'im a-top of 'er, and one b; one the boy hailed up the regiment. They do not all, of course, get the Victoria Cross. Tommy Keep, ten year- old at Alma, remembered when tea time came, and set out through shot and shel' to make tea for the wounded. Queen Victcria sent for him to her i - | palace fine . here, and I have nu doubt equally else-{ their homes, but retain their equip-|P so fine, and kissed aim. Thrive on Fighting You cannot keep the boys out of ft. They smell the baitle afar off, tell un- believable crackers to the sergeant about their age and well does the ser- grant know it. These things, and all the feats of-blossoming youth in the firing line, fiirg a kind of fragrance over war. "In the attack oa Delhi Bugler Sutton, King's Royal Rifles, seeing an enemy bugler about to sound his instrument, nipp d from the ranks and smote tim deud befor: he could give a note. The nigh. before the final assault on Delhi it was neces- sary to know whether our guns had knocked the walls ugh. Sutton slipped out in the dark by his lone, and brought back the needed word. At 15 he was a V.C. Is it forgutten that Wellington himself was an ensign before his 18th year? In the Crimea two youngsters enjoyed = themselves hugely in the trenc .es before the Rus- sian fortress, of whom we afterwards heard a good deal. One was Gordon and the other Wolseley. "Bad" Boys Rank High The head master, Dr. Lionel Ford, of Harrow, says that of the 2,313 liv- ing Harrovians 2,000 are serving; a percentage of DO or more. No fewer than 19,648 boys whe have received their training in re- formatory and indvstrial schools have served during the present 'war. Three have won the Victo i. Cross; twenty- five have been awarded the Distin- guished Conduct iuedal; twenty have been mentioned in despatches and three have been decorated by the French Government. From this war the industrizl schocl and the riforma- tory should rank with the public schools of Englard Their golden deeds are coming home to us. "Ons of eur stretcher-betrers, a lad of 18, was working like a nigger whiie bleed- ing from half 'a dozen wounds." What hearth raised the drummer boy who, taking a stioll, impuden. like, fell prisoner of war; tnd, a drum being wfetched for him, was asked to, give a taste of his quality? Rattied ff a march or so. "And now, sald. the German major, in good Iuglish, "beat a Retreat." "A w'at, yer 'Ighness?" "A Retre.t." "Lawd love yer Majes ty--w'at's thet?" But do nct let us brug as if ours were the sole boys in the war. The French boy is in it, too; and history has plenty to say about his valor from days very much more ancient than Napoleon's. The wir was still very young when a French Boy Scout was shot for refusing to show the way t) the Germans. Another French Boy away with a company oi the 72nd Infantry. At Sainte-Menehould ke caught one bul let in one arm, and then another in the eye. The éye is missing, bu* the Croix de Guerre hangs above his bed in hospital----at least it-did until he got well, and had 'he cross pinned on his breast before some hundreds of other Boy Scouts, who will soon be delinquents in the same lune of busi: ness, Yes, the boys are only too final" and terribly all there! The recruiting. ser- geant knows it. These many lrouthi he has been winking the other eye, and he will have to keep <1 doing 80; for the boy will go to battle in the teeth of all the fibs he ean invent about his age. It is he who fires the lines; Our infinite blessings on the Boy! Steadfast Sir John French A characteristic story of the British Commander-in-Chief was told by a soldier. At Ypres Sir John French * was asked for mcre ents. There were none. "I have only my sentry; take him." was Sir John's.re- ply, and, surely enough, this solitary of enligtment age,

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