Part 14

Therefore, in spite of all the arrangements made, unless there be not merely good-will, but the knowledge that the public of France, Great Britain, and America will assist in co-ordination and in supporting the authority in the supreme strategical plans chosen by the Governments, and in supporting the Governments in any action they may take to assert their authority, any arrangements made will be futile and mischievous. I make no apology for dwelling at some length upon this point. I have always felt that we were losing value and efficiency in the allied armies through lack of co-ordination and concentration.

We have sustained many disasters already through this, and we shall encounter more unless this defect in our machinery is put right. Hitherto, I regret, every effort at amendment led to rather prolonged and very bitter controversy, and these great inherent difficulties were themselves accentuated and aggravated. There were difficulties of carrying out plans and other obstacles, and, what is worse, valuable time is lost.

I entreat the nation as a whole to stand united for the united control of the strategical operations of our armies at the front. We know how much depends upon unity of concentration. We are fighting a very powerful foe, who, in so far as he has triumphed, has triumphed mainly because of superior unity and the concentration of his strategic plans.

BRITISH FORCES IN ASIA

There is another matter to which I should like to refer, and it is the suggestion that our forces have been dissipated on a subsidiary enterprise. Not a single division was sent from France to the East. With regard to Italy, had it not been for the fact that there are battalions of French and British divisions there, the Austrian Army would have been free to throw the whole of its strength on the western front. If there were not some there now the Austrian Army would be more powerfully represented than it is on the western front.

With regard to Saloniki, the only thing the present Government did was to reduce the forces there by two divisions. In Mesopotamia there is only one white division in all, and in Egypt and Palestine together there are only two white divisions, and the rest are either Indians or mixed with a very small proportion of British troops. I am referring to infantry divisions.

I want the House really to consider what that means. There is a menace to our Eastern empire through Persia, because through Persia you approach Afghanistan, and through Afghanistan you menace the whole of India. Had it not been for the blows inflicted upon the Turks, what would have happened? Before these attacks there were Turkish divisions helping the Germans in Russia. They would have been there helping the Germans on the west, exactly as they helped them on the east.

Germans Sent to Help Turks

But what has happened? They were attacked in Palestine and Mesopotamia and two Turkish armies were destroyed. If we had remained in Egypt and defended Egypt by remaining there on the canal and allowing the Turks to hold us with a small force while they were putting the whole of their force in Mesopotamia and menacing our position in India by that means, the Turks could now have been assisting the Germans in the west as they did in the east.

What is happening now? German battalions at this moment have been sent to assist the Turks instead of the Turks sending divisions to help the Germans. The Germans now have sent battalions to help the Turks in Palestine. After all, if you have a great empire you must defend it.

There was a great empire which withdrew its legions from the outlying provinces of the empire to defend its heart against the Goths and those legions never went back. The British Empire has not been reduced to that plight yet. We can defend ourselves successfully in France, and we can also hold our empire against any one who assails it in any part of the world at the same time.

May I, before I leave this topic, say how much gratitude we owe to India for the magnificent way in which she has come to the aid of the empire in this emergency?

It is not the fact that we have got three British divisions in Egypt and Palestine and one in Mesopotamia that has enabled us to hold our own, but it is the fact that we have had these splendid troops from India. Many of them volunteered since the war, and they have been more than a match for their Turkish adversaries on many a stricken field.

Great Losses in France

It is too early to state yet with accuracy our losses, because in the case of a battle over such a wide front, fought with such intensity for over a fortnight, with vast numbers of men engaged, the losses sustained must be considerable. The claims of the enemy as to prisoners have been grossly exaggerated, and Field Marshal Haig has assured me that they were quite impossible from the figures at his disposal, and which he showed me, and the enemy's claims seem quite preposterous from the statement he made to me.

But still our losses are very great and our reserves have been called upon to a considerable extent to make up the wastage and refit the units, and if the drain continues on this scale, a drain on the resources of reserves and of man power, it must cause the deepest anxiety, unless we take immediate steps to replenish it.

The immediate necessity is relieved by the splendid and generous way and promptitude with which America has come to our aid, but they are simply lent to receive their training, with a view to their incorporation at the first suitable moment in the American Army in France, and even if they remain with the British right through the battle, the time will come when we shall need large reinforcements, if this battle continues.

I want the House to consider for a moment what the plans of the enemy may be as they are now revealed. It was never certain he would take this plunge, because he knows what it means if it fails. But he has taken it. The battle proves that the enemy has definitely decided to seek a military decision this year, whatever the consequences to himself.

Reasons for German Effort

There is no doubt he has overwhelming reasons. There is the economic condition of his country and the critical economic condition of his allies. He is now at the height of his power, and Russia is at the least, while America has not yet come in in its strength. So this year the enemy may put forth something which approaches his full strength. But soon he will grow feebler and weaker in comparison with the allied forces.

Everything, therefore, points to the definite determination of Germany to put the whole of her resources into seeking a military decision this year, and this means a prolonged battle from the North Sea to the Adriatic, with Germany and Austria throwing in the whole of their strength.

There are still seven or eight months within which the fighting can continue, and everything depends upon keeping our strength right to the end, whatever the strain upon our resources may be.

With American aid we can do it. But, even with American help, we cannot feel secure unless we are prepared ourselves to make even greater sacrifices than we have hitherto made. I know what the Government wish. I know also what will happen if the demand which the Government is putting forward is not responded to.

It is idle to imagine, as some people very lightheartedly seem to think, that you have got an unlimited reservoir of man power in this or in any belligerent country. We have already raised in this country for military and naval purposes very nearly six million men. We cannot raise here the same proportion of men per population as you can in other belligerent countries. I have repeatedly emphasized that in the House of Commons.

We have the greatest navy in the world, the command of the seas depends not merely for ourselves, but for our allies, upon the efforts we put forward. That is not only a question of manning the fleet: it is also a question of building, of adding to the numbers of ships, and of repairing the ships. Then you have got a mercantile marine, without which the Allies could not continue the struggle for a single month.

Navy and Shipping First

All that must be borne in mind, and whatever happens and whatever proposals we put forward today, it would be folly to do anything which would interfere with the one fundamental condition of success to the Allies--that the navy and shipping must be first.

We have also got to supply coal largely to our allies, as well as steel. But, owing largely to improved organizations in the various industries, to the way they are adapting themselves from day to day to new conditions, and to the increased numbers and greatly increased efficiency of woman labor, there is a reserve of men which, consistent with the discharge of these obligations, may yet be withdrawn in great emergency for our battle line; not without damage to industry--I do not forget that--and not without, to a certain extent, weakening the economic strength of the country, and not without imposing restrictions and perhaps privations, but without impairment to the striking power of the country for war. Nothing could justify such drastic action except an overwhelming emergency precipitated by a great military crisis.

I want to point out especially why the steps taken now are steps which will be useful in this battle. First of all, it is a battle which may last for months. The decision may be taken not now or next month, but may be months hence. But, beyond that, the Allies at the present moment have the same reserves of man power to reinforce their armies as Germany has, without taking into account those great reserves in America.

The German Age Limit

The Germans, however, are calling up another class, which will produce 550,000 efficient young men. These will be prepared to be thrown into the battle line. This is the 1920 class, aged 18½. These can be thrown into the battle line before this fight is over, and we must be prepared for their advent in this struggle this year.

Therefore, I have to submit to Parliament the totals for increasing, and increasing very materially, the reserves which will be available for reinforcing our armies in the field during this prolonged battle, upon which we are only just entering. I will now give roughly some of the proposals we intend to make in order to increase the number of men available.

We already have raised for armed forces during the first quarter of the year more than the quarter's proportion of the original number of men which it was estimated was the minimum required for the present year. We are also effecting a very strict comb-out of some of the essential industries. Very large levies have been taken from munition works. They will amount, I think, to something like 100,000 grade 1 men.

New Call on the Miners

That has been done already this year, and it will, of course, involve the utilization of other labor to a very large extent in munition works. A call for 500,000 has been made already on the coal industry, and these men have been rapidly recruited. I regret to say that military needs will necessitate the calling up of another 150,000 men from this industry. These men can be spared, we are convinced, after entering into the matter very carefully, without endangering the essential output of coal for national industries.

No one is likely to forget the fine response made by the miners at the beginning of the war, or the splendid part they have taken in hundreds of battles since then. They have been loyal in meeting the present demand of 50,000 men, and I am confident they would meet a further call upon them in the same spirit, in view of this great national emergency under which we are making it. The transport services also have been called upon to release the greatest possible number of fit men.

Combing Out Civil Service Under 25

Further calls are to be made upon the civil service. I do not think it is realized how much the civil service has done already. On one hand, it has had to release a large number of men for the army, and, on the other, it has to meet and is meeting the increased strain of work. But even at the risk of some dislocation we must call upon it to do more, and a clean cut of young, fit men must be made.

It is proposed that no fit men below the age of 25 should be retained. That is the clean-out. We comb out beyond that. I shall explain it later. It is proposed that it should be applied to other industries as well.

When we are adding to the age and when we are extending the military age, it should not be said that there are fit young men of 25 who are employed in the various industries of the country. This will bring the civil service into line, and on a general level, so far as a clean-out is concerned, with the munitions industries.

Under an act passed in January of this year, we are issuing orders canceling all occupational exemptions by age blocks in specified occupations. That is the clean-out. The first of these orders is being laid on the table in the House today and other orders of the same power will follow.

I know that the House will appreciate that it is not merely necessary to have men, but to have them quickly. It is no use raising them unless they are raised in time to take part in the struggle this year, when we shall be short of drafts, if the battle is a prolonged one.

The Government, therefore, has shortened the length of the calling up notice from fourteen days to seven and have authorized the sending of notice by whatever method is the most expeditious and convenient. It may be necessary even to curtail the rights of appeal on medical grounds, but for the moment it is not proposed to do so. We have had a good many frivolous appeals, which have wasted a good deal of time, and if that goes on, it will be absolutely necessary, in the interest of the security of the country, that the rights of appeal should be curtailed in this respect.

Military Age Raised to 50

There is another consideration. The strain upon the medical profession has been great already. We are very short of medical men, and we may be driven to do it by the hard necessities of the case.

I now turn to the new proposal embodied in the bill, which I beg leave to introduce today. Our first proposal is to raise the military age up to 50, and in certain specified cases we ask for powers to raise it to 55, but that only when a man with special qualifications is needed.

For instance, it may be necessary to do it, in the case of medical men, in order to secure their services. It may be necessary in certain special classes, with special training and special experience, to secure their services for the army. When you come to the question of raising the age to 50, it does not mean that men between 42 and 50 are necessarily to be taken in order to put them into the fighting line. It may be that there are men of that age who are just as fit as men of 25, but I am sorry to say that that is the exception, and we cannot, therefore, depend upon men of that age altogether to make the finest fighting material.

There are a good many services in the army which do not require the very best physical material, and it would be very helpful to get men of this age to fill those services, in order to release younger and fitter men to enter the fighting line. There is also to be borne in mind the fact that we have to prepare for our home defense, so as to be able to release men from this country and fill their places by men between 42 and 50, who, I have no doubt, would fight very tenaciously for their own homes if there were an invasion.

The proportion of men from 42 to 50 years of age whom we expect to be available is not very high--something like 7 per cent. That is only 7 per cent. of men from 42 to 50 will be available for the army.

I only want to reassure people between 42 and 50 that all the men of that age are not going to be called up to the fighting line. I gave a sort of rough estimate that it would be only a small percentage of men of this age who would be likely to come under the provisions of the bill.

[The Premier then took up the system of exemptions, which is revised in the bill. He explained that the King, under the provisions of the bill, could cancel former exemptions, and that men would be exempted on medical grounds only, with provisions also for speeding up the procedure of appeal tribunals. He continued:]

We have to choose between either submitting to defeat or taking the necessary measures to avert it. We will never submit to accepting defeat.

I need hardly say that this provision will not be used to set aside the pledges given to discharged soldiers. They will be carefully observed.

CONSCRIPTION IN IRELAND

I now come to the question of Ireland. When an emergency has arisen which makes it necessary to put men of 50 and boys of 18 into the army in the fight for liberty and independence--[Joseph Devlin here interrupted]--"and small nationalities," the Premier resumed: Especially as I am reminded, to fight for liberty and independence and small nationalities, I am perfectly certain it is not possible to justify any longer the exclusion of Ireland.

John Dillon--You will not get any men from Ireland by compulsion, not a man.

The Premier--What is the position? No home rule proposal ever submitted in this House proposed to deprive the Imperial Parliament of the power of dealing with all questions in relation to the army and navy. These invariably are in every home rule bill I have ever seen and are purely questions for the Imperial Parliament, so that I am claiming no more as a national right than was ever claimed in the House. The Defense of the Realm act also was extended to Ireland.

The character of the quarrel in which we are engaged is just as much Irish as English. May I say it is more so? It is more Irish, Scotch, and Welsh than it is even English. Ireland, through its representatives at the beginning of the war, assented to it.

Mr. Devlin--Because it was a war for small nationalities.

The Prime Minister--Ireland, through its representatives, assented to the war, voted for the war, supported the war. Irish representatives and Ireland, through its representatives, without a dissenting voice committed the empire to this war. They are as responsible for it as any part of the United Kingdom. May I just read the declaration issued by the Irish Party on Dec. 17, 1914, shortly after the war began?

Mr. Byrne--We have had a revolution since then.

The Prime Minister--This is the Declaration of the Irish Party:

A test to search men's souls has arisen. The empire is engaged in the most serious war in history. It is a just war, provoked by the intolerable military despotism of Germany. It is a war for the defense of the sacred rights and liberties of small nations and the respect and enlargement of the great principles of nationality. Involved in it is the fate of France, our kindred country and the chief nation of that powerful Celtic race to which we belong; the fate of Belgium, to whom we are attached by the same great ties of race and by the common desire of small nations to assert their freedom, and the fate of Poland, whose sufferings and struggles bear so marked a resemblance to our own.

It is a war for the high ideals of human government and international relations, and Ireland would be false to her history and to every consideration of honor, good faith, and self-interest did she not willingly bear her share in its burdens and its sacrifices.

It is not merely illogical that Ireland should not help, it is unjust. If it were merely England's battle, the young men of Ireland might regard that fact with indifference, but it is not. They are just as much concerned as the young men of England. Therefore, it is proposed to extend conscription on the same conditions as in Great Britain.

As there is no machinery in existence and no register has as yet been completed in Ireland, it may take some weeks before active enrollments begin. As soon as arrangements are complete the Government will put the act into immediate operation.

Irish Members Raise Uproar

[When Mr. Lloyd George referred to Ireland, Alfred Byrne, Nationalist member from Dublin, shouted: "We won't have conscription in Ireland!" An uproar followed. The Premier said the report of the Irish Convention was adopted by a majority only, and therefore the Government would take the responsibility for such proposals for self-government as were just and could be carried out without violent controversy. It would be some weeks before enrollment in Ireland began, the Premier continued. One Nationalist cried out: "It will never begin." Michael Flavin, Nationalist member from Kerry, said: "You come across and try to take us." Another Nationalist exclaimed: "It is a declaration of war against Ireland."]

When the Premier was referring to Ireland, John Dillon, the successor of the late John Redmond as leader of the Irish Nationalists in Parliament, said: "If Irish liberty were at stake I would not hesitate to support that policy. I never challenged the justice of war. I don't challenge it now."

Mr. Lloyd George began: "I don't want to cause trouble--"

"You will get plenty," interrupted an Irish member.

Resuming, Lloyd George said "While we have one ship afloat we should not accept a German peace. The men being taken now may be the means of a decisive issue."

Mr. Asquith said he would suspend judgment until he saw the bill in print. He invited every one to keep his mind and ears accessible to reasonable argument. At the conclusion of Mr. Asquith's speech, Joseph Devlin moved an adjournment and warned the Government that it was entering upon a course of madness if it endeavored to inforce conscription on Ireland. His motion was defeated later by a vote of 323 to 80.

Mr. Dillon said he hoped for the sake of the war and for the sake of the empire that the methods of the War Cabinet in dealing with the war were different from its methods in dealing with Ireland. A bill applying conscription to Ireland, Mr. Dillon continued, would plunge the country into bloodshed and confusion and would open a new war front in addition to the western front. He urged the War Cabinet to inform itself as to the state of Irish feeling before proposing conscription to Ireland.

Leave to introduce the Government's Man-Power bill was carried after further hot debate by 299 to 80.

Russia and the Allies

The Russian and the French Revolution Compared--The Gloomy Outlook of Russia

By Arthur J. Balfour

_British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs_

[FROM AN ADDRESS DELIVERED IN PARLIAMENT MARCH 14, 1918]

The inference that Russia would have been kept in the war if we had announced that we proposed to go in for the status quo ante and readjustments is wrong. Pronouncements made by Russian statesmen always included self-determination. Self-determination can never be squared with mere adjustments. It may be that self-determination might conceivably receive a large measure of fulfillment, I agree, up to a certain point, but that Russian statesmen by their declarations have materially limited the scope of the war I believe to be inaccurate. But whether accurate or not, one is entirely misrepresenting the political and social forces of Russia if he thinks that the reason Russia went out of the war was that our war aims were not publicly or semi-publicly reconsidered in concert with the Allies.