The photograph is almost the only one which has been taken within any of these forts. Observe the loop-holed wall beyond the sheds.
[Photo by Cribb.
The first two guns are shown elevated to an angle of thirty-five degrees, which is the position in which they are usually fired.
Crass ignorance of military affairs.
Dec. 1899.] "Nobody to Blame."
Terrible, indeed, is the price which a nation must pay for neglecting the study of war. "Above all for empire and greatness," said our own immortal Bacon, "it importeth most that a nation do profess arms as their principal honour, study, and occupation." But the people had never troubled about such things; it was taught and it knew nothing of the conduct of war; its press gave space to the trivialities of sport, none to the serious business of arms; its Parliament emptied as if by magic when naval and military affairs were discussed; its Government and Cabinet were composed without exception of men ignorant of war. For generations attention had been riveted upon the question which of two parties was to govern, regardless of the consideration that there can be no country to rule unless there is an armed force prepared to overcome the enemies who may assail that country's existence. We had told one another that we were a great, a strong, an invincible people. We had come to believe—or the less instructed of us had come to believe—that an Englishman was far more than a match for any foreigner. We had been ruled by "majorities of politicians, without the knowledge requisite in the governors of a great empire, believing that every interest should be subordinated to their preservation of place." In the words of Lord Charles Beresford, in twenty years there had been but three men in the House of Commons who understood the problem of national defence. One of these—perhaps the ablest—Sir Charles Dilke, had met the common fate of men who strive to warn their country; he had been quietly brushed aside by the politicians as a mere alarmist. Yet he had steadily predicted the breakdown of the Army in its first serious war, and his prophecy had come true.
[Photo by Russell.
Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.