76 
EECEUITING. 
under what we will call academical conditions ; but it has created 
among the large employers of labour a very bad impression that reliable 
characters are not given on the certificates of discharged soldiers. 
I have very little more to say indeed, but I do hope that the discussion 
on the subject of the Army—for this discussion to-night has taken in the 
whole sphere of the Army—will be carried on calmly without acrimony 
and without personal attacks (applause). Not long ago a very bitter 
attack was made in a very leading journal against the Commander-in 
Chief, who needs no defence of mine but, personally, I have known 
him now for a very great many years, and there is no one who is a more 
sincere and ardent Army Reformer, who is more inspired by patriotism, 
or one who has the good of the soldier, and the good of the Army more 
at heart than he has (applause). A few days after this followed an 
attack on Lord Chelmsford for a statement he had made, and he was 
charged with misleading the public by making false statements. What 
he said was that the recommendation of the Airey Committee, that 20 
per cent, of old soldiers should be in every battalion, had not been 
carried out. He was told that 63 per cent, of old soldiers were in every 
battalion. Well, this was rather an astounding statement, and when it 
came to be looked into, it appears that the writer calculated every 
soldier of three years’ service as an old soldier. Well, gentlemen, I do 
not think this is the case ; I know we generally look on old soldiers as 
soldiers who have passed their first, and have entered into their second 
term of service. 
The one thought and anxiety of us all in this matter, is that our army 
should be worth the £18,000,000 which it costs the heavily weighted 
tax payer, and that it should be equal to the requirements of the 
Empire. We are not actuated by personal motives—why should per¬ 
sonal attacks be made, which only weaken the case of those who make 
them. When an advocate has a losing case he is said to abuse his 
opponent’s attorney. 
With regard to the lecture we have heard to-night I am sure we are 
all most grateful to Mr. Arnold-Forster (applause). I have had the 
privilege of his acquaintance for several years now, and I do not 
believe there is a harder-working man in the City of London. If the 
day consisted of twenty-four working hours, it would not be enough 
for him to get through all he has to do, and therefore we should be 
more than ever grateful for his having come down here and devoted an 
evening to us, and we must never forget that it was he who originated 
and gave the impetus to the movement, which has resulted in our 
possessing the finest Navy the world ever saw (applause). A Navy, 
of which ten years ago none of us would have ever dared to dream 
(hear ! hear ! and applause). 
Captain F. J. S. Cleeye, R.A., who had been connected with 
recruiting at Woolwich for the last three years, pointed out that 
recruiters get the same “ bringing money ” for an immature youth as 
they would for a satisfactory man of 20. He also pointed out the dis¬ 
advantage at which a man of 20 is placed as regards a man of 18 
enlisting with him. 
