The military use of the horse henceforth
will be such an exceptional case. It is ridiculous for these spurs still
to clink about the modern battlefield. What the gross cost of the spurs
and horses and trappings of the British army amount to, and how many men
are grooming and tending horses who might just as well be ploughing
and milking at home, I cannot guess; it must be a total so enormous as
seriously to affect the balance of the war.
And these spurs and their retention are only the outward and visible
symbol of the obstinate resistance of the Anglican intelligence to
the clear logic of the present situation. It is not only the external
equipment of our leaders that falls behind the times; our political
and administrative services are in the hands of the same desolatingly
inadaptable class. The British are still wearing spurs in Ireland; they
are wearing them in India; and the age of the spur has passed. At the
outset of this war there was an absolute cessation of criticism of the
military and administrative castes; it is becoming a question whether
we may not pay too heavily in blundering and waste, in military and
economic lassitude, in international irritation and the accumulation of
future dangers in Ireland, Egypt, India, and elsewhere, for an apparent
absence of internal friction. These people have no gratitude for tacit
help, no spirit of intelligent service, and no sense of fair play to the
outsider.
Pages:
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207