In the number of this Review for May 1905 the writer called attention to a speech made a short time previously by the Prime Minister of the day regarding the immunity of this country from invasion, and also ventured to question the reliability of the figures and reports on which the War Minister and Committee of Defence based their conclusions, which were conveyed to the public by Mr. Balfour in the speech referred to.
After the lapse of over three years it would appear not out of place to quote the following passage from an address delivered by Lord Rosebery at a distribution of prizes in Edinburgh on the 4th of December last. When speaking of the possibility of invasion he said :
Now there is one point which, I believe, in the opinion of experts, has un. doubtedly been made in this connection. It is, I believe, generally admitted that the figures on which Mr. Balfour relied in working out his famous speech in 1905, which ended in the conclusion that we were completely safe against say such invasion, I believe it is now admitted that these figures are obsolete aad untrustworthy.
Unhappily the various speeches on this subject at this period, as prompted by the Committee of National Defence, had lamentable VOL. LXV-No. 383
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