§ EARL FORTESCUE,in rising to call attention to the Report of the Joint Committee of the War Office and the Civil Service Commissioners on supplementing the literary examinations for the Army by physical competition, said: I am very glad that I complied with the wishes of my noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for India (the Marquess of Lansdowne), some months ago, and postponed bringing on the question which I have the honour of now submitting to your Lordships; for since that time great changes have taken place. A new Secretary of State for War has been appointed, and I have the advantage of bringing under his notice, through my noble Friend the Under Secretary of State, views which I had repeatedly brought in vain under the consideration of the late Secretary of State for War. Not that I should have despaired of ultimately convincing him; because some 40 years of Parliamentary life have taught me that, however resolute the opposition, and however positive the declarations of Ministers may be against a measure, if it is founded on sound principles, is conformable to common sense, and has the support of competent practical authority, it will sooner or later be carried—indeed, I have not seldom seen measures carried by the very Ministers who had before most strongly denounced them. As I think that supplementing the present purely literary and scientific examina- 1596 tions for commissions in what may be called the non-Scientific Corps of the Army is sound in principle and conformable to common sense, and I know that it is strongly recommended by high practical authorities, both civil and military, and unofficially by almost every officer of experience with whom it has been my fortune to converse on the subject, I venture sanguinely to hope that this great practical improvement will be extended to the candidates seeking commissions in the Cavalry and Infantry, as it has long been partially applied to candidates seeking commissions in the Artillery and Engineers. It should be remembered that this recognition of the principle in the case of the two Scientific Corps is all the more valuable because the system of competitive examinations for commissions in them grew up gradually to meet the requirements of the Service; and was not in any way the result of popular pressure from without, as the adoption of competitive examinations for the Cavalry and Infantry must be allowed to have been to a certain degree, however strong may have been the conscientious convictions of its superiority over Purchase in those who carried it into effect. I must, therefore, still hold the new system in its present shape decidedly crude and imperfect; though, after the noble Lord's (Viscount Cardwell's) assurances, I do not doubt much consideration was bestowed upon it. To show the superiority of the old over the new system, riding, which, though indispensable from the first in every Horse Artillery officer, and, after attaining a certain rank, in every Field Artillery officer, may practically hardly be required for years together in an Engineer officer employed upon works, such as many of those which I have seen at Malta, Corfu, and Gibraltar, yet counts for a number of marks in the Woolwich examinations. But riding is not more indispensable from the first in a Horse Artillery than a Cavalry officer, nor, I believe, more in a Field Artillery than in an Infantry officer for a certain number of years; while, as I have shown, it is decidedly less so in many Engineer officers. Yet Cavalry and Infantry officers can only obtain, in competing for commissions, marks for literary acquirements, or for an amount of arithmetical and mathematical know- 1597 ledge, desirable, no doubt, in itself for us all, but professionally requisite for the Engineer and Artillery officer to quite a different extent from what it is in the Infantry or Cavalry officer. This I may confidently say, if the system be, as I have been told and believe experience has shown it to be, good for the two Scientific Corps, much more must it be so for the Cavalry and Infantry. Let us have, at all events, some consistency and some regard to principle on this question. But we shall be told again, I doubt not, by the Under Secretary of State for War and the illustrious Duke, that the physical vigour and activity of the officers entering under the present system are, in general, most satisfactory. I do not doubt it on the average; though I must observe that this is not the consequence of any encouragement given to the development of these qualities by Her Majesty's Government, but rather to habits, traditions, and sympathies yet lingering —and, I hope, long yet to linger in moderation—in the class from which the officers of our Army are principally derived; to a love of sport and athletic exercises, denounced, indeed, by some Members of the Government and many of its supporters, but countenanced by others, and among them by my noble Friend the Lord President, who, conscientiously diligent in the discharge of his duties, during his seasons of relaxation, Gaudet equis canibusque et—I. will omit the epithet as inappropriate to him—et gramine campi.But was the new system adopted in consequence of the proved general incapacity of our officers entering or promoted by Purchase? Will anyone stand up and declare that they were not in general highly efficient; that under their command and leading the British Army habitually disgraced itself; that, to say nothing of the glories of the Peninsula and Waterloo, the British officers in the Crimea and in the Indian Mutiny, in China and at the Red River, entering and promoted under that Purehase system not then superseded, did not, under a tropical sun and in frost and snow, North and South, East and West, maintain nobly the honour of the British flag? If this argument of the officers under the present system being good is to exclude any attempt at improvement, what justification was there for the introduc- 1598 tion of competitive examinations, which. Mr. Cardwell proposed, and I, amongst others, supported? The ground was simply this—that though the officers under the Purchase system had shown themselves generally good, there were solid reasons for believing that under the competitive system they, on the average, would be better. It was on this ground alone that I, in this House and elsewhere, year after year pressed for an improvement in the present system of competitive examinations for commissions. It was to ascertain whether it was expedient that the present literary examination for the Army should be supplemented by physical competition that the Joint Committee were appointed. It was on this point that they reported; and it is to their unanimous Report, based upon careful inquiry and the opinions of most competent witnesses, that I venture again to call your Lordships' attention. Of the military Members of the Committee I will say no more than this —that their appointment upon it ought to be taken to be conclusive as to their eminent qualifications. But of the civilian Members of the Joint Committee, I will remind you that at their head appeared the honoured name of Lord Hampton, with whom I had the pleasure of some acquaintance during the many years I sat with him in the other House of Parliament. He had filled, among other high Cabinet Offices, that of Secretary of State for the War Department, and, therefore, was fully acquainted with our military administration. But, more than that, his sympathies had always been strongly and markedly with education, and he had shown himself on that subject much in advance of most Members of both political Parties. I cannot but recall, with melancholy satisfaction, that the very last time I saw him I had some conversation with him, as I had often before, upon this very question; and he kindly promised me his hearty aid once more upon it—aid which would have powerfully supplemented my own feeble advocacy of a thoroughly good cause. Sir George Dasent's eminent ability and high culture are too well known to require my dwelling on them; and Mr. Walrond, though he enjoys a less extended reputation, is most highly spoken of by those who know him. These are the high authorities who unanimously agreed to the Report which 1599 I hold in my hand. But they did not base it merely on their own opinion. They inquired as to the views of 21 heads of the most eminent large educational establishments. Of these 21 highly qualified witnesses, only 3 of whom could be supposed to have any military prejudice, 15 were favourable to the additional examinations proposed, and of these 9 were most strongly so, and among them the Commandant of the Staff College, General Napier, and the Governor of Sandhurst, Sir Archibald Alison; 3 only were strongly opposed to it, among whom was the Governor of Woolwich, Sir John Adye. Of the remaining 3, 2 wrote rather doubtfully, and I was in favour of a qualifying, instead of a competitive, examination. The letters of these high educational authorities, 18 of them ex hypothesiof high literary attainments, are given in the Appendix to the Report; and I must say the superiority in argument of most of the 15 favourable ones was as striking to me as their superiority in number to the 3 unfavourable ones; while the careful consideration of the whole subject, its practical difficulties and the way of overcoming them, the moderation and excellent good sense of the whole Report, must, I think, strike everyone who reads it. They say—
On the general question of the proposed addition we apprehend there can be little difference of opinion. Whether regard he had to the direct utility of physical vigour in the discharge of military duties, or to its importance as connected with valuable mental and moral qualities, we entertain no doubt that some account should he taken of it in these examinations, provided the value set upon it be not such as to depreciate superior intellectual ability, that proper tests can he agreed upon, and that satisfactory means can be found of applying those tests.I have heard it said that as there are some 600 or 700 candidates for commissions at each examination, the number of candidates for the physical competition would render the scheme unworkable. But the Report proves that the Committee had anticipated and satisfactorily met that objection. Further on, they say that in competitions—It is commonly found that below the degree of superior merit, and on each side of the line which separates the successful from the unsuccessful, there occurs a long list of candidates showing a comparative level of mediocrity; and we consider that no undue weight will be given to physical excellence if it be allowed practi- 1600 cally to decide the question of success or failure among candidates of this class…In these examinations, at which about 100 candidates are usually selected, the average difference between the 50th and the 150th is about 1,000 marks.It is clear, from their Report, that the Joint Committee contemplated for these physical examinations, which were to be purely voluntary, rules which would certainly keep the number of competitors in this supplementary examination well below 100—a number which I cannot for a moment believe it would be found practically difficult to examine as proposed by the Joint Committee. And, now, do not let it be said that I am a wild enthusiast about athletics, and at all indifferent to book-learning. I think that, as regards athletic games and exercises, the fashion at present runs to a mischievous and absurd excess. The enormous crowd, for instance—very different from that in my earlier days—of late years assembled to see 22 boys play a game at cricket, affords, in my opinion, a ridiculous, not to say humiliating, spec-ticle. I have done much more and worked much harder for many years in the promotion of book-learning. I had offered an annual prize for modern languages at Harrow years before I gave some champion cups for excellence in various games and athletic exercises to be annually contended for there. I was one of the founders, and have been one of the trustees and directors, for more than 20 years, of the Devon County School, the first middle-class county school established in England, and have taken an active part ever since both in that and in Cavendish College at Cambridge. It is my deep interest in the Army, and my desire to see its efficiency promoted, which alone have prompted me, year after year, to bring the subject before your Lordships. I supported by my vote the abolition of Purchase. The competitive system substituted, professed to be based on the sound principle that, as the number of candidates for commissions greatly exceeded the number of commissions to be disposed of, it was desirable for the country to secure the best of those candidates for the service. But, then, that principle has been very imperfectly carried out. And though, not at all thanks to that system, I quite allow that under it, as under the superseded Purchase system, pretty satisfactory results are obtained, I contend— 1601 and in this I am supported by the concurrent opinion of almost every officer whom I have talked with on the subject, from Field Marshals down to subalterns, of the highest educational authorities, and, I must add, by the general common sense of the public—that a better system might be introduced, which would secure all the good results of the present system without any of its inherent disadvantages, of which examples from time to time, though, I admit, not very flagrant ones, are seen. Mr. Cardwell said, "Let us have the most learned officers we can get, provided they pass a medical examination;" which I know, on excellent authority, was some time ago far from a severe one. I say, Let us have the best men all round, intellectually and physically, as far as competitive examination can enable us to test them. And do not let us be told that, if riding is one of the subjects, injustice will be done to the sons of parents who cannot afford to mount their sons. The object is not to secure a good race, but the best winners. As I said once before, in taking servants ourselves, we look to their qualifications for the work they have to do; we do not ask what facilities for obtaining the requisite training they had enjoyed. As there may be, and in past times has been, an unfair preference for favoured families in military as well as civil appointments, so there may be an unfair preference for less qualified over better qualified candidates for the Army under a false plea of fair play. All we have to look to is obtaining the best article we can for our money, without giving any unfair protection to inferior articles, because they happen to be of the middle instead of the higher class. A fair field and no favour is the sound principle. If riding, which is a very important one, be, which I do not believe, such a very costly accomplishment to acquire, let the country have the advantage of officers who have become efficient in it at no expense to the Treasury. Do not us have in these days a disguised Protection for inferiority in qualifications, a clap-trap favouritism to the relatives of middle-class constituents. I have been for 40 years a Free Trader, and I protest against Protection to high or low, middle class or wage class. In conclusion, I will very shortly recapitulate the 1602 argument in favour of the adoption of the Report of the Joint Committee. I protest against this imperfect scheme of yesterday—a quite recent innovation— being treated as if it were a time-honoured institution, not to be touched without hazard by any innovating hand, when the secular system of Purchase, though it had worked well, had been superseded by the competitive system, because that was expected to work better. Secondly, I protest against the bugbear of hopeless impractibility being raised against the additional examination recommended by the Joint Committee, when they indicate so plainly how easy and practicable would be the means of carrying it out with regard to the limited number of candidates which would have to be dealt with. Thirdly, I protest against the ignorant talk of literary and educational enthusiasts about the supreme importance of book-learning and high intellectual culture, and the unimportance of physical strength and activity in officers—placing a knowledge of Chaucer above skill in riding, and a knowledge of Lucretius above swimming. Fourthly, I protest against a bounty being given at the expense of the country to the less wealthy in the shape of the admission to the Army of candidates of their class giving less promise of future efficiency as officers, in the place of candidates from a richer class giving greater promise of efficiency as officers. Let the country get the best officers it can for its money; not merely the most learned, but the best officers all round—as far as these can be tested and selected by examination.
§ LORD DORCHESTERsaid, he had great pleasure in supporting the views of his noble Friend who had just sat down (Earl Fortescue). The subject to which his noble Friend had called attention was of the utmost importance and deserved every consideration at the hands of their Lordships, and he believed that there was no tribunal better qualified to give an opinion on the subject than their Lordships' House. In addition to the Report to which his noble Friend had alluded, there was another, the Report of Lord Airey's Committee on the Organization of the Army, which he regretted had not been presented. That Report was sure to ooze out through the news- 1603 papers. He thought it ought to he produced.
§ EARL GRANVILLErose to Order, and suggested to the noble Lord that it was irregular to allude to a Report not before the House, and which was on a subject not before the House.
§ LORD DORCHESTERsaid, he accepted the noble Earl's apology. [Much laughter.]He begged pardon—he bowed to his reproof; but he might add that he believed the Report to which he had alluded would throw much light on the matter. He begged to support his noble Friend (Earl Fortescue) in every observation he had made. Good riding was, of course, indispensable in the Cavalry; but he held, from his own experience of 25 years, that it was highly useful to Infantry officers and to Naval officers also. [Laughter.] He repeated that it was useful for Naval officers, who occasionally might have to ride with despatches across a strange country. It was a well-known fact that a distinguished member of the Naval Profession had obtained great credit in the Crimea for carrying despatches on horseback in an enemy's country.
VISCOUNT ENFIELDsaid, that as his noble Friend (Earl Fortescue) had alluded to the Report of the Joint Committee, he wished to explain, as representing the Civil Service Commission, that the Commissioners saw no paramount difficulties in the way of a physical competition in the case of candidates for the Army; but, at the same time, they felt that unless they should be adequately supported in that view not only by the authorities at the Horse Guards and the War Office, but also by public opinion outside their Lordships' House, no steps ought to be taken by them. If they were asked to do so, they were perfectly ready to carry out such alterations in the examinations for entrance to the Army as would secure a mixture of physical competition with other subjects now required of candidates. The inquiry originated in this way. On the 20th of December, 1877, Lord Hampton made a private suggestion on this subject to the Secretary of State for War. Soon after the Civil Service Commissioners, through their Secretary, wrote to the Director General of Military Education, assenting to a conference on the subject, as suggested by Mr. Gathorne Hardy, the then Se- 1604 cretary of State for War. In February, 1878, the Joint Committee met in Cannon Row — Lord Hampton, Sir George Dasent, and Mr. Walrond, as Civil Service Commissioners; the Director General of Military Education (Lieutenant General Beauchamp Walker), the Assistant Military Secretary (Major General R. B. Hawley), and the Assistant Adjutant General (Colonel G. R. Greaves), representing the military authorities. Previously to making their Report, which they did on the 26th of April, 1878, the Joint Committee circulated questions on the subject of their inquiry to General W. C. E. Napier, Governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst; Major General Sir John Miller Adye, Governor of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich; Major General Sir Archibald Alison, Governor of the Staff College at Aldershot; and to the head masters of these 18 public schools — Charterhouse, Cheltenham, Clifton, Dulwich, Eton, Harrow, Hailey-bury, Malvern, Marlborough, Merchant Taylor's, Repton, Rugby, Sherborne, St. Paul's, Westminster, Wellington College, Winchester, and Uppingham. He thought he was correct in saying that out of the replies received from the 21 military and civil authorities thus consulted, 14 were variously though not wholly favourable to the proposed scheme, and that while those distinguished persons who were favourable to it thought with the Joint Committee that there would be an advantage in having a physical as well as a literary examination, they, as well as the Joint Committee, were of opinion that the former ought not to be compulsory. The subjects recommended by the Joint Committee for physical competition were riding, walking, running, leaping, swimming, and gymnastics; but they recommended that the candidate should only be at liberty to select three out of the six subjects, and that the maximum number of marks for them should be 1,200. The Report of the Committee was sent in on the 26th of April, 1878, and on the 28th of the same month another conference was held between the Civil Service Commissioners and the War Office Representatives; but nothing definite was agreed upon, the Civil Service Commissioners not regarding themselves as having any authority to undertake examinations under the pro- 1605 posed scheme, except in the circumstances he had already indicated. There was this Memorandum—
At a meeting held at the Office of the Civil Service Commission on May 28, 1878, in pursuance of a letter from the Director General of Military Education, dated the 24th of that month—present, Lord Hampton, Lieutenant General Walker, Sir George Dasent, Mr. Walrond—General Walker having, after some preliminary discussion, suggested that the Commissioners should put themselves in communication with such persons as they might think fit with the view of settling the method of carrying out the proposed physical competitions for the Army, the Commissioners stated that they did not regard themselves as having authority at present to take any action in the matter, but that they would he quite willing to undertake the arrangement and superintendence of such examinations if informed that it was the wish of the Secretary of State for War and His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief that they should do so, and General Walker was requested to report to His Royal Highness accordingly.From the 28th of May, 1878, nothing more was done in the matter till the 28th of February, 1879, when his noble Friend brought it under the notice of their Lordships' House. On that occasion, it appeared that the Commander-in-Chief and the then Under Secretary of State for War (Viscount Bury) were not favourable to the proposed alterations. The Under Secretary of State said—It was true that his right hon. and gallant Friend the Secretary of State for War was at first disposed to carry out the recommendation of the Committee; but on considering it, and taking the opinion of military authorities, he found that difficulties of an insurmountable nature presented themselves against giving effect to it, and therefore he would not advise the Government or Parliament to endeavour to carry it out."—[3 Hansard, ccxliii. 1951.]The illustrious Duke said, in the same debate—He felt strongly with noble Lords who had addressed the House; but he must honestly confess that when he came to the question of bringing the proposed system into practice, he found it would be utterly impossible to do so—ho did not himself see how it could be done; and two distinguished officers, who signed the Report, being present when the question was further discussed, could not give any plan as to how their own recommendation could be carried out. If the recommendation should be adopted, it would change the whole present system of education, and changing the whole system was an extremely grave matter…There might be very good grounds for doing this, and possibly there might be found a reason for combining the two things; but, he and his noble Friend at the War Office having given every consideration to the matter, he did not see how it was possible 1606 to combine the two things…The other day his representative, General Lyons, the Quartermaster General, went down to Sandhurst, and ho said that he never saw a finer or a better set of young men than he saw there… He (the Duke of Cambridge) himself had also been struck with the qualifications of the young men."—[Ibid.1592–3.]After those two speeches, the Civil Service Commissioners did not think it right to take any step in the matter, though they were not opposed to the proposed changes, if the Horse Guards and the War Office authorities thought them desirable for the welfare of the Army. He (Viscount Enfield), however, believed he was correct in stating that the late Secretary for War and the Commander-in-Chief were opposed to any action being taken in the matter. For himself, he did not see how the scheme could be worked out. A better class of young men than they obtained at present could not be had. The Commissioners themselves deprecated the continually stirring up of this question, which only unsettled the minds of parents of candidates and of tutors, who did not know what alterations in the system of Army examinations might be contemplated. Besides, all history and all experience showed that it was quite possible to combine the highest military education and knowledge even with a somewhat deficient physical exterior. He begged to remind his noble Friend that Lord Macaulay, referring to the Battle of Neerwinden, mentioned—The hunchbacked dwarf who urged forward the fiery onset of France, and the asthmatic skeleton who covered the slow retreat of England.No doubt, physical qualifications were of great importance; but he thought that if the preliminary private medical examination which preceded the literary examination was fairly carried out, in all probability no officer physically incompetent could be admitted into the Army; and that if it were a real and a tolerably stringent one, the test of physical competence for entering the Army would be solved in, perhaps, a more satisfactory manner than by making the candidates run, jump, swim, or ride, as the noble Earl wished. At the same time, his Colleagues and himself were only anxious to meet the wishes of the military authorities and the public in a matter of such vital interest to the future 1607 discipline and well-being of the Army; and with respect to any difficulties that there might be in the way of carrying out these alterations, he would venture to paraphrase an old French proverb, and say—"If it is difficult, it is done; if it is impossible, it shall be done." He repeated, however, that the Civil Service Commissioners claimed an unmistakable expression of opinion to guide them in the conduct of these examinations.
THE EARL OF MORLEYsaid, that while, no doubt, there was a considerable consensus of authority in favour of what his noble Friend (Earl Fortescue) proposed, he (the Earl of Morley) ventured to say he would succeed in showing that the authorities were not so unanimous on the subject as his noble Friend seemed to suppose. There could be no doubt of the proposition that it was desirable the officers of the British Army should be physically capable of withstanding the difficulties which they had to encounter from changes of climate and other causes in all parts of the world; but as to the plan now before the House, it was condemned last year by the illustrious Duke at the head of the Army, who, when speaking on the subject, while admitting the desirability of physical training, said he did not see how it should be allowed to take the place of intellectual capacity. He (the Earl of Morley) believed that his Royal Highness adhered to the opinion which he at that time expressed. Now, he put it to their Lordships that, on consideration of it, this plan would be found unnecessary and undesirable; and, even if it were practicable, it would be almost impossible to carry out. He would now call attention to the recommendations of the Joint Committee; but he would, in the first place, remind the House that they considered that nothing should be done to interfere with the reward of superior mental training, He did not, however, think the Committee, who had not gone into details, showed in their Report how a physical competition of the kind suggested by them could be introduced without interfering with the rewards given to superior intellectual merit. The physical tests proposed by them were six in number, and any candidate was to be allowed to take up three of them, and no marks were to be given unless the candidate 1608 reached a certain efficiency. As to the first subject they recommended—riding, be did not concur with his noble Friend in thinking that the rich would have no advantage in a competition in that branch. His experience might be different from that of his noble Friend; but he thought that keeping horses and riding them was an expensive amusement, and it was not every young man who had a desire to satisfy this test who could afford to keep a horse in the exercise of which he might acquire that qualification. Then, in walking, the minimum rate was to be a mile in 10 minutes, or six miles an hour. Many young men could attain that speed; but, as a minimum, it was preposterously high, and he would like to know how many candidates would succeed in walking at that pace? The test for running was one mile in five and a-half minutes. The minimum for jumping was 4 feet 6 inches, and for the leaping 15 feet. Need he say more? He did not think that many candidates would come up to any one of those minimum standards. The physical tests proposed, even if fully carried out, would not insure the results desired. Walking six miles an hour, for instance, was a feat which required a certain knack rather than great powers of physical endurance, and a man might fail in it who could cover his 30 miles without fatigue. Then there were practical difficulties in the execution of the scheme which had, probably, not been sufficiently considered by the Members of the Committee and many schoolmasters who had given their approval to this scheme. Where was this jumping and running to take place? It would, of necessity, be private; but it would, at the same time, require a place like the Agricultural Hall or the Lillie Bridge Grounds, to be carried out in; and some 300 or 400 young men running and jumping after their commissions would form, to say the least of it, an extraordinary spectacle. Again, were these tests to come in at the preliminary, or at the final, examination? If at the former, something like 800 candidates would be engaged in these athletic contests, and a considerable organization would be necessary; but, if at the latter, then the literary examination might have the effect of weeding out those who physically were the most effective. The scheme, in fact, did not appear to be a 1609 well-considered or practical one, and it was condemned by no less an authority than Sir John Adye, than whom it would be difficult to find a better judge of the moral and physical qualities requisite in candidates for the Service. Such a protest ought to carry weight as against the opinion of the schoolmasters, who, by the way, were not unanimously in favour of them. If the proposed change were made, it was clear that the success of candidates under the system would depend not so much on their constitutional powers as on the particular state of "training" in which they happened to be when they presented themselves. He ventured to think that such tests would fail to produce the kind of officer required. They would even, he believed, be seriously prejudicial to the young men who engaged in them, as it was a notorious fact that severe physical exertions by young men at the age of 17 years caused great harm in after years. Moreover, the Government, by sanctioning them, would appear to affix a stamp upon the system of athletic competitions, which was already too prominent in schools, and so, indirectly, do mischief. If it could be shown that the physique of the Service had deteriorated, something, of course, would have to be done; but he was assured by those who had the best means of judging that we never had a finer lot of young men at Sandhurst and Woolwich than at this time, both as regarded physical and moral qualities. Then why, after considering the average good resulting from the present system, should they change it? The system gave a very good class of men — men of excellent intelligence—and under the present condition of warfare it was most important to have men of good intelligence. They were subject to a sort of natural selection, for weakly youths naturally shunned the Army, with its physical hardships, and they were not too strictly weeded by the examination process. The puny bookworm was not a man likely to seek a military career, and, therefore, there was no danger of any such finding their way into the Army. The examination for the Army was a test of good average intelligence—a quality very essential in modern warfare; it could scarcely be described as of a very high intellectual standard, and candidates once admitted to Woolwich or Sandhurst obtained an admirable phy- 1610 sical training. He was assured that they were thoroughly practised in riding and other manly sports, which, it was hardly necessary to say, were a totally different thing from the competitive tests now proposed. He hoped the noble Earl, after what had been said, would be satisfied that the working out of the details of the scheme recommended by the Committee would be attended with so much difficulty as to render it almost impossible. It would be an undesirable scheme, and absolutely unnecessary. He also hoped his noble Friend would be satisfied with that answer, and not bring forward the question again, inasmuch as such discussions tended to unsettle the public mind and to make candidates uncertain as to what subjects they would be expected to learn.
§ THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGEsaid, that he had really nothing to add to what he said in February, 1879, when he spoke of the physical advantages possessed by the young officers in the Army. He entirely denied that there was any physical deterioration on the part of the cadets of Woolwich or Sandhurst to justify the change proposed. He admitted there would be great advantage in the physical requirements which the noble Earl (Earl Fortescue) wished to introduce; but, at the same time, he (the Duke of Cambridge) must point out that they they were at present a remarkably fine body of young men, and they had ample opportunity, both at Woolwich and Sandhurst, of improving those physical qualities most required by their Profession. If our officers were deteriorated in this respect, and were, in consequence, not competent to perform their duties properly, those in authority would be desirous of making a change; but he denied that there was any such necessity at present. He would be glad if noble Lords would go down to Woolwich and see the cadets there, and he felt sure that they would be struck when they observed what a fine body of young men presented themselves. There might be some individuals among them of somewhat small stature; but he could assure their Lordships that most of them were 6 feet high. Of course, their appearance on the whole might be better, if some of them were not lower in stature than others. We gave them every opportunity of learning to ride, and the way in which they performed their exercises in the gym- 1611 nasium was as good as anyone could possibly wish. With all this evidence before them, what more did they want? Why introduce a system which would be attended with great difficulty and inconvenience, and of which the results would be doubtful, for if it were carried out, it must place some young men at a serious disadvantage. No one said that the country was suffering from want of a good class of officers; he therefore hoped that this subject would not be brought forward again, for he did not see that the class of officers who were now obtained and who, it should be remembered, passed a strict medical examination, left anything to be desired. There were usually 700 or 800 candidates for 100 vacancies, and the competition was, consequently, very great. He did not, however, think that their Lordships would wish to see fewer candidates presenting themselves for examination; for the fact that they presented themselves in such numbers showed that the Service was popular, that the spirit of the nation was good, and that there were a great many young men who desired to exhibit their gallantry in the field, as well as to display their good conduct in quarters. He could not, therefore, regret that there was so large a number of candidates for so small a number of vacancies. He did not, moreover, think that anything ought to be done at present to change the system as it existed. It was, he believed, as satisfactory as it could be made; and although he was as much opposed as anybody to the system of cramming, he would observe that that necessity had not been created by the authorities, but rather by the number of competitors. He did not know that he could add anything to the answer which had been given by his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State, and he fully endorsed the arguments which he had laid before the House.
§ VISCOUNT BURYsaid, that, as he had an opportunity of going into this subject last year, he would not occupy the attention of their Lordships long. The reason why he rose was because the noble Earl (Earl Fortescue) said that in Parliamentary Motions there was nothing like perseverance if you wished to obtain success, and by that he supposed the noble Earl intended to bring forward this matter again; but he quite agreed with the noble Viscount (Viscount Enfield) 1612 at the head of the Civil Service Commission that it was extremely undesirable that any doubt should exist on the part of those who had to carry out the instruction of young officers, or on the part of the parents of those officers, or that the belief should gain ground that changes of a radical description were about to be introduced into the system of education for the Army. He, therefore, deprecated the bringing forward annually of such a Motion as the present by the noble Earl; and it was clear, in his opinion, that on both sides of the House it was not regarded as being practicable. In the speech of the noble Earl who opened the discussion there was, it appeared to him, an entire absence of any argument to show that the physical tests which he proposed were necessary in consequence of any deterioration in the personnelof young officers; and, if he might say so without disrespect to the noble Earl, it was much more a crotchet than a reality. His (Viscount Bury's) noble Friend the Under Secretary of State for War said he did not know at what period the physical test should be applied. Obviously, however, if it was deemed expedient to have recourse to such tests, they must be introduced at the very outset, and must form part of the medical examination; for public opinion would not sanction the proposal that they should be allowed to interfere with the intellectual tests. In that case, they would then find many difficulties in the way, and that they would not be supported by public opinion when they attempted to enfore it. It should also be borne in mind that there were 700 or 800 candidates coming up at every examination, and if the whole 800 were to be examined as suggested, it would be reducing, in his opinion, the whole system to a perfect absurdity. These young men came up to town at very considerable inconvenience to be examined, and if the time during which they were left about London was prolonged in order to carry into effect the proposed tests, then an extremely unfair tax would for insufficient reasons be imposed on their parents. He, therefore, agreed with his noble Friend the Under Secretary of State in deprecating the making of any change in the physical examination for the Army.
§ LORD HYLTON,after a careful perusal of the Report of the Committee, 1613 was of opinion that the arguments opposed to a change outweighed those in favour of it. It would only protract the unreasonably long examination which young men now had to undergo. It was not so much, he thought, physical examination which was required as a reform in the mode of the examinations which were now carried on. At present, a number of young men were brought up from all parts of the United Kingdom, and literally cast adrift in London for more than three weeks; and he had no hesitation in saying, from his own know-lodge, that many had failed to pass their examinations in consequence of the temptations to which they had been exposed while in London. If the examinations for admission to Sandhurst or Woolwich could be held at either of those places, it would, he believed, be a great advantage. If the staff at those Establishments was not sufficient, let it be increased; it more buildings were required, let them be built. He appealed to the Government—especially to the noble Lord at the head of the Civil Service Commission—but, above all, he appealed to the Commander-in-Chief, to assist in devising some plan to change a system which, as now carried out, was detrimental to the Service and to the country.
§ EARL FORTESCUE rose to reply, but—
THE DUKE OF RICHMOND AND GORDONinterposed on the ground of Order. There was, he said, no Motion before the House, and their Lordships had already listened to the noble Earl with great indulgence. Beyond that, what had been said on the subject by the noble Earl had been fully answered by the noble Earl on the Treasury Bench (the Earl of Morley).