HL Deb 13 July 1905 vol 149 cc512-8
*LORD ELLENBOROUGH

rose "To ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, considering the fact that we expend millions of pounds every year on the maintenance of cavalry for land service, and scouts and cruisers for sea service, whose chief business during war would be to ascertain what the enemy may be doing, it is not desirable to consider the question of our having to undergo some national inconvenience as regards the dissemination of news, in case of war or grave emergency, for the purpose of concealing our own warlike proceedings; and whether, considering the success that has hitherto attended the Japanese system of keeping secret the movements of their land forces, and the state and condition and whereabouts of their fleets, he will cause the laws and proclamations of Japan, bearing on the subject of dissemination of news, to be translated and presented to both Houses of Parliament, together with some other documents on this subject, so as to enable the public in general to study the question as to whether our laws require alteration."

The noble Lord said

My Lords, I much regret the absence of the First, Lord of the Admiralty, and not only his absence but the cause of it. I hope that his health may soon be restored. I have put this Question off for six weeks in the hope that he would be present when it was discussed. But in the public interest I do not think that there should be any further delay in the study of this matter. If we are ever engaged in a war with great Continental Power, the importance of the questions to which I am about to refer will only be equalled by the difficulty of dealing with them. Therefore, I think that they deserve careful study in time of peace.

The Times of the 23rd of May of this year mentions a number of cases in which information was conveyed by British newspapers to an enemy who made full use of the knowledge thus obtained. For instance, in September, 1805, a month before the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson wrote to the Governor of Gibraltar requesting him to prevent the publisher of the Gibraltar Gazette mentioning the strength of his Fleet. He had good reason for so doing. Three months previously, on the 10th June, The Times had stated that Nelson had but ten ships with him when he crossed the Atlantic in search of Villeneuve's Toulon Fleet, and that the "Royal Sovereign" had been left behind at Ferrol because she sailed badly. I can scarcely imagine anything more likely to defeat Nelson's plans than the publication of such news. The Duke of Wellington also frequently complained of the information furnished to the French by the British newspapers. His complaints were well grounded. Berthier, the chief of the Emperor's staff, wrote to Massena— We have the most perfect information from the English and much better than that possessed by you. The Emperor reads the English news-papers and a great number of letters written by the Opposition, some of which censure Lord Wellington and speak in detail of your operations. On the 7th of November. 1810, Napoleon wrote— We have news of the Army of Portugal up to the 16th. It comes from the English news-papers, who say that the two armies were facing one another on the 15th, live leagues from Lisbon. On the 7th of May, 1811, Napoleon wrote— I send you the translation of the English newspapers. You will see that on the 18th of April Wellington had passed the Tagus. Have these despatches copied and sent to the Dukes of Istria and Ragusa, and to General Belliard. On the 15th of August, 1810, during the siege of Cadiz, Wellington complained— That he had seen in the English newspapers an accurate account of the batteries and works erecting at Cadiz and on the Isla, with the number of guns each was to contain; their calibre, their distance from each other, and from the enemy's works. This complaint does not appear to have had much effect, for he repeated it to Lord Liverpool in January, 1811.

In those days news from Cadiz would have had to come to England in a sailing vessel, to travel in a postchaise to London, and then when printed to go by post-chaise to the sea coast, cross the Channel in a sailing vessel, and then go by postchaise or courier to Cadiz. So that three or four weeks would elapse before such news could reach the army opposed to us, and by that time it would have lost a great deal of its freshness and its value. Whereas at present the contents of the London papers would have been known to the besiegers of Cadiz twelve hours after they had been published.

Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, who has held the appointments of Director of the Naval Intelligence Department and Commander-in-Chief on the Chinese and Japanese Station, wrote quite recently in Brassey's Naval Annual— If we have no other lesson to learn from the war, we have at least that of the value of reticence given us by the Japanese. Never has the lesson been more needed. When two nations, each endowed with a newspaper Press and habituated to the perusal of the journals of other countries, go to war, the objections to the publication of intelligence relating to an operation in progress are serious. The Japanese, and in a less degree the Russians, have shown us that concealment is possible. No officer should need to be told that it is wise. Admiral The Hon. Sir Edmund Fremantle wrote as follows in the July number of the Navy League Journal— At the time of the Dogger Bank incident the whole world was promptly informed that our Home Fleet was in the Orkneys, our armoured cruiser squadron under refit, many of the ships being in dock, and that the Mediterranean squadron was in the North Atlantic. He went on to say— It is certain that no censorship would be possible, and that no hurried Act of Parliament or Government action not well considered beforehand would lie satisfactory. If the Government have not sufficient information at their disposal, the question should be submitted without delay to a small Committee or Royal Commission, and a Bill brought in next session to deal with the matter. I hope that the Government may find themselves able to act in accordance with Admiral Fremantle's suggestion.

I may add that I have lately discussed a number of questions with naval officers and find that though they differ considerably on such points as the usefulness of different classes of ships, and on matters connected with armaments, yet on this question they are unanimous. They think that news of the movements or proceedings of either ships, officers, or men should never be allowed to reach either an enemy or a Power that may become an enemy in the course of a few days. The opinions of the men who will have to fight our ships until they sink deserve some consideration from their fellow - countrymen. Our soldiers and sailors are ready to take all ordinary risks of war. But they are not mere gladiators fighting for the sake of lookers-on. When this country is at war, the whole of it is at war; and civilians must be prepared to undergo some annoyances besides having to pay taxes, if by so doing they can lessen the risks of those who are fighting for them.

When the Russian squadron left Vladivostock in August last the news of its departure came in some unknown way to Europe, and was published in the London dailies. This was, of course, telegraphed to Japan without delay, and in consequence of this Admiral Kaminura was able to intercept and defeat the Russian cruisers. Surely we do not wish to wait until similar disasters happen to us before we take steps to prevent them. Most of the Japanese movements, whether by land or by sea, appear to be unexpected. If when in a state of emergency, before the war actually commenced, the Japanese journals had published the news that their fleet had sailed, and that troops had been embarked on February 6th, it would have been telegraphed to Port Arthur, and the surprise of the Russian Fleet on the 8th of that month could never have taken place. The same element of surprise appears to form part of all Japanese schemes and, was notably most successful at Mukden, and at the battle of Tsusima. No one ever knew where Togo was, or what was the strength of his fleet. Whether off Port Arthur or Tsusima, he had a knack of appearing in force in unexpected places.

As both Great Britain and Japan are groups of islands, their safety depends on much the same considerations, and as the Japanese Press and Telegraph Laws, backed by Japanese patriotism, have hitherto succeeded in their object, it is quite possible that some of their legislation may be suited to us also. At the same time, as I do not yet know what the Japanese laws are, I hope that I may not be represented as desiring that their laws should be adopted by this country in their entirety. Doubtless they will require some modification. I would point out, however, that though their war news is not published in full, the Japanese are in the habit of freely criticising their generals. Of one of them, whose troops had failed to capture an important position, a Japanese wrote: That if the general had not got a weapon of his own with which to commrit suicide, there was a sharp sword hanging on a nail in the editorial office which was quite at his disposal. I have the greatest respect for the general referred to. I do not at all approve of this grim style of criticism, but I quote it to show that checking the publication of news is no bar to freedom of comment.

No legislation on this subject is possible without the support of the Press, and I hope that some more of our periodicals will follow the example of The Times, Morning Post, and the Globe, and declare their intention of supporting a movement in favour of the solution of these problems. Most writers and public speakers have read military histories; those who have not done so have probably read military novels or short stories in magazines, the plot of which frequently turns upon the keeping or divulging a secret in war time. And even those who never read anything must have been occasionally to plays in which the principal actress appears in the part of a lovely and designing lady, a spy, in the pay of a foreign Government, who endeavours to obtain the secret documents that have been entrusted to the care of her lover. Therefore, I think, it quite possible that the value of secrecy in war time could easily be brought home to the majority of our Parliamentary voters, that they only want a lead, and that they may consent before very long to pass a well-considered and carefully drawn-up Bill, which could lie dormant until a time of war or great emergency.

The House of Commons and the country have for years approved of our spending millions on cruisers, scouts, and cavalry, who are the eyes and ears of an Army, and smaller sums on Intelligence Departments for the purpose of discovering the movements of an enemy. In face of this it is most illogical to make no attempt to conceal our own proceedings. If we persist in gratifying our very natural anxiety to know of all the steps leading up to a battle, we may get a wrong result. We may have to suffer defeat instead of obtaining a victory. Some of the laws of other nations may be worth studying, but if they were all printed they would form a Blue - book of portentous size. Selection is, I think, of more importance than bulk. On the 3rd of March, Lord Selborne, in this House, in answer to a Question of mine, put the necessity for the study of this subject in the clearest possible language, and I would suggest to the Government, if they accept my proposition, that that portion of Lord Selborne's speech which referred to the dissemination of news should be published in the Blue - book, together with any other documents of importance which may affect these questions.

What I am most afraid of is that this problem may be neglected until we have suffered some serious disaster, and that ten days later some crude and ineffective Act may be passed which will not only fail to secure its object, but will cause unnecessary annoyance. Therefore, I hope that the Government may see its way to adopt Admiral Sir Edmund Fremantle's suggestion—namely, that a small Committee or Royal Commission be appointed to take evidence and report on the subject so as to prepare the ground for legislation in 1906. They should have power to hear evidence with closed doors and in public, and to report publicly as well as confidentially. At the same time I wish it to be distinctly understood that I consider that the translation and the publication of the documents to which I have referred should not be taken as committing the Government to any particular policy or legislation. I beg to ask the Question standing in my name.

THE SECRETARY FOR SCOTLAND (The Marquess of LINLITHGOW)

My Lords, in reply to the noble Lord I have to state that the Admiralty are not in possession of any Japanese regulations on the subject of the dissemination of news, but the important question of control over the issue of news in time of war is engaging the attention of His Majesty's Government.