List of Maps and Plans Some typographical errors have been corrected;a list follows the text. (etext transcriber's note) |
THE INVASION OF 1910
THE INVASION OF
1910
WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF
THE SIEGE OF LONDON
BY
WILLIAM LE QUEUX
NAVAL CHAPTERS BY H. W. WILSON
INTRODUCTORY LETTER BY
FIELD-MARSHAL EARL ROBERTS, K.G., K.P., ETC.
Toronto
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, Limited
1906
All rights reserved
PREFACE
“I sometimes despair of the country ever becoming alive to the dangerof the unpreparedness of our present position until too late to preventsome fatal catastrophe.”
This was the keynote of a solemn warning made in the House of Lords onJuly 10th of the present year by Earl Roberts. His lordship, whiledrawing attention to our present inadequate forces, strongly urged thataction should be taken in accordance with the recommendations of theElgin Commission that “no military system could be consideredsatisfactory which did not contain powers of expansion outside the limitof the regular forces of the Crown.”
“The lessons of the late war appear to have been completely forgotten.The one prevailing idea seems to be,” said Earl Roberts, “to cut downour military expenditure without reference to our increasedresponsibilities and our largely augmented revenue. History tells us inthe plainest terms that an Empire which cannot defend its ownpossessions must inevitably perish.” And with this view both Lord Milnerand the Marquis of Lansdowne concurred. But surely{vi} this is not enough.If we are to retain our position as the first nation in the world wemust be prepared to defend any raid made upon our shores.
The object of this book is to illustrate our utter unpreparedness forwar, to show how, under certain conditions which may easily occur,England can be successfully invaded by Germany, and to present a pictureof the ruin which must inevitably fall upon us on the evening of thatnot far-distant day.
Ever since Lord Roberts