On the Necessity of a More Effectual System of National Defence, and the Means of Establishing the Permanent Security of the Kingdom; By the Late Earl of Selkirk

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1860 Excerpt: ...they must follow it from necessity.--Landing in the manner which has been supposed, they can have no assurance of any reinforcement or supply from their own country, and cannot even subsist, except by the fruits of their victories. Success, rapid and decisive success, is necessary to their very existence. An absolute defeat could scarcely be more pernicious to them than the consequences of delay. If, on the other hand, they can bring on a general action, we have reason to apprehend, from the daring and decisive character of their tactics, that a victory on their part will be followed by consequences of no trifling amount. If, in this first action, the flower of our regular army, the main dependence of our defence, should be cut off, it is impossible to disguise the extreme difficulty of the task which would remain, of retrieving our affairs with our domestic forces alone, however well organised. It appears then, that our commanders, if they engage in a general and decisive action, without the most pressing necessity, must be considered as staking the existence of the empire on the precarious issue of a single day: and it is scarcely possible that there can be an absolute necessity for incurring this hazard. When our army is pressed by the enemy, the necessity of an immediate action may be eluded by a retreat. If, by giving up some miles of ground, the moment of action be protracted for a day, it is no small gain; for in the mean time, our army has approached to their reinforcements, and these reinforcements have accomplished another day's march. Every day that is thus gained will bring into action an addition of 15,000 or 20,000 Local Militia, while the enemy will be drawn so much further away from any magazines which he may have formed on the coast. We hav...