‘The strategic importance of the Euphrates valley railway’ [‎17] (28/204)

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natural consequence of foisting governments on the country-
having no inherent and legitimate right, but mere mushroom
fun<n erown out of mutinous armies and navies striving to
obtain power and promotion for themselves at the expense of
the country. The present state of affairs was predicted to
me by an able and excellent Spaniard whom I knew at
Gibraltar nine years ago—he said it was inevitable. You
will, I think, see no peace for Spain until she, of her own
free act, decides to bring back her legitimate line of kings—
viz., Don Carlos, and acknowledges the force of the principle
of right and wrong, as being higher than the mere ignorant
will of a section of the people, hounded into phrenzy by
professional agitators. But Spain is so isolated, that what
she is doing within her mountain and sea-girt boundaries
matters little to the rest of the world; still it is a very sad
spectacle to those who know the country, and its fine race of
inhabitants, to see it torn to pieces thus by the hands of its
own sons. A wholesome lesson may be deduced from what
we see going on in that unhappy country. We can now
realize the fearful power an army or navy, or men trained to
the use of arms may come to possess, and how dangerous
they may be to the liberties, prosperity, and peace of a
country, if they are not animated by that true loyal devotion
to the sovereign on which hinges the whole question of real
discipline. We may now learn the enormous importance it
is to a State for the officers of its armed forces to be men, not
only of high professional attainments and efficiency, but also
gentlemen in the highest and broadest sense, men animated
by the highest feeling of duty, and whose sense of honour
is such that no temptations of personal aggrandizement
or ambition will tempt them to forget that which they
owe their sovereign and the country of which he is the head.
To insure this, your officers ought not to be liable to be
placed or displaced, promoted or rewarded, by political parties
or powers which, though in to-day, are nobodies to-morrow,
and between whom and your officers no bond of loyalty and
discipline can exist: soldiers as such should be kept clear of
politics and politicians, and look to the sovereign—the head
of the State—for all things.
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