The picture was gloomy enough, but, lest sanguine people might take comfort and courage from the reflection that when our Fleet did return, it would capture all the German transports and make short work of its escorting squadron, Lord Roberts warned his hearers that, to gain their end, the Germans might not shrink from this sacrifice, for did not General Bronsart von Schellendorff, in his book on The Duties of the General Staff, assert that "the advantage of gaining the command of the sea, at least for a time, and thereby making possible the transport of troops by sea, may justify the loss of our own fleet?" "These remarkable words," continued Lord Roberts, "represent the best German teaching on the co-operation of the two services in war,"
justice of supposing for one single moment that he and his staff in the field would allow themselves to be fooled in this way on land " (extract from a letter which appeared in The Times of November 30, 1908, in large print, signed by a "Modern Mariner."— H. B, H.
